Knighted battles to another success for Ryan

The Highclere-owned Knighted has found a rich seam of form in recent starts and not only is he rewarding punters, he is providing a fair amount of viewing pleasure to neutrals, too.

The Kevin Ryan-trained three-year-old completed his hat-trick in the feature mile handicap. The close-up reads 'made all', as it did for his previous two wins, but that does not tell of the guts he had to show to repel, among others, Mon Beau Visage after he faced a scrap for the lead.

It took Knighted five starts to win, but he had never gone off at bigger odds than 4-1 in that time and he is really showing what he is all about now. As a winner of two qualifiers, he can go to the final of the straight mile series, back here on October 6, with course credentials few can match.