'It was an unbelievable effort' - weight unable to stop Prydwen, who could be bound for the Northumberland Plate

Weight may stop trains but it is not showing any sign of stopping Prydwen, who showed he is still on the up with a fine effort under 9st 12lb in the feature staying handicap.

The progressive sort was racing off a BHA mark of 105 and conceding between 9lb and 24lb to his rivals in this £75,000 contest, yet he was always travelling smoothly under Callum Shepherd and scored by a ready length and a half.

The six-year-old, rated 6lb higher than when scoring at the All-Weather Championships meeting at Newcastle last month, took his earnings to close to £220,000 and could now have the chance to emulate Trueshan's stunning weight-defying Northumberland Plate success of two years ago.

"That was great," said George Scott, who trains the winner for Blue Starr Racing. "I was delighted with him.

"Callum gave him a lovely, confident ride. It was an unbelievable effort carrying that weight. He obviously loves the all-weather, so the Northumberland Plate looks a legitimate next step. He'll be weighted out of something like the Copper Horse at Ascot, but we might try the Goodwood Cup, he's moving into that sort of realm now."

'Put up good money and we'll bring nice horses' 

Putting up £245,000 in prize-money for this Premier raceday drew a classy turnout and Charlie Johnston was delighted to score with promising handicappers Francophone and Baileys Khelstar.

"We bang the drum a lot, but when they put up good prize-money we'll bring nice horses and that's what we've done today," said the trainer.

Francophone took the fillies' handicap at 11-1 on her first run since finishing fifth in the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster and Johnston said: "I couldn't understand why she was such a big price this morning. We don't send horses to a May Hill for a day out. She was impressive first time out, should have won second time at Goodwood – or got it in the stewards' room – and was a bit inexperienced at Doncaster.

"She's a huge filly and we put her away for the year. Hopefully that's going to pay off this year because I'd like to think she'll be back in black-type company at some point soon."

Baileys Khelstar scored a timely success at the start of Guineas week by landing the 1m6f handicap in the colours of Paul Venner's Baileys Horse Feeds.

Johnston, who fully took over the training licence from father Mark last year, said: "Rosie Venner, Paul's daughter, is hosting a lunch next week because it's the 30th anniversary of Mister Baileys winning the 2,000 Guineas.

"These colours have been a big supporter of dad's since the outset and are still supporters of mine now."

Johnston hopes this four-length win by a four-year-old returning from an eight-month break is a sign of better times ahead and said: "He was always quite raw last year, he went back home for the winter and came back a different horse.

"He's going to be a nice staying handicapper for the year ahead. The favourite ran well below expectations so the race may have fallen apart a little bit. Hopefully the handicapper doesn't get too carried away, but the manner he did it in was impressive."

A minute's silence was held in memory of Stefano Cherchi before racing at Southwell Credit: David Carr

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