Big Evs' owners should be praised for their sportsmanship - Charlie Johnston should be praised for his honesty

At some point the Teasdales may cash in their chips. But not yet, not until the time comes when Big Evs leaves the track and heads to the breeding shed. The head so often rules the heart in Flat racing but the owners of Britain's fastest sprinter could not conceive of his competing for anyone else. That makes them as admirable as their lightning-fast colt.

Goodwood's Group 1s have been and gone, yet the Qatar-sponsored King George Stakes brought us a Group 2 every bit as absorbing as this week's top-flight features. It delivered a thrilling finish in which four of the first five home in the King Charles III Stakes filled four of the first five places. This time, however, it was Big Evs, not Asfoora, who took the honours, one feelgood story giving way to another.

Big Evs and Asfoora, separated here by just a short-head, will meet again in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, where Believing, Live In The Dream and Kerdos will hopefully join them. Asfoora is now clear favourite to reassert her superiority, and it is easy to see the Aussie mare doing that, but one certainty is that when Big Evs crashes out of York's stalls, he will do so with Tom Marquand wearing the same red and blue silks he donned here.