Bobsleigh flew to an impressive success in the British EBF 40th Anniversary Woodcote Stakes at Epsom, as the 2023 Derby Festival got under way.

Eve Johnson Houghton’s two-year-old came into the race with quite a taking Brighton maiden win to his name and was a 5-1 chance in this 12-runner affair.

He did not feature prominently in the early stages and was patiently ridden by an ice-cool Charlie Bishop until the final bend, when he was manoeuvred around the field to challenge.

Having taken a wide line he battled past each of his rivals, including the 9-4 favourite Haatem, who missed the break completely and did extremely well to finish third, and long-time leader and eventual runner-up Balon d’Or.

Johnson Houghton said: “I think we’ve got a Royal Ascot two-year-old on our hands, he’s pretty exciting and it went exactly as we planned.

“We thought they’d go really fast, so I said to Charlie to get him balanced and wait until he comes to you. I knew he had a good turn of foot, but it was whether he could make up that much ground – I thought he was pretty impressive.

“I don’t know which race at Ascot. He’s got plenty of boot so we could drop back to five and the Coventry over six is obviously going to be the hottest race.

“This syndicate is great, it’s a fantastic day out for them. Anthony Bromley and I did a pretty good job picking him up for not much money (€17,000) and they are having the time of their lives.

“Hopefully we can have a good season as they usually sell them at the end of their first year. He was small when we bought him, but he thrived since he’s been gelded.

“The name comes from the dam, Lady Rosebud. Rosebud was a sledger.”

Bishop added: “Eve does a fantastic job of buying these horses for the syndicate. The team were very bullish, I’ve barely sat on him apart from riding him at Brighton so a lot of credit goes to everyone at home and the trainer – she doesn’t do a bad job, does she?

“The Windsor Castle is back at five and it is probably a more winnable race than the Coventry Stakes. We will see how he comes out of this and if he improves again and we think it is worth a go at the Coventry then maybe we might go for that, but I would say the Windsor Castle might be more up his street.

“Obviously these connections have had luck in the Windsor Castle before with Chipotle. It would be great to get him to Royal Ascot in one piece and whatever race she decides to run him in I’m sure she won’t be wrong.”