This was a day to gamble. Aidan O’Brien admitted the ‘lads’ had wanted to see if crack three-year-old Paddington could stay 10 furlongs – and against older opponents – for the first time.

It was also a punt to know the appropriate attire, with oppressive humidity coupled with band of slow-moving showers meaning it was 10-11 each of two for shirt-sleeves and straw hats making way for raincoats and trilbies.

The rain set in an hour and a half before racing, with the resulting two millimetres not enough to spoil perfect summer racing ground.

It could have been an uncomfortable afternoon too, for the sponsors. Although far from vintage numerically, with just four runners, this was still a test for punters and equines alike.

It only takes two to make a good horse race and the big two did not disappoint.

Paddington had carried all before him, winning an Irish 2,000 Guineas before proving himself the best mile Classic winner with a thoroughly conclusive defeat of Newmarket victor Chaldean in the St James’s Palace Stakes.

O’Brien initially hinted the Siyouni colt would head to Goodwood for the Sussex Stakes, yet the temptation to take on top four-year-old filly Emily Upjohn, in receipt of a 7lb weight concession, was too great to pass up.

Gamble though this was, especially just 18 days after his Ascot romp, Coolmore’s breeding empire could add a nought to the end of his stallion fee by winning top-class 10-furlong races.

A bundle of eager, brown muscle in the paddock, the 8-11 favourite looked even better in his coat than he had at Ascot, if that was at all possible, and that translated into a wonderful display of patience and power.

Ryan Moore took a tow from West Wind Blows, hit the front soon enough in the straight and fended off proven stayer Emily Upjohn after a rip-roaring duel to prevail by half a length.

Paddington is now the winner of six of his seven races, his sole defeat coming on his debut at Ascot last September.

It may have been an expected and record seventh win in the race for the trainer, but Paddington keeps surprising him.

“We thought he was a very good horse the first time he went to Ascot when he was a baby. We gave him a lot of time then to recover and he won very impressively at the Curragh in a maiden,” said O’Brien.

“We decided to leave him alone and let him winter and start him in as low a grade as we could start him and that’s what we did.

“But I suppose the surprising thing about him is the progress he is making from race to race. He is getting more confident, he is getting stronger mentally and physically.

“He is getting more professional and it is amazing what he is doing. We didn’t intend on coming here, but he was a lot heavier today, two weeks after running at Ascot, which is very unusual.

“He came out of Ascot in a very unusual good way.

“There are always outliers, there are always special horses – that is the way it is. There is no rule, because horses do different things, but it is very surprising what he is doing.”

O’Brien is surrounded by those with impeccable instincts, men not averse to risk taking. Michael Tabor (owner of Victor Chandler), Derrick Smith (former trading director for Ladbrokes), Joe Lewis (currency trader) and John Magnier, Coolmore owner, a genius who always backs his bloodstock judgement.

O’Brien is the steady hand on the tiller and you now have to dig deep to the lint at the bottom the bag of superlatives to find a new way to laud his remarkable talent.

Right on cue, the sun then made an appearance as O’Brien admitted it was something of a gamble to run Paddington in his third top-level race so fleetingly.

“Everything is a gamble. Every day you run is a gamble with these horses. When you find those type of horses, what the lads try to do is expose them, because their job is to breed racehorses and supply mares to them.

“They want to expose them with all their flaws, all their strengths. Every year they do that more and more. They don’t protect the way they used to. They want to see what they are able and not able to do.

“I admire them for that. I suppose the big thing is they love their racing and the racing is rising above everything else now. They love going racing, they love planning and they love thinking about those horses and it’s gone more of a love and a passion with then now than it has ever been before, for me. I can’t tell you how passionate they are about racing.”

O’Brien has now eclipsed Alec Taylor Jr and and Sir Michael Stoute as the trainer with the most wins in the Group One contest, which he first won with Giant’s Causeway in 2000.

“He is a lot quicker than Giant’s Causeway. His constitution is amazing too,” said the Ballydoyle handler.

“Giant always ran at the same weight but this horse is getting heavier. So, obviously, physically, he is doing very well. He has surprised us so much with every run.

“Seamus (Heffernan) rides him work every day and the last day he rode him, he got off and couldn’t talk. When those fellas who are riding that many horses and are getting that way, it just takes you back a little bit.

“I try not to delve into it too much, because I try not to get everyone thinking about what could be too much, so we just go on quick, to the next one, the next day. There is something very different happening.

“It was different today with the way he hit the gates and the way he travelled. With the ease he got to the front and when he got to the front, he knew he’d gone professional and he knew he’d won his race. Obviously for us it is very exciting.”