Harry Eustace’s excellent Royal Ascot continued when Time For Sandals defied odds of 25/1 to land the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup on Friday.

Trained by Harry Eustace, who claimed a breakthrough success at the top level earlier in the week having saddled Docklands to narrowly land the opening Queen Anne Stakes, Time For Sandals looked to have work to do with some of her rivals and was a 25/1 chance under Richard Kingscote.

However, her backers soon had something to get excited about as she moved into contention on the far of the course, quickening up smartly between rivals to hit the front with a furlong to go before showing a determined attitude to fight off the late challenge from Arizona Blaze, who made his bid more towards the near side.

The winning distance was a neck, with the supplemented French raider Rayevka back in third.

It was a second career victory for Time For Sandals, who was winning for the first time since her debut success as a two-year-old.

Eustace said: "The last race just gave us enough confidence, as the most concerning part was the draw. After Karl's filly [Venetian Sun] came out of stall one, everyone just stayed there, and we had plenty of pace.

"It is the first time she has had a fast horse to follow. We were, I don't want to say very confident, but we just felt we hadn't seen the best from her for one reason or another. My voice is in dire straits!

"She always shaped up to being pretty good. At home, we felt we had excuses for her. She has never run a bad one and was always right there, but she just had not quite put it all together. We were always confident in a race like this, where there would be fast horses taking her along – that is really what she needed. Don't get me wrong, we didn't dream we would get here, but she's always been pretty good."

On the week as a whole, Eustace added: "It has been an extraordinary week, and that is all down to the team at home. I stand here and talk to you on camera, but they are the ones up in the mornings, feeding them, riding them, checking them – it's all the little things all the way through and I can't thank them enough.

The owners are relatively new, and this is the second ever horse they have had. They are pretty lucky people."