John and Thady Gosden’s Trawlerman confirmed his position at the top of the staying division when battling on bravely to land the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup at York.

With no Kyprios standing in his way this season, Trawlerman claimed a well-deserved success in the Ascot Gold Cup when running out a seven-length winner over Illinois in June and as a result, he was sent off a 5/6 chance to land a third success of the season under William Buick.

Returning to York for the first time since his remarkable Ebor triumph in 2022, John and Thady Gosden's seven-year-old was forced to pull out all the stops in the closing stages to fend off his stablemate Sweet William by a length and a quarter.

"They're two fabulous old stayers," said John Gosden, who was claiming his fifth success in the race since 2018.

Trawlerman was cut to 5/4 (from 9/4) by Paddy Power for the Long Distance Cup at Ascot on Champions Day, with Gosden confirming that as his likely next port of call.

He said: "They've been around the block a few times and it's lovely to see them run so well. Hopefully Sweet William will go to the Doncaster Cup and Trawlerman will wait for Ascot

"We knew there'd be a good pace. The key thing with this boy is to not let the pace slack. As you saw with Trawlerman, he galloped them into the ground in the Gold Cup."

Carroll and Wheatley taste Gimcrack glory with Lifeplan

Declan Carroll and Zac Wheatley both enjoyed their biggest success to date when Lifeplan struck to make it twos wins from as many starts in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes at York.

Upped straight to Group 2 level on the back of his impressive debut victory at Thirsk, Lifeplan travelled strongly just off the pace in the hands of Zak Wheatley. Success didn't always look likely for the talented son of Kodi Bear as Kevin Ryan's Rock On Thunder shot into a clear lead inside the final furlong, but once let down by Wheatley, Lifeplan finished with a real rattle to reel in the leader and score by a comfortable length in the end.