Extortionist beaten a neck in glorious Goodwood's feature sprint

Trained by Olly and Hetta Stevens for Sheikh Suhaim, the three-year-old was beaten a mere neck in the £100,000 Gr.2 Betfred King George Stakes over five furlongs, a race which attracted 12 runners.

On very quick ground and a track which runs downhill for almost half the race, jockey Ryan Moore had to keep at Extortionist to remain on the heels of the field, but once the ground began to level out he picked up and made noticeable progress. As other rivals came back to him Moore was forced to go wide and onto the far rail, but the pair finished with great purpose, beating all bar winner Take Cover.

Olly Stevens said: "I'm very happy with him. He looked quite flat-footed coming down the hill and it probably wasn't his ideal track, and at halfway he ran a little short of racing room and had to keep switching out and switching out. When a horse comes from behind you need a bit of luck in running.

"He's run another very good race, but all credit to the winner - our horse's time will come."

That time may come at York, in the Gr.1 Nunthorpe Stakes, for Stevens said: "There's only one five-furlong race left in England this season above Group Three level, and so he'll go there.

"He was a very well-built horse last and pretty strong as a yearling - he was the first yearling David Redvers bought to be trained at Robins Farm [Stevens' Surrey base] - but we struggled to get consistency in his first season, and that's really important and a powerful thing to have on your side."

Extortionist is a classic sprinter, being handsome, muscular and well built, and Stevens added: "He's always been overly-masculine, which suited me well coming from the experience of racing in America where a lot of horses are like that.

"When he goes well and it all ties together you wonder if he might stay six furlongs, but there's a logical option of going five furlongs at the next level up in a few weeks' time [the Nunthorpe] so we'll stick at five and consider a longer trip later in the year on quick ground."

Qatar Racing's Wind Fire also ran in this race, and although seventh was only beaten a couple of lengths by the winners, while the Stevens-trained Lightning Thunder was withdrawn from the Bonhams Thoroughbred Stakes after failing to eat up overnight.