Elnadim and Richard Hills smashed the six-furlong course record en route to taking the Group One Darley July Cup at Newmarket yesterday afternoon.

Immediately sent into the lead by Hills from his stall 18 draw, Elnadim, whose last success was in the Diadem Stakes at Ascot last September, had his opponents toiling as he entered the final quarter-mile of the £150,000 contest.

And as the 3 to 1 favourite met the hill, the fight was over the place money.

At the line Elnadim had two lengths to spare over Tamarisk, who short-headed Danetime for second. The time of 1 minute 09.72s seconds was a course record, taking one-tenth off the previous best, set by Cadeaux Genereux in this race in 1989.

Hills was later hit with a twoday ban (July 18th and 20th) for striking his mount with excessive frequency.

The 1999 2,000 Guineas was the topic for discussion after Commander Collins had made a winning debut at 4 to 5 in the listed Weatherbys Superlative Stakes. Coral reacted by quoting him at 20 to 1 for the Classic. Linda Perratt helped herself to another hefty chunk of bookmakers' prizemoney as Scottish raider Ho Leng stole the show in the £30,000-added Ladbroke Bunbury Cup.

In a quiet season the trainer's only two previous successes came in valuable races at York sponsored by William Hill.

This time it was the turn of William Hill's main rival to provide a lifeline to Perratt, who is based just a stone's throw from Ayr racecourse.

Ho Leng (14 to 1) reaped the benefit of the powerful assistance of Michael Kinane, leading inside the final furlong to thwart Kumait by a head. Harmonic Way was a further half a length back in third.

"Michael Kinane had a 100 per cent for us going into the race - and that still remains the case. Maybe we should quit while we're ahead," said Perratt.

David Loder took the wraps of another potential top-notcher in Mythical Girl in the Chippenham Lodge Stud Fillies' Maiden.