Starman's Moonfall takes the Britannia

Starman was to the fore at Royal Ascot on Thursday as Moonfall continued his rapid progression for George Boughey to take the hugely competitive Britannia Stakes under Zac Lloyd.

Always prominent on the stands side, Moonfall took it up a furlong out and was always in control thereafter to win by just under a length.

The three-year-old, who looked a smart prospect when winning at Newbury last summer, races for the Exors of the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, who paid 200,000gns for him as a yearling through George Boughey.

"It's been the plan for a while to come here," said Boughey. "Moonfall had a bit of an interrupted autumn last year, and I hope he's a horse who can progress.

"He did it quite easily. He was just weak last autumn, and I had him ready to go to Doncaster at the end of the year and I wasn't happy with him when I saw him at the track and I scratched him, and then the ground went. I ran him in the Superlative and we thought he was a stakes horse, and I think that's what you need to win a race like this."

Moonfall was bred by Empire Bloodstock out of Leala, also the dam of fellow Royal Ascot scorer Soprano.