So Beloved produced a performance full of guts to come out on top in the Doom Bar Supreme Stakes at Goodwood.
Immediately to the front under Danny Tudhope, the David O'Meara-trained five-year-old enjoyed himself as he bowled along and soon opened up a healthy advantage, striding on readily in the seven-furlong affair.
As the runners tacked over to the stands side in the straight, favourite Here Comes When worked hard from two furlongs out to get on terms and looked to marginally head the front-runner at one stage. But So Beloved (5-2) - who scooped the Betfred Mile at the Glorious meeting last month - would not be denied and in a rip-roaring finish got back up to prevail by a head.
Tudhope said: "We didn't go out with a game plan, just to go out there and wherever he jumped off just let him travel.
"Last time he won here he came from behind and being in front is probably not the best way to ride him, but with the ground how it is we had to take advantage of the small field. He's probably better coming off the pace.
"He doesn't find a lot off the bridle and the line came just in time. He's a quirky horse, being in front didn't suit him but he got away with it.
"After his win in a big handicap here, we thought he'd turn out to be a Group horse and he has got his reward today. He loves this track.
"The other horse probably helped me, as he had been in front for a long way. When he came upside he did get headed, but he pulled it out when it mattered most."
