Hukum notches first Group 1 for thrilled Owen Burrows in Coronation Cup at Epsom

There was little or no pace to the contest for much of the way which would have helped the winner, as once it became a sprint he was always well placed both in terms of his handy position in the field and his obvious pace over this sort of trip.

A previous Group 3 and Group 2 winners, he ran on strongly throughout the final quarter-mile to win by a decisive margin of over four lengths and get his name on the Epsom roll of honour.

Last year's winner Pyledriver was resolute in defeat, sticking on for second in tenacious fashion, when for a while it looked as though that minor honour would go the way of High Definition, who in the end had to settle for third.

After a tough year in which winning trainer Owen Burrows lost a significant number of horses due to the reduction in operations of some of his key owners, he said: "He's been a wonderful horse for me. A numerous Group 3 winner and obviously won his Group 2 in Dubai.

"He ran arguably his best race in the Sheema Classic against that type of horse. He was drawn wide that day and they didn't go very quick and he was only beaten a length and a half so I always felt that there's one in him. I am just thrilled he has done it. For myself, my team back home it's been well documented it's been a tough 12 months. I'm thrilled for everybody and the horse.

"We've got reduced numbers. This hopefully will document that we can get the job done and hopefully we can entice a few more owners and get more horses in."

As for future plans for Hukum, Burrows says he may now have to have a rethink: "He was pretty impressive there. We'll have to get our heads together and see where we go next. It's important that he's got a little bit of juice in the ground but he's pretty versatile."