IT'S been quite a few days for Salisbury racecourse chairman Jeff Smith, firstly with the well proven Alcohol Free and now with surely a well average newcomer in Seattle King who outclassed a useful looking field in the opening seven furlong maiden.

The bred in the purple Kingman colt currently has no fancy entries but will certainly be stepped in grade after sweeping past the well touted Codify who had run with distinct promise on his debut at Newbury, and another debutant in the other joint favourite Broadspear.

Seattle King had obviously been showing ability on Ralph Beckett's gallops and was well backed from 10/1 down to 100/30. Ironically it was Smith's other runner Frankella who looked as though she would give the pacemaking Codify most to do but as both faded, so Seattle King - who had underlined his greenness by having to be pushed along halfway - suddenly appeared on the rail and within seconds the race was over.

Hector Crouch said: ""I gave him one slap. He put his head down and galloped."

Smith concurred: "He's obviously smart, clearly useful."

The Southampton businessman also revealed that Alcohol Free, who gained consolation for her 1,000 Guineas defeat by taking the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot, will return to Newmarket to contest either the one mile Falmouth Stakes or the July Cup which would mean a drop back to six furlongs.

But Smith is unperturbed by the prospect. "No worries about that, no worries about the ground. In fact, no worries about anything."

A final decision will be taken nearer the day after a discussion with trainer Andrew Balding.

David Probert, still on a high after winning his first race at the Royal meeting in the Sandringham Stakes, had a comfortable two length success in the five furlong handicap on Just Glamorous who took advantage of a drop in his rating. The once highly useful sprinter can be a tricky customer but showed - to use the jockey's words - "he has not lost his mojo."

Just Glamorous, normally so quick out of the stalls, was tardy by his standards. "He just missed it at the gate but he had enough speed at the end."

Tom Marquand had been fairly confident of landing the one mile feature race on Johan and so it proved but only a titanic battle with Variyann in the final furlong. He had intended to make the running but Variyann was quicker away and set a decent gallop, the pair monopolising the proceedings.

"It's tacky ground, hard work," he reflected. "But the grittier it gets in the final couple of furlongs, the better he is."

Marquand went on to ride a treble when Kolisi ran on strongly in the final furlong to hold Marching Away with the odds-on Khaiz doing his best work in the closing stages to snatch a distant third place on the line.