Big Evs propels Mick Appleby into the fast lane as Britain's top sprinter with jockey Tom Marquand starring to win the Group Two King George Stakes

The quickest horse keeps finding more gears and is carrying his in-form trainer firmly into racing’s fast lane.

Big Evs has a fan club as big as his heart and he added a few more followers to it at Goodwood on Friday, when a jet-propelled display enabled him to land the Group Two King George Stakes.

He covered the five furlongs so quickly at one point that the speedometer read an extraordinary 45mph.

This colt has so much talent but talent alone is not enough to be successful. That Big Evs has become the top sprinter in Britain is down to the sure touch of his Leicestershire-based trainer Mick Appleby, whose remarkable week on the Sussex Downs must be championed.

From six runners at Goodwood, Appleby had four winners — including the 25-1 success of Big Mojo, owned like Big Evs by Paul Teasdale, in Thursday’s Group Two Richmond Stakes — and two second places. For a yard that doesn’t get a lot of blueblood thoroughbreds, the strike rate is remarkable.

Connections of Big Evs were crestfallen at Royal Ascot when he was pipped by Asfoora in the King Charles III Stakes but the tables were turned dramatically yesterday, with Big Evs and jockey Tom Marquand holding off a persistent late challenge from the Australian mare.

‘He’s the best I’ve ever trained,’ said Appleby, a man who doesn’t waste his words. He really could have left it there and let the contented smile on his face say everything, but he continued, explaining that York’s Nunthorpe Stakes will be next before a trip to America in November.

The Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar in California, most likely, will be his swansong — bloodstock agents were so keen to buy Big Evs for stallion duties that multi-million-pound offers were made at Royal Ascot — but there is still much to accomplish.

‘He’s an exceptional racehorse,’ said Marquand.

‘He’s got so much raw boot and in the last 100 yards he grits down as well.’

Gritting down is something Kieran Shoemark is doing in his role as No 1 rider for John and Thady Gosden and he enjoyed a confidence-boosting success on Lead Artist in the Group Three Thoroughbred Stakes, having been subjected to criticism of late.

‘He hasn’t had the rub of the green,’ said John Gosden. ‘There’s a long way to go in this season. He controlled that race and dominated it well.’