Joe Fanning stole the show with a near 200-1 treble for Mark Johnston and in the process equalled his best score of 84 at Musselburgh yesterday.

He, and not the jockeys' title contenders, took the riding honours as Frankie Dettori drew a blank and Kieren Fallon was an absentee having missed his flight to Scotland,

John Robie, one of Dettori's intended mounts was withdrawn because of the soft ground, but he picked up spares on two of Fallon's intended mounts Azreme and Smart Starprincess, but gave up the ride on the latter because he was unwell.

Fanning returned to action only on Friday after three and a half weeks on the sidelines with a broken collar-bone.

He earned fulsome praise from the Middleham trainer's wife Deirdre after his successes on Kindling, Go Padero and Swift Sailor.

Mrs Johnston said: ''Joe is a brilliant tactician around here, he is worth his weight in gold and it was a great pity that he broke his collar-bone.

''He had ridden 80 winners at the time and he had his best chance of reaching a century, but we are not finished yet by any means so you never know, he might still do it.''

Kindling (7-2) made virtually all the running to take the European Breeders Fund Maiden Stakes in the colours of the Duke of Roxburghe's wife Virginia.