Rejuvenated Classic winner Refuse To Bend lived up to his name to take a thrilling Coral-Eclipse Stakes at Sandown Park today.
The Frankie Dettori-ridden four-year-old settled down for a titanic duel with Warrsan in the last furlong and simply would not buckle as Darryll Holland threw everything at him on Clive Brittain's runner.
Kalaman stayed on for third after being hampered at a vital stage, but hot favourite Rakti was a massive disappointment and dropped away at the business end of the Group One contest after pulling very hard in the early stages.
Rakti missed the break, in fact, and had to switch round the entire field to make up ground under a fierce hold, to chase his stablemate and pacemaker Maktub.
Philip Robinson had a thankless task on the five-year-old as in contrast Powerscourt, Warrsan and Refuse To Bend travelled sweetly in behind him.
The writing was on the wall two furlongs out as Dettori kicked for home on the Godolphin runner, winner of last year's 2000 Guineas but completely out of sorts until his win in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Warrsan gave brave chase and it looked for a moment as if his proven stamina would win the day. But Refuse To Bend, sent off a 15-2 shot, saw out the 10-furlong trip in great style and was a head to the good at the line. Warrsan (12-1) was a further four lengths ahead of Kalaman (12-1).
Dettori said: "When you have a horse who comes into the race on a big high, you know he will run to the line. I was worried when Warrsan came to me, but he was brave and dug deep. He is a very tough and very genuine horse.
"I knew he would stay and the boss said don't be negative, be aggressive, and it paid off. The Eclipse is one of the big, big ones, and now we have got that in the bag, we know we're having a good year."