The persistent coercion which has earned Pat Eddery 11 jockeys' titles was in awesome evidence at Chester yesterday. The 11-time champion drew to the last joule of his energies to propel Sadian to a narrow win in the Group Three Ormonde Stakes, six days after playing the enforcer on another John Dunlop-trained older horse, Silver Patriarch, in the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket.

The stewards banned Eddery for four days for excessive use of his whip on that occasion but this time he escaped punishment.

Eddery, who to the naked eye appeared to strike his mount 11 times, got at Sadian as he appeared to be fading with five furlongs to go. The horse, despite a constant struggle for balance, bravely answered Eddery's demands to wear down Secret Saver for a neck success.

Responding to the media demand to talk us through it, Eddery said: "He is lazy. The last time he ran he gave me a much better ride because he was much fresher.

"But today he started to run very lazy at the five, but he kept picking up - he is a tough horse.

"The horse that was in front of me was Secret Saver, which I have ridden, and I know he is a pretty good horse, and I didn't want to let him get too far away from me. So I stoked him all the way and luckily I got him towards the end."

Eddery said he "didn't resort to the whip until as late as possible".

Oath staked his claim for a place in the line-up for next month's Epsom Derby with a convincing performance. Sent off a well-backed 2 to 1 favourite for the Dee Stakes, he had the Listed contest sewn up by the time the runners came into the straight.

Keeping on strongly in the hands of Kieren Fallon, Oath won by five lengths from Little Rock.

Oath was slashed in betting for the Derby and offered at prices ranging from 14 to 1 to 20 to 1.

Trainer Henry Cecil said: "He is pretty adaptable and neat so he should be all right at Epsom.

"He's in the Derby but is also in the King Edward Stakes and the Italian Derby so we'll have to see how things turn out."

The winner is owned by Ahmed Salman's Thoroughbred Corporation, who also have the much-vaunted Killer Instinct. That colt still holds the Derby entry and is due to run at Nottingham today.

Cecil and Fallon went on to complete a double when Chester House justified odds of 2 to 5 in the Huxley Stakes.

He needed to be firmly driven by his jockey before finally taking charge in the Listed event.

Royal Ascot is a possible next stop for Khalid Abdulla's colt who will be much improved by the run.