Kevin Ryan's Tiddliwinks sprung a surprise in the Duke Of York totepool Stakes.

The six year-old, racing in the famous checked colours of Guy Reed, lowered the colours of his better fancied rivals when taking the Group Two contest by a head and a neck from The Cheka and Society Rock.

Soul and Richard Hannon's pair Elnawin and Libranno were among the early pacesetters with Jamie Spencer riding a waiting race aboard the son of Piccolo with Sirius Prospect also in rear having reared at the off as his blindfold was removed.

Bogart, another who was always in the front rank, ran on strongly despite edging to his right which left Society Rock short of room for the second time in the closing stages.

Spencer, however, had them all covered and last year's third produced a telling turn of foot to take the lead and hold on dourly.

Bogart, a stablemate of the winner, just missed out on the places with The Cheka finishing strongly up the stands' side rail to claim second and the rallying Society Rock relegating him to fourth in the shadow of the post.

The latter was not the only runner with a possible hard-luck story as supplementary entry Restiadargent endured a horror passage before running on strongly while Hoof It also made late gains having been struggling at halfway.

Another leading fancy, Mayson, failed to fire with jockey Paul Hanagan reporting that he boiled over in the stalls.

An emotional Ryan paid tribute to the winning owner, saying: "Unfortunately Mr Reed can't be here today but I told him Tiddliwinks was a better horse coming into this race than he was last year. We really did fancy him. I knew Bogart would run well but he's going to improve an awful lot for the outing.

"I'm just so pleased to have a winner for Mr Reed at this meeting. He's been a huge supporter of the yard, he's 15 to 20 horses with me every year. He's a wonderful character, a wonderful man and I'm so pleased for him."

"I thought he'd got there too soon, but when Jamie gave him a squeeze he just took off. Thankfully, he held on.

"He's had plenty of bad draws and no luck in big sprint handicaps.

"The ground was too soft for him at Newmarket last time, but you can't win this without having a run, so we had to run him there."

The Cheka's trainer, Eve Johnson Houghton, said: "I'm absolutely thrilled to bits and he's confirmed he's a sprinter.

"We'll have to look at the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot next - I don't mind being second to Black Caviar!"