She sustained her only defeat when finishing second on her racecourse debut but won her remaining three races in 1985 including the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster and the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp.

The price was less than half Alleged's stud fee at the time and was explained by the fact that the filly's legs, according to one authority, "deviated from the ideal to a marked degree".

She was restrained in the early stages by her veteran jockey Lester Piggott before taking the lead in the straight and winning by three lengths from Tender Loving Care.

After the race, Hanbury admitted that he had always considered Midway Lady to be primarily an Oaks filly, but that Piggott had insisted that she had the speed to win a Guineas.

Her winning time of 2:35.60 was more than one and a half seconds faster than that recorded by Shahrastani, when beating Dancing Brave in the Derby over the same course and distance three days earlier.

[8] In November 1986, Midway Lady was offered for sale at Keeneland, and was bought for $3.3m by representatives of Hamdan Al Maktoum's Shadwell Stud.

[9] Midway Lady produced several other winners, most notably Eswarah (sired by Unfuwain), who emulated her mother by winning the Epsom Oaks in 2005.