He was originally trained in Italy, where he won eight races at the ages of three and four including the Group One Premio Vittorio di Capua.

For his new connections Ramonti won three of Britain's most important mile races in 2007, before winning the ten furlong Hong Kong Cup.

[5] Ramonti's dam, Fosca was an American-bred daughter of El Gran Senor and a direct descendant of the Fillies Triple Crown winner Meld.

Ramonti was unraced as a two-year-old and began his career by winning a 1400m race at Milan's San Siro Racecourse on 30 March 2005.

In June Ramonti returned to Group class to win the Premio Emilio Turati by two and a half lengths from Ryono.

Two months later, his first race in international company ended in failure as he finished seventh of the ten runners behind Librettist and Manduro in the Prix Jacques le Marois at Deauville Racecourse.

[8] Returning to Italy, Ramonti was surprisingly beaten at odds of 1/4 in a Listed race in Milan and then contested the Group One Premio Vittorio di Capua at the same course in October.

Ridden as usual by Botti, Ramonti led from the start and pulled clear of his opponents in the straight to record his first Group One win by beating the British-trained favourite Notability by two and a half lengths.

He was then sent to Sha Tin Racecourse for the Hong Kong Mile in which he made the running and then stayed on after being headed in the straight to finish third to the locally trained runners The Duke and Armada.

After the race Godolphin's spokesman Simon Crisford admitted that the team were surprised by Ramonti's performance, saying that "we didn't anticipate he'd be winning this - we thought he would be a horse who we would campaign abroad.

He quickly opened up a clear lead[15] and stayed on strongly to hold the late challenge[16] of the favourite Excellent Art by a head, with Jeremy third and Asiatic Boy in fourth.

Three weeks later, Ramonti ran in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot and started at odd of 5/1 in a field which included Excellent Art, Darjina and Duke of Marmalade.

[19] Mick Kinane on the runner-up was unable to obtain a clear run and lodged a formal objection to the winner, but the racecourse stewards allowed Ramonti to keep the race after an inquiry.