East Ilsley trainer Hughie Morrison put a 27-day streak without a winner behind him in the best possible fashion - by bagging his first-ever Group One success.

Pastoral Pursuits, back in trip after the mile Queen Anne Stakes, skipped clear to score by one-and-a-half lengths from Avonbridge in the Group One Darley July Cup over six furlongs.

But Morrison came within an inch of pulling out the four-year-old Bahamian Bounty colt on the morning of the race because of ground concerns

He revealed: "I nearly didn`t run because of the ground. I was staying down the road and I spoke to Michael Prosser at six o`clock this morning and he said �10 millimetres of rain` and I thought, �Oh my God`.

"I rang them up in the yard and said, �No we won`t`. Then I thought about it and we changed our mind.

"But actually, we walked the course and it is absolutely fantastic ground out there. I would call it perfect ground.

"Anyway, his brother Goodricke likes good to soft and he won on good to soft as a two-year-old."

Pastoral Pursuits has not had an entirely straightforward career as Morrison explained.

"He had a small chip in his knee at the end of his two-year-old season, so we put him away. Every year as a two-year-old, a three-year-old and this, he`s just not come to hand.

"He had what we call juvenile spots in his throat in May - that`s why we didn`t run in the Lockinge. But I felt this was the right track for him if we were coming back to six. It`s a stiff track.

"And John Egan just said he couldn`t believe how easily he was going in a Group One.

"We might go six-and-a-half - the Prix Maurice du Gheest (at Deauville on August 7) is the next target I suppose.

"It`s our first Group One winner and it`s immense. I can`t believe it. I wasn`t exactly confident. But my assistant Gerry Gracey who rides him at home said �This horse is back to his best`. He worked well on Sunday.

"I bought him for 24,000 guineas as a yearling at the October Sale (at Tattersalls in Newmarket) and sold him to five people who wanted a share in a horse. The National Stud own 40 per cent now and they buy the syndicate out at the end of the year.

"He will go to stud next year with a proper CV."