Michael Owen's first public appearance since signing for Manchester United was at Sandown Park on Saturday, perhaps reminding himself what it is to be among champions. In Sea The Stars, and the wise old heads around him, the horse lover in Owen had the perfect inspiration.

Recent Derby winners have had an unhappy relationship with the Coral-Eclipse, either ducking it or fluffing it. But if it was important for this landmark race that the latest classic hero justified his billing, it was also crucial for a sport once more enveloped by sleaze and scandal.

The heads of the wider public are turned more readily by a royal trainer and a prohibited drug than by any individual horse. But after the shocking revelations on Friday, and with the promise of more to come this week, events in the Surrey sunshine went gratifyingly to script.

Most summers have their headline horse and this one is special. Sea The Stars became the first Derby winner in 20 years to take the Eclipse and the first in seven years to win his subsequent race. He did so despite the opposition ganging up to seek flaws and despite his natural pace carrying him to the front too soon.

Any jockey less implacable than Mick Kinane might have panicked when the odds-on shot was almost joined by Rip Van Winkle at the furlong pole. Kinane knew what was under him, though, and Sea The Stars accelerated again as if merely playing with a much-vaunted rival he has now beaten three times.

Kinane has ridden numerous marquee middle-distance horses but none, he says, with the qualities of this one. “He has so much speed he could win over any trip,” he said. Add to that a placid constitution which many compare to that of his trainer, though John Oxx demurs. “He's far more laid back,” he said. “The trainer's a bit of an actor on days like this.”

The day was all too much for Chris Tsui, his young Hong-Kong based owner, who collapsed through heat and excitement after the race. Tsui is enjoying the ride, though, and showing no signs of wishing to take the fortunes he might be offered. That may change in the autumn but, until then, Oxx can plot at least three more runs, possibly starting with the King George this month.

“It's either that or the International at York - I can't see him running in both - and the King George would give him longer before his next major target, the Irish Champion Stakes,” Oxx concluded. That race, on September 5, should see the anticipated rematch with Fame And Glory, the Irish Derby winner.

Sandown, meanwhile, can bask in the reflected glory of a memorable race attended by a crowd of 15,000. The course, though, should consider two points within an otherwise contented debrief.

Firstly, it must banish the notion that the Eclipse can be reinvented as the final leg of a modern Triple Crown. It is not a classic, nor a race limited to three-year-olds, hence to bracket it with the Guineas and Derby is contrived and counterproductive.

Secondly, Sandown must maximise its virtues by using the paddock as a winner's enclosure for its biggest races. The present model is too clubby, too far from the crowds to produce the theatre demanded by champions.