An Oxfordshire landmark has been put on the racing map by the exploits of the crack colt Kingston Hill.

Owner Paul Smith revealed after the two-year-old won the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster last month that he had named him after a steep climb in Chinnor that he regularly tackles on his road bike.

Now the dark grey son of Mastercraftsman has his connections dreaming of even greater glory after being installed as a best-priced 10-1 second favourite for the Investec Derby next June.

The colt’s success has also rekindled memories of his younger years for trainer Roger Varian.

The Newmarket handler said: “I didn’t realise until I read it in the Racing Post how the horse was named.

“I grew up in Chinnor, but I didn’t know what hill Kingston Hill was. We knew it as Chinnor Hill and we used to toboggan down it.”

Varian, who went to Ashfold School, near Dorton, moved to Radnage, near Stoken-church, as his teenage years approached.

But he remained in touch with his roots, and began riding out point-to-pointers for Alan and Lawney Hill, who train at Aston Rowant, and competed between the flags at Kingston Blount.

“That was where it would have started for me going to the races,” he recalled. “I had my first ride there.”

Kingston Hill was making it three wins from as many starts with victory in the Group 1 contest on Town Moor after following up a smooth victory in a Newbury maiden on his debut by capturing the Group 3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket.

He romped home by four and a half lengths in the hands of Andrea Atzeni at Doncaster from Johann Strauss, who runs in the colours of Smith’s father, Derrick.

And Paul Smith, from Beaconsfield, said at the time: “It is fabulous. I just can’t really take it all in. It is what dreams are made of.”