ROYAL Ascot this week reminded us that people will actually pay expensive prices in this day and age, if they feel the product is deemed worth it and want to be part of it.

Royal Ascot is still one of the desired places to be of a summer’s week. And what’s more, almost everyone went home happy.

The big prizes were shared out; Juddmonte, Godolphin, Coolmore, Wathnan got a few, and many smaller players still got a look-in.

A non-racing fan asked me last week, how much difference does a jockey make in a race? If we were to use this week’s Royal Ascot as an example, I’m not sure how the answer would come.

Breed the best to the best we are told, put the best on the best? Can anyone hit the target on the given day? Surely yes is the answer, this week. We had Australian riders winning, who were not familiar with the track.

And how do we present what the Queen Anne told us on jockeyship? In the finish to a big race, two top riders lost their whips. Another looked to be coming to win but didn’t give his horse a final decisive crack in the last furlong.

Mark Zahra, whipless on Docklands when it came to the crunch, beat Sean Levey who had unfortunately used his six permitted strikes, one more might have made the difference on Rosallion. One for the who needs whips brigade?

And did Ryan Moore always get it right? On the round course at Ascot, in big fields, even the best are hostage to fortune and Reaching High met a troubled passage. Those who bet La Botte and Jamie Spencer in the Britannia could also feel aggrieved with his run.

Fastest of the field

In the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, Ryan Moore raced the first and second furlongs on Los Angeles much faster than any of his main rivals, chasing his pacemaker. His second furlong was 11.10 secs, much the fastest of the field who generally ignored the pacemaker. It’s pretty fast for a staying horse. From the back, Ombudsman’s final furlong of 11.982 secs was the only one under 12 secs in the field. It was faster than the two two-year-olds True Love and Havana Hurricane managed in the final of their five-furlong contests.

William Buick had not had the best week to that point, having to switch and dropped his whip on Notable Speech and Ruling Court running below par, but it rose from here.

Johnny Murtagh was good on ITV at stating the obvious, something not always carried through in racing, when describing Colin Keane’s ride on Field Of Gold; “the best horse” that still needed to be given a good ride, and William Buick picked up those reins and did the same thing on Trawlerman in the Gold Cup. He stayed the two miles and four furlongs, so made the rest of them try chase him down.

The Aidan O’Brien two-year-olds were bigger and better than everyone else, and perhaps with the best one still at home in Albert Einstein!

Godolphin won two big ones, a comeback for John and Thady Gosden after a spell in the wilderness last season. They had just two Royal Ascot winners, a handicap and a Group 2, but this time landed a big three with Field Of Gold, Ombudsman and Trawlerman, and Gosden has the happy task of keeping the first two apart now.

Golden Horn, it was pointed out, was the first horse to sire a winner of the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup at Ascot since none other than the late great Sadler’s Wells back in 2000 with Istabraq and Kayf Tara.

Comments from those not generally on the Royal Ascot big stage, Henry de Bromhead, Billy Lee, Paddy Twomey, Gary Carroll and the overseas riders, showed how much success on this big stage meant. All in all, there was surprisingly little to complain about for the racing week that spanned Royal Ascot 2025!

Jason Brautigam@DizzyJB

Today’s crowd of 45,551 on Royal Ascot’s Opening Day proves that racing can buck the downward trend when the racing product and customer experience is right, with attendance returning to pre-pandemic levels (and actually exceeding 2017 & 2019).

Ciarán Ó Deoráin@ciaranodeorain

John Gosden’s last five Solario winners....

Raven’s Pass, Kingman, Too Darn Hot, Reach For The Moon, Field Of Gold

With the exception of RFTM, you can pretty much take it as given that if a Gosden horse is good enough to be a group winner at 2, they’re going to be a top 3yo.

Henry de Bromhead@

HenrydeBromhead

Ascending, we are so proud of you. So delighted for our great friends

@ChrisJo28369694 & family . Thank you to all of our owners for your continued support, our horses for always trying, and our staff for putting so much into days like yesterday.

Denis@carvillshill

RIP Kevin Prendergast. A true legend of the sport.

Mike Vince@halo_straight

Such sad news of the death of legendary Irish trainer Kevin Prendergast, the last of a glorious dynasty. Meeting and talking to him was always a pleasure- and the smiles on him and accomplice

@chrishayes24 when Awtaad unforgettably won that Guineas will never be forgotten.