THE winners at Royal Ascot are justly celebrated, but there are bound to be plenty of future ones among the losers as well, and this section will attempt to identify some of the more suitable candidates.

Placed horses

Starting with Tuesday, the understandable focus on Calyx’s win in the Coventry Stakes on only his second racecourse appearance may blind people to just how well the placed horses, Advertise and Sergei Prokofiev, performed.

Calyx had to go it solo from halfway, but sectionals suggest the other two ended up a bit too far out of their ground and showed group-class speed at the business end (both well under 24.0s for the last two furlongs).

U S Navy Flag remains one to persevere with despite his unplaced effort in the St James’s Palace Stakes, with sectionals having him third best on the day behind Without Parole and Gustav Klimt. He is not going to be fully effective at a mile unless he settles better than this.

The following day, fourth-placed Urban Fox did not really get to show what she could do behind Aljazzi in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes, held up and getting going too late. She had looked up to this level when winning a good handicap at course and distance the time before.

The suspicion is that Could It Be Love has a decent race in her if ridden with a bit more restraint. She nearly got away with it against Alpha Centauri, no less, in the Irish 1000 Guineas the time before and would surely have been no worse than second in Expert Eye’s Jersey Stakes but for going too hard then hanging late on.

HANDICAPS

Making Miracles looks one to persevere with in handicaps after he struggled with the early pace in a big field before making late gains behind stable-companion Baghdad in the King George V Stakes on Thursday. A step-up in trip from this 12 furlongs may help, but a course with a longer straight, like York or Newmarket, may also have the desired effect.

Delano Roosevelt was fastest late on in the King Edward VII Stakes won by Old Persian on Friday but was battling against a pace bias and could finish only a never-dangerous fifth under Ryan Moore (who had also been on U S Navy Flag and Could It Be Love previously). He is lesser group calibre overall, rather than better, but can be given another chance.

Emblazoned looks the main one to take from a strongly-run Commonwealth Cup, in which he travelled well in the lead for a long way and still managed to hold onto third. But ninth-placed Invincible Army and twelfth-placed Equilateral are others who shaped better than the result and who are probably worth another chance.

A trio of also-rans to keep an eye on from the Windsor Castle Stakes on Saturday are Well Done Fox, Rolling King and Queen Of Bermuda, all of whom paid for racing up with the pace. Rolling King was especially impressive in breezing along in the lead in first-time blinkers, and was still in the lead one furlong out.

Second, third and fourth in the Windsor Castle made late headway having got outpaced but in fact ran closest to sectional par in a race in which the winner, Soldier’s Call, also deserves extra credit.

The Tin Man ran close to optimum efficiency in finishing fourth to Merchant Navy in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes but got messed about at a crucial stage and might have been unlucky. He won this race 12 months ago, of course, and will surely fare better than he did last year in the July Cup (in which he was a disappointing eighth in 2017) if that proves to be his next target.