HIGHLIGHT of Thursday at Royal Ascot, and arguably highlight of the week due to a reinvigorated programme for stayers, was the Gold Cup, in which Stradivarius repeated last year’s win against similarly strong opposition. He was boxed in at one stage but showed speed and resolution to prevail.

What he did not have to do is dip into reserves of out-and-out stamina due to a surprisingly tepid earlier gallop. The last-three-furlong finishing speed for the Gold Cup was a sprightly 108.6%, and one thing Stradivarius definitely possesses, by staying standards, is a turn of foot.

His most decisive split came in the penultimate furlong, which he covered in 12.31s on good to soft going and up an incline, but he was also fastest in the final one at 12.74s, by which time the attentions of Dee Ex Bee and Master Of Reality had been shrugged off and Cross Counter’s run from further back had begun to peter out.

I have Stradivarius running a 106 timefigure, which gets raised to a more meaningful 124 on the back of those sectionals, while Dee Ex Bee earns 105 (118), Master Of Reality 105 (119) and Cross Counter 104 (122).

The last-named has some prospects of reversing places with Stradivarius at two miles at Goodwood if ridden more in touch than here, but there is no doubting who is best of the stayers and has been for some time now.

Stradivarius was the last of four winners on the card for Frankie Dettori, following A’Ali (dealt with in the two-year-old section), Sangarius and Star Catcher.

Dettori nearly made it five in a row with Turgenev in the Britannia Handicap, with sectionals showing that (with the benefit of hindsight) he kicked a bit too soon. The winner Biometric ran more efficiently (97.8% finishing speed compared to Turgenev’s 94.5%) in posting a 108 timefigure against Turgenev’s 115 (upped to 120 on sectionals).

Sangarius – a long-striding, slow-striding son of Kingman – finally started to fulfil his abundant promise by taking the Hampton Court Stakes in clear-cut style from the unlucky-in-running Fox Chairman, in a race in which the last-three-furlong finishing speed was just a bit quicker than par at 102.7%.

The winner earns a 115 basic timefigure, nudged up to 117 on sectionals, while the runner-up is on 110, boosted to 111, but is likely to bridge most if not all of that gap granted better fortune. This form is not classic standard, but it is not far off it and at least a few should improve from the race.

Star Catcher improved on previous efforts to take the Ribblesdale Stakes, but with just a 105 timefigure (107 on back of quite quick late sectionals) and might have been a shade lucky to beat Fleeting (102/105), who met trouble.

South Pacific (105/108) narrowly denied stable-companion Constantinople (116/118) in the concluding King George V Handicap, but the latter emerges with most credit under top weight and could easily make his mark against the best at this trip or a bit further.