THE days are gone when the Gold Cup was genuinely considered to be the most important race at Royal Ascot, but Big Orange and Order Of St George did their best to reinstate it with an epic duel on Thursday.

What the race did not produce is a good timefigure, as a consequence of a far-from-demanding earlier pace. Sectionals show that the principals were travelling as much as 2mph slower passing the winning post first time round as they were at the finish.

Theoretically, this helped Big Orange, who got to dictate matters, in contrast to Order Of St George, who made up several lengths in the straight only to be denied by a short-head. Both recording 100 timefigures. However there is a suspicion that Michael Bell’s horse is the more resolute, something which cannot be captured by times. One thing Big Orange does not lack for a stayer is a turn of foot. He ran 38.55s for the last three furlongs here (Order of St George 37.39s) but had returned a very quick 35.00s when beating The Grey Gatsby at 12 furlongs at Newmarket last summer.

SANTRY MARGINALLY BETTER

The other races at Royal Ascot on Thursday resulted in unexceptional times for various reasons. Sioux Nation ran a 98 timefigure in winning the Norfolk Stakes on the far side, but half-length runner-up Santry comes out marginally better on sectionals, having raced on the opposite side and done a bit more running late.

Bless Him also won on the far side in the Britannia, though sectionals were more even in the two groups in this race than in the Norfolk, for all that the near side ended up some way back. This race can turn up future Group race performers, but Bless Him’s timefigure of 101 suggests he still has some way to go.

Both the Ribblesdale Stakes, won by Coronet, and the King George V Handicap, won by Atty Persse, were run at 12 furlongs and both resulted in relatively modest timefigures of 94, a figure each achieved in contrasting styles. The runaway leader The Sky Is Blazing was initially ignored in the Ribblesdale, before the field made a concerted effort to close down, running from seven furlongs out to two furlongs out around a dozen lengths quicker than the later race and doing a bit too much in all probability.

That front-runner hit the wall at the two-furlong marker, the next in was Hertford Dancer who hit the wall herself by for the final furlong, and Coronet came through to pick up the pieces. There were probably no stars on show here, but Coronet does look as if the test of the St Leger will suit her even better.

Meanwhile, that soft middle section of the King George V Handicap meant Atty Persse in second was well positioned turning in and able to run quite quick closing sectionals to prevail. He looked the best horse at the weights, but others, notably eighth-placed Bin Battuta, might have finished closer on another day.