RAIN on top of ground which had been watered provided unsatisfactory going on the second day of Ascot’s King George fixture, and that may have been partially responsible for a surprising result in the opening Princess Margaret Stakes.

The Group 3 contest was won by James Tate’s Under The Stars (P J McDonald), a daughter of 2000 Guineas winner Night Of Thunder who showed marked improvement from her winning debut at Ripon. She beat Albany Stakes third Aroha (Brian Meehan/Harry Bentley) and Karl Burke’s Beverley novice winner Living In The Past (Frankie Dettori), with warm favourite Summer Romance disappointing having been difficult in the preliminaries.

She may not have handled the loose ground, but a bigger worry for Charlie Appleby’s Empress Stakes winner is this display of temperament, and hopefully she can prove this was just an aberration.

“She’s a gutsy little filly. We didn’t know what we had under the bonnet as she’s very laid back at home and just does what you ask and no more,” said the winning trainer. “We were delighted to find out at Ascot on Saturday how much extra she had. The Lowther is a definite (needs to be supplemented) and we’ll dream after that. Obviously the Moyglare and the Cheveley Park are the obvious targets if all goes well.”

The valuable International Handicap was dominated by female riders, with course specialist Raising Sand (Jamie Osborne/Nicola Currie) appreciating the rain to get the better of Nigel Tinkler’s gambled-on Kaeso (Hollie Doyle) and only the Roger Charlton-trained Blue Mist spoiled what would have been a remarkable trifecta, as he held off the strong-finishing Ripp Orf (Hayley Turner) for third. Given this display, it seems even more remarkable that Turner’s success aboard Thanks Be last month was the first riding success by a woman at the Royal Meeting since Gay Kelleway and Sprowston Boy made history 32 years ago.

Around the tracks

EMMET Mullins started Galway in great style with the bumper winner on Monday, but also struck at Uttoxeter last Friday with Da Dou Ron Ron, who won in the colours of Paul Byrne on his first start since leaving Cumbria-based trainer Dianne Sayer last autumn.

At Newton Abbot on Monday, Peter Fahey teamed up with champion jockey Richard Johnson to land the bumper with the progressive Josie Abbing, a daughter of Fame And Glory, and at Ffos Las, David Marnane struck with Jered Maddox (Donagh O’Connor) in the three-year-old plus maiden, a fine piece of placing to win with a horse rated 62 who has made only minor impact in handicaps.