IT was all about ‘Girl Power’ at Ascot last Wednesday as Love and Audarya fought out the finish of the day’s feature race, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes, with Aidan O’Brien’s filly proving the strongest to provide the master of Ballydoyle with his 75th Royal Ascot winner.

After such a lengthy absence from the track Love (119+) could have been forgiven for not being at her sharpest. However, jockey Ryan Moore had few doubts about her fitness as he assumed the lead and dictated throughout the contest to win by a hard-fought three-quarters of a length from Audarya (118) who was also making her seasonal comeback.

The overall time of the race was not as fast as would be expected for horses of this calibre, but the closing sectionals achieved by the first three home were of Group 1 quality and, as it transpired, being at the head of affairs was the deciding factor for the daughter of Galileo.

In comparison to Love’s closing three-furlong effort of 35.88 seconds, Audarya (35.72 seconds) came home faster and third-placed Armory (35.70 seconds) slightly faster again.

There is little doubt the winner will improve for the run as Aidan O’Brien revealed post-race she was not cherry ripe.

However, perhaps more pertinent to the filly’s future engagements was the comment that the Ballydoyle team had been keen to avoid the soft ground ahead of her reappearance.

On the occasions when the multiple Group 1 winner has encountered ground with any semblance of soft or yielding in the description she has been beaten, otherwise her record is impeccable.

The dilemma that faced William Buick on Audarya was how long to delay his challenge without having to manoeuvre around Sangarius, who was able to go deep into the race due to the relatively slow early pace.

Although this was eventually the route the pair had to take, it arguably made no difference to the result and the winner would confirm placings with the daughter of Wootton Bassett under similar conditions.

Armory (115) continues to come up short at this grade and, although Love’s stablemate was most disadvantaged by track position, it may be that winning at Group 2 level, as he did at Chester, is the limit of his ability.

Most impressive

The most impressive performance of the day, on the clock at least, was that of Real World (110+) who turned the Royal Hunt Cup into a procession posting an overall time and closing sectionals of a very smart performer.

Having raced exclusively on an artificial surface, mainly in Dubai, this was the first occasion that the son of Dark Angel had encountered turf and it is no surprise his trainer has designated the four-year-old a pattern-class horse.

The runaway win was also notable for being the first winner on the straight track to not have the advantage of racing on the stands’ side with a group of 10 heading to far rail, led by Eastern World.

The group stands’ side was taken along by Teston with the early pace similar for both groups as the leaders reached the halfway point at a near identical time; Teston 50.44 seconds and Eastern World 50.57 seconds.

After tracking the leader, Marco Ghiani asked his mount to quicken approaching the two-furlong marker and the response was immediate as the Saeed bin Suroor-trained colt put seven and three-quarter lengths between himself and Beat Le Bon (102) who was his nearest pursuer on the far side, finishing off in an impressive 35.70 seconds.

Beat Le Bon has been progressing with each run and ran with credit again here after missing the break.

Passing the intersection of the courses, the Hollie Doyle-ridden gelding had yet to pass a horse on his side of the course yet finished six lengths clear of the next best on the far side, Fantasy Believer.

The visual impression is backed up by the closing sectional of 36.29 being the equal of Astro King (102) who finished second and led home the stands’ side runners and he could be one to consider for Goodwood next month where his form figures read 115.

The run of Layfayette (100) should also be noted, his closing sectional of 36.16 seconds can be upgraded slightly as Colin Keane chose to switch Noel Meade’s gelding to obtain a run rather than sit and suffer as some did around him. He remains in good form and can land another big handicap to add to his Irish Lincolnshire win from earlier in the campaign.

Of those who did not get a clear run Ouzo (100) (36.31 seconds), Bugle Major (97) (36.40 seconds) and Trais Fluors (97) (36.54 seconds) should be considered in their forthcoming engagements.