QUEEN ALEXANDRA

STAKES

THE Queen Alexandra, the longest in the flat calendar, might have become a routine 10-furlong handicap a few years ago if Ladbrokes had had their way. However, thanks primarily to Jonathan Livingstone-Learmonth, a protest was swiftly organised, a petition went the rounds and tradition did not sustain a further blow to its battered armour.

The most famous winner was Brown Jack, who was bred in Ireland by Mr G. S. Webb. He won the Queen Alexandra six years running, as well as the Ascot Stakes and most of the other top staying races.

More recently, George Todd’s Trelawny won the Brown Jack Stakes and completed the Ascot Stakes/Queen Alexandra double two years in a row.

THOMAS HOBSON

On Saturday, Willie Mullins’ Thomas Hobson attempted the same feat, hoping to emulate Simenon, who managed it for the stable in 2012. A mighty race he ran, too, but in the closing stages he could not quite contain the remarkable Oriental Fox, 10/1, who won the race for Mark Johnston in 2015 and managed it again last week, leading 150 yards out for Joe Fanning and holding Thomas Hobson by just over a length.

Like so many of his trainer’s horses on a going day, he has a cussed streak which considers defeat a non-runner.

It was a fitting climax to a wonderful meeting, with Coolmore/Ballydoyle and Godolphin leading the way with six winners each, Ryan Moore justifying a very short price to be leading rider and Aidan O’Brien saddling three times as many winners (six) as anyone else.

Moore and Buick

RYAN Moore is a world-class jockey, perhaps the very best, and demonstrates as much on a regular basis. William Buick is not far behind and, in one of several races where a packing field meant little room and many lost chances, his effort on Rare Rhythm, out for a year, kept wide to give him every chance and then produced with perfect timing to win the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes, was a masterpiece.

Gordon nearly an Ascot winner

HER second on Steady Pace in the Wokingham may be soon forgotten but Josephine Gordon gave the horse a fine ride and very nearly became the first woman to win at Royal Ascot since Gay Kelleway all those years ago.

She can surpass the efforts of Alex Greaves and Hayley Turner and strike a major blow for her sex on a still woefully unbalanced stage.

Noseda out of luck

POOR old Jeremy Noseda. Abe Lincoln was a sustained gamble in the Hunt Cup, his first run since an agonising defeat a year ago in the Britannia, only for the ground to come up firm instead of soft. Then Sixties Groove tries to put everything right on Friday via another spirited plunge, only for Adam Kirby to find himself with as much daylight as forced rhubarb.

If these two horses do not win soon, there is no justice. (Which there may not be, of course, but maybe the gods have made a mental note.)