Attendance up on day one

THE crowd for the opening day of Royal Ascot this year came to 47,629. This compares to 47,250 on the same day last year and 46,047 in 2014.

Stalls test

BOTH Goken and Battaash will not be allowed to run again until they pass a stalls test. Goken, trained by Kevin Ryan, was the subject of a third criteria failure, while Battaash, trained by Charles Hills, was unruly in the stalls.

A flat finish

THE stewards noted that inside the final furlong of the King’s Stand Stakes, Jungle Cat, placed fourth, had hung right-handed causing Mecca’s Angel, unplaced, to have to be checked for a couple of strides, but were satisfied that it neither involved a riding offence nor improved Jungle Cat’s placing.

Paul Mulrennan, the rider of Mecca’s Angel, who started favourite and finished unplaced, reported that the filly ran flat. The veterinary officer reported that a post-race examination of the filly during routine testing failed to reveal any abnormalities.

Kildare dreaming

JARLATH Fahey’s first runner at Royal Ascot proved to be a winner. Fahey, 48, from Co Kildare said: “It is unbelievable to come here with a nine-year-old Flemensfirth mare and a take a race at Royal Ascot. It’s what dreams are made of.” Jennies Jewel, who is a Grade 3 winner over hurdles, was last seen winning over two miles at the Curragh in May.

“She’s a special mare and she was given a very special ride and I’d give all the credit to the mare. She’s a mare that keeps coming back for more and every time she runs she just finds more. She doesn’t know how to run a bad race and she definitely doesn’t know how to give in.”

Jennies Jewel also provided her jockey, 23-year-old Ronan Whelan, who hails from Monasterevin in Co Kildare, his first Royal Ascot winner.

Whelan started his career in racing at the winning trainer’s Jarlath Fahey’s yard and has repaid that leg-up in spades coming home a neck to the good on the 6/1 chance after making all.

Soft going

THE racecourse was hit by nearly 12 millimetres of rain on Monday and Tuesday but the Clerk of the Course, Chris Stickels left the going at soft.

However, the representative of Andre Fabre, the trainer of Esoterique, unplaced in the first race of the day, the Queen Anne Stakes, felt the going was softer and more holding than as described.

A number of jockeys echoed this opinion:

  • Julien Leparoux, jockey of the half-length winner Tepin, said: “It is pretty soft. When I walked it it didn’t seem to bad but when I rode it they were getting into it.”
  • Oisin Murphy, jockey of third-placed Lightning Spear, said: “It is very soft, bordering on heavy.”
  • Pierre-Charles Boudot, on board Esoterique, said: “Heavy.”

    • The Clerk of the Course said late on Tuesday afternoon: “The going description has been accurate - it is soft ground.”

    Tremendous Tepin

    TEPIN is the second American-trained horse to win at Royal Ascot, following on from the Wesley Ward-trained Undrafted in the 2015 Diamond Jubilee Stakes. She is also the first female to succeed in the Queen Anne Stakes over the straight mile since Goldikova in 2010. The previous filly or mare to win was Kandy Sauce in 1956.