Rest of the card

THE form of the Royal Hunt Cup and its consolation dovetailed nicely, as first race winner Sir Busker (William Knight/Oisin Murphy) had beaten Dark Vision in a close finish to a mile handicap at Newcastle on the day after racing in the UK returned.

Incidentally, the third horse that day also won a competitive handicap at Doncaster on Sunday, and following unexposed horses who ran as early as possible after resumption (with trainers understandably keen to run their better prospects as soon as practicable) may be an enduring angle this summer.

Sir Busker finished with a rare rattle to get up between horses to win under top weight, and can be considered unlucky to miss the cut in the big race. He has Salayel, Alternative Fact and Almufti as his closest pursuers, and the quartet were drawn 18, 17, 21 and 19 respectively to confirm to the remaining doubters that a stands’ side draw was a big advantage on the straight track.

Burrows’ first winner

Hukum gave trainer Owen Burrows his first Royal Ascot winner when landing the King George V Handicap under Jim Crowley, and confirming the promise of his Kempton maiden win on what was just his third career outing, and first start of the new season. He had been handed a tempting handicap mark given that his maiden win, achieved with an eye-catching finishing sectional after he had looked to be in an impossible position, marked him down as a potential group horse.

He won this with plenty in hand given the competitive nature of the race, and had been entered in the Derby, but Burrows revealed that he came back having been struck into behind, so his prospects of lining up at Epsom are slim. That does not detract from his potential, however, and it will be disappointing if he cannot score in better company this summer/autumn.

Prince’s procession

Once again, a Royal Ascot handicap was turned into a procession by one ahead of its mark in the finale, with the Copper Horse Handicap going the way of Roger Varian’s Fujaira Prince justified odds of just 3/1 to slam his rivals by the best part of four lengths in the one-and-three-quarter-mile contest, an addition to the meeting this year.

The four-year-old had been off the track since finishing an excellent third in the King George V Handicap at this fixture 12 months ago, and he relished the extra two furlongs to run out an unchallenged winner. He’s going to get a hike in the ratings for this, but that will ensure him a place in the Ebor at York, and it’s worth reiterating that this was just his seventh lifetime start, and his first at the Ebor trip, so he must be high on the shortlist for that event.