IT is always something of a surprise when the five days of racing at Royal Ascot is over to realise that there are ‘only’ eight Group 1 contests held. The quality of racing throughout is so high that you feel many of the Group 2s should in fact be upgraded.

The opening day has three top-level races, Friday has two, while the others have one each. A pair of three-year-old fillies stole the show on this meeting’s penultimate day, Venetian Sun building on her juvenile success at the same meeting last year to land the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup for owners Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, while the Smith, Magnier, Tabor and Westerberg combination welcomed home Precise after her fourth Group 1 win, this time in the Coronation Stakes.