THIS week marks a milestone 50th Breeding Insights column and what a time to be able to celebrate a right royal Ascot for horses carrying an Irish suffix. With 30 races contested over the five-day meeting, Irish-bred horses occupied the number one spot on 19 occasions.

With just short of two-thirds of the winners, Ireland was streets ahead of Britain and the USA, who between them won 11 races, the nod going to Britain with six victories. Significantly half of these were in Group 1 races.