IT is fair to say that things did not always go Idaho’s way as a three-year-old last year, so it was good to see him begin to make amends with success in the Hardwicke Stakes on the final day of Royal Ascot.

In form terms, it was at least as good as anything he had achieved previously, but in time terms a 109 timefigure is some way short of what he should be capable of. The race was not especially well-run, but it was not slow, either.