THE ground was nowhere near as soft for Ascot’s two-day meeting as it ended up being at Chester. Indeed, it was some way from being as soft as given officially, as judged by times.

The opener on Friday was won by the two-year-old Final Song in 62.25s (and not the time reported officially), which translates to a 102 timefigure, one ahead of another Godolphin-owned filly in Chasing Shadows among two-year-old fillies so far.