Why not make it a big sprint Saturday? Racing Post reporters raise their big talking points from Royal Ascot

It was a red-hot Royal Ascot, both on and off the track, featuring some standout performances, tales of underdogs triumphing amid superpower dominance and acting as a great showcase of British racing at its best. A team of our leading reporters has picked out a talking point apiece from five days of top turf action . . .

Big efforts in defeat could leave some vulnerable

By Scott Burton, France correspondent

Sometimes the deepest truths are the most obvious and my biggest takeaway from Royal Ascot is that it is an infernally hard place to win at. 

Trying to find excuses for why certain horses were beaten can lead you down a rabbit hole, when at least part of the explanation lies in the fact they have just run in the white heat of the fiercest competition they have experienced.

Owen Burrows summed it up well when he said that Anmaat “hadn’t done a whole lot wrong” in following up his narrow Curragh defeat with another second place in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Docklands (left) pips Rosallion in the Queen Anne StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Similar comments apply to Rosallion – beaten a nose by Docklands in the Queen Anne – who recorded the second highest Racing Post Rating of his career, while Zarigana, for all the frustration of going to the front, then being re-passed by Cercene, ran a faster final furlong than the winner and missed out by 1/100th of a second. 

The observation is a double-edged sword though. If it’s true to say the vanquished have not become bad horses overnight – in some cases they have actually improved compared with previous victories in less competitive events – they have also had very hard races on safe but certainly fast summer ground. 

In other words, they won’t need to bounce back from their Ascot performances, but there is a danger that some winners and losers could suffer the effects of such a big effort next time.

Underdog stories offer so much

By Jonathan Harding, deputy news editor

Variety is the spice of life and such is the competitiveness of Royal Ascot there have been winners from yards of all different shapes and sizes, which is refreshing and makes for a much more enjoyable spectacle. 

Cercene (left) wins the Coronation Stakes from ZariganaCredit: Edward Whitaker

Of course, Aidan O'Brien and John and Thady Gosden still had their fair share, but it was great to see plenty of other trainers get in on the act, not least Harry Eustace, who had a remarkable week after victories in the Queen Anne and Commonwealth Cup with Docklands (14-1) and Time For Sandals (25-1), and the popular Joe Murphy, now a Group 1-winning trainer thanks to Cercene's 33-1 Coronation Stakes success. 

It can make life difficult for punters when the fancied horses are beaten, and we had a few of those, but it also helps keep things interesting – and long may that continue.

The key stat behind Wathnan's rapid rise

By Lee Mottershead, senior writer

The best example of Royal Ascot's continued importance on a global level is the extent to which Wathnan Racing's ambitions are inextricably linked to British racing's premier Flat festival. Equally as impressive as the scale of Wathnan's ambitions is the scale of their success.

Having been created as recently as October 2022, the Emir of Qatar's racing operation has managed to earn 11 Royal Ascot victories, five banked in another highly productive week.

Lazzat won the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Haatem, French Master, Crimson Advocate, Humidity and Group 1 champion Lazzat all made their way into the coveted Ascot winner's circle, highlighting how well bloodstock agent Richard Brown has done at sourcing horses for a rising force that clearly has deep pockets but, at the same time, will not want to embarrass itself by chucking money around aimlessly.

French Master: convincing winner of the Copper Horse Stakes and could go for the Goodwood Cup next

However, the most remarkable Ascot stat in relation to Wathnan does not relate to the number of winners but runners. Across the five days, no fewer than 37 horses raced in the old gold and peacock blue silks. That means Wathnan had a bigger team than either Ballydoyle or Godolphin – and that tells you a lot not just about Wathnan but also about Royal Ascot.

King George could be a corker

By Maddy Playle, reporter

The middle-distance division was hardly crying out for fresh blood but it has received it in Merchant and Amiloc. 

Both Thursday's King George V Stakes winner and Friday's King Edward VII victor are entered in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes back at the track next month – they are 50-1 and 16-1 respectively – and would add an extra layer of intrigue to an already exciting contest. 

Hardwicke hero Rebel's Romance is cooled down after his successCredit: Edward Whitaker

The hugely admirable Hardwicke winner Rebel's Romance has been trimmed to 5-1 joint-second favourite for the race alongside Jan Brueghel, behind the 3-1 market leader Kalpana, with last year's winner Goliath and his Francis Graffard-trained stablemate Calandagan available at 7-1. 

The health of the King George has been questioned in recent years, but if the protagonists turn up with a plethora of intriguing names underneath, then it can easily live up to the days of Grundy and Bustino, Galileo and Fantastic Light.

Move this Group 1 to help final day

By Stuart Riley, deputy news editor

Royal Ascot does pretty much everything very well, but if there's a weakness it's the final day.

What used to be 'heath day' has been under the 'royal' banner for 23 years and, given it's the meeting's (not so) grand finale – with the biggest possible attendance and viewing audience as it takes place on Saturday – it could finish with more of a bang.

Making the Hardwicke a Group 1 isn't really an option because it falls too close to Epsom's Coronation Cup, and finishing with the meeting's biggest race – the Gold Cup – would weaken the Thursday too much, so the most obvious solution is switching one of the Group 1s from the opening day.

Could the King Charles III Stakes race be moved to Royal Ascot's final day?Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

Moving one of the mile races, either the Queen Anne or St James's Palace, is the simple solution – but for thematic reasons I would go for the sprint.

Yes, you lose the option of a horse running in both the King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, but very few attempt that any more and having them back-to-back would lean powerfully into the meeting's connection to the royal family and create a real identity for the day, with the masses and crown celebrated at the same time.

Commonwealth is not serving its purpose

By Peter Scargill, deputy industry editor

Group 1s are categorised as “Classic and other races of championship standard having major international importance” by the European Pattern Committee. 

Given that clear definition, it must surely be agreed that the Commonwealth Cup is not a race matching that criteria and needs to be downgraded at future Royal Ascots.

Time For Sandals lands the Commonwealth Cup but should the race be downgraded?Credit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

The race serves a purpose and provides an opportunity for three-year-old sprinters to compete on the biggest stage, but to think it is having a major bearing on the sport is to deny the facts in front of our eyes.

Last year’s winner Inisherin has flopped in three Group 1s since winning the race last year; Perfect Power never won again; Golden Horde, Advertise, Eqtidaar and Caravaggio have all struggled at stud (no geldings are allowed to run either, remember); while this year’s red-hot favourite Shadow Of Light finished a laboured fifth.

While it was tremendous to see Time For Sandals win on Friday for her excellent trainer Harry Eustace and ace rider Richard Kingscote, her success simply has to be the last in the race under its top-level ranking.

Read more . . .

The best images from five key moments during a fantastic Royal Ascot 2025 

Wathnan celebrate 'dream week' at Royal Ascot and now attention turns to building team to take Glorious Goodwood by storm 

'He just keeps getting better' - Paddy Twomey planning Classic bid with his first Royal Ascot winner 

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