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Royal Ascot: Ten things we learnt from five memorable days of action

Last Updated: Tue 5 Dec 2023

From jockey celebrations and words of wisdom from Sheikh Mohammed - Andy Stephens reports on ten things we learnt at Royal Ascot

By Andy Stephens

Jockeys are getting more animated:

It was a tough week for punters, with seven of the winners going off at 20-1 or bigger and the bookmakers revealing they had won bundles - just as they did at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

An even bigger surprise was that, in a rare interview, Sheikh Mohammed came up with one of the best quotes of the week. He said: “In life there is no winning post. You have to keep going otherwise the rest will catch up with you."

Perhaps, in the absence of John Ferguson, who recently departed as Godolphin's chief executive, we are going to be hearing more words of wisdom from the Sheikh.

Then again, he may just let his horses do the talking for him. Six winners for Godolphin at the meeting - including two at Group One level with Ribchester and Barney Roy - will have done wonders for any flagging morale in the camp.

Jamie Spencer times it to perfection:

Ride of the week? Plenty of candidates but surely there was none better than Jamie Spencer aboard 20-1 chance Con Te Partiro in the Sandringham Handicap.

This was vintage Spencer: sit out the back, plot a path and pounce from out of the blue when all the others had shown their hand. In-running, the horse traded at 699-1 in-running on Betfair.

The mark of any great jockey is winning races he is not entitled to - and I reckon this was a case in point. Wesley Ward, used to seeing his horses blaze away at the head of affairs, was left awestruck.

Spencer, 37, having once retired, is a jockey who infuriates some but, in terms of getting the most out of his mounts, you can make a strong case for him being rider of the week. He also won the Britannia on Bless Him (25-1); was beaten a neck on Majeed (25-1) in the Wolferton; and finished fourth on Raheen House (25-1) in the King Edward VII Stakes.

His victories will have provided some consolation for somewhere along the line losing the ride on Big Orange.

Staying races just keep giving:

Finish of the meeting had to be the Gold Cup, with Big Orange holding off the late thrust of Order Of St George by a whisker. Like two mighty gladiators, they bumped a couple of times and gave their all in a pulsating contest.

This is becoming a recurring theme in the top staying races. Sheikhzayedroad beat Quest For More by a nose in last year’s Doncaster Cup; the St Leger was a thriller in which four horses traded odds-on in-running; Quest For More grabbed Vazirabad on the line in the Prix du Cadran; and a length separated the first five home in last month’s Yorkshire Cup.

Roll on the Qatar Goodwood Cup when the rematch between Big Orange and Order Of St George should be another classic.

William Haggas was knocking at the door:

The record books will show that William Haggas drew a blank at Royal Ascot in 2017 for the fifth year in succession.

However, statistics can be like a bikini - what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital - and Haggas should be proud of the way his horses ran at the meeting.

Tasleet was beaten a neck in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes; Mutakayyef beat all bar Ribchester in the Queen Anne; Headway was beaten a head in the Coventry; Muthmir was fourth in the King’s Stand; and Mubatsim was third in the Jersey.

Close, but no cigar. If Haggas gets a bit of good fortune at one of the other big summer festivals, it will not be unwarranted.

Stoute left on brink for another year:

Another Newmarket-based trainer who went home empty handed was Sir Michael Stoute.

Forty years after saddling his first winner of the meeting, Stoute began the week long odds-on to achieve a 76th success and, in the process, overhaul the late, great Sir Henry Cecil and become the winning-most trainer in the history of the iconic meeting.

Four of his runners were sent off favourite and nine of his team started 8-1 or shorter. Several went close, including Mori, who was caught close home in the Ribblesdale, but none managed to get the job done. Perhaps he should have found a race for Abingdon at the meeting because she bolted up in the Listed race at Pontefract on Sunday.

Somewhere up above it would be lovely to imagine Cecil smelling a freshly cut rose, tilting his head to one side and mischievously delighting in his old adversary failing to get past him.

Stoute will probably claim the record next year - he has suffered only two blanks at the past 22 royal meetings - but is unlikely to be the winning-most trainer for long. Aidan O’Brien has chalked up 61, rattling up 13 in the past two years alone.

**No apologies for showing Frankel winning for Cecil here. Should have been worth two wins.

O’Brien’s pursuit of record has momentum:

Some may tire of the domination of Aidan O’Brien/Coolmore but it will be fascinating to see whether the trainer can finally achieve 26 Group One wins in a year and, in the process, overhaul the record held by American legend Bobby Frankel.

Last year, O’Brien traded at a short price to pull it off but his squad floundered in the autumn and he fell a couple short.

This term, with nine Group One triumphs already on the board, he is firmly on track to get across the line. Winter, Churchill, Highland Reel, Wings Of Eagles and Caravaggio have already done their bit and, in all likelihood, will continue to do so.

By the end of the year it will also be a surprise if representatives such as Order Of St George, Cliffs Of Moher, Idaho, Minding, Seventh Heaven, Alice Springs, Deauville and perhaps Lancaster Bomber have not contributed.

If that squad of 13 was not enough, there are O’Brien’s two-year-olds to consider. Last year, for instance, he chalked up six wins at the highest level with his juveniles and at Royal Ascot he showed some of his armoury for the months ahead with September and Sioux Nation both winning.

Raiders play their part:

Royal Ascot is becoming a more global event every year and, overall, the international raiders more than played their part in a memorable meeting.

Wesley Ward played a pivotal role in the build-up to the meeting and was on the mark with the dazzling Lady Aurelia and Con Te Partiro, while Le Brividio and Qemah flew the flag for France with notable victories on Wednesday’s card.

Ward would have been second in the trainers’ table for the meeting behind Aidan O’Brien had any of his well-touted two-year-olds delivered. Six of them went off at single-figure odds but the best any of them could manage was Happy Like A Fool, an odds-on second in the Queen Mary.

Punters will be more wary of his young challengers next year.

There is always one, isn’t there?:

The total attendance for the five days of the meeting totalled 293,791 and the 6,000 raceday staff and contractors performed wonders in making sure everyone had a good experience in what were, at times, sweltering conditions.

It was a shame then that there were some negative headlines after one idiot threw a pint of beer in the direction of Andrea Atzeni and his mount before the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes on Thursday.

An investigation has been launched and more security staff were subsequently deployed in that area but there is very little you can do to police against an act of such stupidity. There is always one, isn’t there?