Big race favourite Kyprios took the Group 1 Gold Cup, the feature race on day three of Royal Ascot, holding on by a neck in a driving finish from Mojo Star.
It was an eighth Ascot Gold Cup for trainer Aidan O'Brien, whose precocious colt held off Mojo Star - second again after also finishing runner-up in the Derby and St Leger.
But all talk was of Stradivarius - attempting to win for a fourth - under Frankie Dettori, but his pilot couldn't find any racing room down the home straight and arrived too late in third, going down by a length.
A disappointed Frankie Dettori said after the defeat on the John and Thady Gosden-trained horse, "He ran good. I got an inside draw so I had to be careful of what I was doing. The pace wasn't that strong. "
When discussing his blocked run which forced him to go out wide late on, Dettori said:
"It made no difference we were beaten by younger legs. The horse has been a star - he just has to pass the baton now."
Winning jockey Ryan Moore had to use all his race-riding skills to hold his rivals in on the inside as they turned in. He was was quick to say, "It wasn't a nice race to ride in,” but the winner was “much the best” and had more to give the further they went.
The race capped a luckless day for Dettori who finished second twice elsewhere on the card - both times on rides for The Queen - including being beaten on 2/5fav Reach For The Moon in the Hampton Court Stakes, who was overturned by 7/1 show Claymore.
In the Britannia Stakes, Thesis - a 14/1 shot - also held on from the fast-finishing Saga, to again consign Dettori and Her Majesty to second place.
We had a controversial start to the day as The Ridler - at 50/1 - survived a stewards' enquiry to win the opening Norfolk Stakes (2.30). The winner veered across the field late on under Paul Hanagan, hampering several rivals, hanging on ahead of with David Loughnane’s Walbank. The winner kept the race but jockey Hanagan got a ten day ban for careless riding.
