Race report
Royal Ascot is back ... and still on course
So that’s it from Royal Ascot for another year, back with the full crowds for the first time since 2019 and still as absorbing and replete with incident and drama as ever. The top crowd of the week is always on Saturday and that is something to bear in mind for racing’s rulers and for those who are always carping about Cheltenham moving to a weekend slot for the Festival. One of my few complaints about a meeting that gets so much right is that they front-end the fixture too much with three Group One races on the first day. Going back to Tuesday, Native Strip was incredibly impressive in the King’s Stand Stakes for Australia and 34 races ago we saw the horse that may well turn out to be the horse of the season in Baaeed, who was brilliant in the opening race of the meeting. Wherever that horse goes this season I want to be there. Hope you had a great week and see you next on the Guardian live racing blog on Arc day in October.
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