An exciting opening day at Royal Ascot with three double figure priced winners in Triple Time 33/1, Bradsell 14/1 and Royal Champion 16/1. The talking point of the day should be the going though. Advertised as Good (Good To Soft in places on the Round Track)(Watered)(Straight:7.3)(Round: 6.5), the Straight track was riding 19L per mile slow while the Round track was riding 8L per mile slow. Conditions on the Straight track were riding slower possibly due to wind. A Slight wind across the track was published on The Racing Post website. Thunderstorms were forecast for the track on Monday night, and it was reported that 10mm had hit the track. With this in mind questions should be asked why the Clerk Of The Course put down 5mm on the track on Monday morning if the preferred racing ground set by the BHA is Good To Firm. The fact that all the times were Slow indicated that horses who preferred a faster surface never had a chance, horses like Asadna and Twilight Calls would be two that spring to mind. Nothing will be done about the current state of overwatering at UK racetracks but it is always worth highlighting for the protection of punters.

1pt e/way Light Infantry (114) – A solid performance from the selection to finish in the frame and it was good to see him being ridden from the front again to make up for his lack of acceleration when the pace quickens. The winner Triple Time (117) recorded a career best speed figure on his seasonal debut. A reminder of the excellent training skills of Kevin Ryan, and superb horsemanship of jockey Neil Callan. He is eneterd for the Sussex Stakes at Goodwood going forward. Result 3rd 20/1 adv…SP 14/1

1.5pts e/way Isaac Shelby (107) – A very poor performance from Brian Meehan’s 3-y-o and I was disappointed straight away when William Buick tried to restrain him from going with Chaldean in the early stages. The horse raced too keenly and I would prefer if they let this horse make the running like he did in the Greenham.

1pt e/way Novel Legend (94) – As I said in the write-up the horse would have to be ridden forward to get a good position from stall (1) and the way the race was run he could have done with being more forward than 10th position when the early positions were settled. The race was the slowest on the card and the winner recorded a lowly speed figure of (96). As the camera turned back on the selection as they were approaching the home turn the horse was near last in 15th position. In the end the horse was beaten 0.75L for 6th place, and for me a more forward ride and more awareness of a slowly run race would have made a difference for reaching the frame.