Royal Ascot Day 4 Review

Tahiyra showed her trademark turn of foot inside the final furlong before taking the Group 1 Coronation Stakes on the fourth day of Royal Ascot in front of a crowd of 57,353. Racing on the fastest ground she had encountered, the daughter of Siyouni found herself in rear early on before making her move on the hometurn. Dermot Weld's filly quickly settled the issue with a sharp change of speed to settle the issue. A length winner, she is due to have a mid summer break before returning in the Autumn. The Group 1 Matron Stakes at Leopardstown in September would appear to be a logical target, although her trainer wasn't ruling out a step up in trip at some stage. She is a very good filly who had too many gears for her five opponents.

The other Group 1 event on the day, the Commonwealth Cup was won in remarkable fashion by Shaquille. A Listed winner on his previous start at Newbury, the son of Charm Spirit reared up when the stalls up and forfeited many lengths. Oisin Murphy didn't rush his mount back into contention but he stayed on strongly inside the final furlong to win going away by a length and a quarter from hot favourite Little Big Bear. It was a breakthrough victory for Julie Camacho and husband Steve Brown who enjoyed a personal best season last year with 47 winners. A homebred, the three year old has now won six of his seven races and hasn't been an easy horse to handle. The Camacho team have done a tremendous job with their first Group 1 winner and their success is thoroughly deserved.

Following the success of Courage Mon Ami in the Ascot Gold Cup on Thursday, the Top 40 Prospects in AOTF had its second win when Coppice (6/1) streaked away with the Sandringham Handicap off a mark of 97. A full-sister to another Royal Ascot winner Calyx, the Kingman filly found the ground too soft in the Nell Gwyn Stakes at Newmarket in the spring before winning on the all-weather at Newcastle last time. Given a confident ride by Frankie Dettori, she relished the drying conditions and quickened up well inside the final quarter of a mile. A return to Pattern company is expected to be next.

Another Top 40 runner, Artistic Star ran well in third in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes later on the card. Ralph Beckett's dual winner had finished seventh in the Epsom Derby and made another step forward here. The Galileo colt was prominently and, while he couldn't match the winner King of Steel, the Jeff Smith owned colt kept on and will be even better over further. He is very much St Leger material and ought to keep on progressing. 

Even though Tahiyra (advised @ 4/5) was a winning selection for the Royal Ascot Update, the others were bitterly disappointing - it was hard to believe beforehand that Navassa Island and Jabaara could run so poorly in the Albany Stakes even allowing for the fact they were drawn on a wing. Lezoo never looked like getting involved in the Commonwealth Cup from her high draw, while Noble Style is regressing with each run at the moment, although it is worth pointing out his stable are 0 from 15 over the four days - only one runner has been placed. Perhaps the quickening ground explains some horse's below par performances but it can't be the only reason. There have been a lot of runs which have been too bad to be true. Another of my selections from Thursday, Noche Magica, was the last horse off the bridle in the Norfolk Stakes and yet found nothing off the bridle once asked eventually finishing last. His form tells us he is much better than he showed this week. 

Let's hope we can finish the meeting with some positive results on day five. In the meantime, I am working at Haydock Park on Saturday evening and will update the Diary on Sunday.