Royal Ascot is an absolute beast and keeps getting bigger – but Charlie Appleby can't buy a winner there
THE beast that is Royal Ascot just keeps on getting, erm, beastier. I don't think that's a word, but oh well.
Across the board, attendances have been dipping at our biggest tracks after a post-Covid surge. But this meeting continues to buck the trend.
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Crowds have been up on each of the first four days this week — no doubt thanks also to the sweltering weather. Ascot has thoroughly deserved to have its days in the sun, though.
As much as I've become a dinosaur and roll my eyes at things considered 'Instagrammable', that's exactly what this meeting is . . . and people can't get enough.
From the moment the gates opened punters were streaming in and queuing for 20 or 30 minutes at four designated selfie spots.
The action has been good off the track, but even better on it. It's one of the great weeks of the year and people like to be a part of it. Long may that continue.
The game's wealthiest owners spend millions to have runners here and the result, as ever, has been a top-class four days of racing with one day still to come.
And, Jesus wept, it's been hot. So hot, in fact, the icing on the cakes in the press room was close to melting. You don't realise how tough we have it sometimes. Thanks in advance for your sympathy.
There is no doubt in my mind who the star performer of the week was, and that's Field Of Gold. He won the St James's Palace by three and a half lengths and it could have been even more comprehensive had Colin Keane delayed his challenge a little longer.
Those with a greater grasp of the formbook than me reckon he is the best miler since his old man Kingman 11 years ago — it's hard to argue on what he's done the last twice at the Curragh and Ascot.
The galloping grey got the Johnny G show rolling, and what a difference a year makes. In 2024, Gosden was scrabbling around looking for a half decent horse, and all of a sudden he's got a stable full of them.
In contrast, what a complete nightmare it's been for Godolphin's main man Charlie Appleby.
His last winner at Royal Ascot was in 2022, when Naval Crown struck at 33-1, and he has now had 35 straight runners without a winner at the Royal meeting.
He had lots of beaten fancies last year and this week it's been a similar tale of woe, with Notable Speech (4-1), Ruling Court (4-1), Cinderella's Dream (5-4f) and Shadow Of Light (6-4f) among those turned over at short odds.
It certainly does not bode well for his two fancied runners Treanmor and Rebel's Romance today. It's three years in a row now that Appleby has got off to a fast start in the spring before spluttering to a halt in early summer.
What on earth is happening? Are the horses peaking early and unable to back up? Appleby must be sick of the sight of all those top hats and tails by now.
And it must hurt even more that Godolphin have had three winners this week, two trained by Gosden and one by Saeed bin Suroor.
I bet Saeed is secretly over the moon — he has been starved of ammunition over the last decade having falling down the pecking order with Sheikh Mo, but he has shown repeatedly he can still get the job done on the big days.
If it's the most important week of the year for trainers, it's probably more significant for the men and women in the weighing room.
A couple of jocks who were in the wilderness coming here were Richard Kingscote and Kieran Shoemark, but both went home with winners under their belts.
You could see the weight of the world melt off Shoemark's shoulders in particular after he guided 22-1 shot Never Let Go home in the Sandringham yesterday.
Whatever you think about his ability in the saddle, the bloke has clearly suffered since losing the Gosden gig and you'd have to have a heart of stone to not wish him well going forwards.
Mind you, one jockey who hardly did his reputation on these shores any good was the mercurial Frenchman Mickael Barzalona.
Zarigana travelled like stink in the Coronation but he couldn't lift the hot favourite home, just a couple of weeks after losing another tight one at Epsom on popular punters' pick Calandagan.
He was only appointed as the No1 jock to the Aga Khan at the start of the year but, after this latest dud, he'll surely be feeling the heat . . . and that makes two of us.
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