There were two days of exciting action at Ascot last weekend, and those watching may not be surprised to hear who caught our eye, writes Page Fuller.

Al Aasy and Al Qareem have met more than once, but Al Aasy was the horse that came in fresh from beating the latter at Newbury last time.

There were probably a few thinking he should have beaten him this time too, but it wasn’t to be.

Unfortunately for Al Aasy, he broke slowest out of the stalls, taking 2.65 seconds to reach 20mph. On the other hand, the winner Al Qareem, was second quickest out of the stalls and helped set steady fractions in front.

This meant that Al Aasy was stuck at the back of the field, and gave himself a lot to do because of it. After seven furlongs he was 1.51 seconds behind Al Qareem and with two furlongs to go, he still had 1.13 seconds to make up.

At this point, Cieran Fallon finally got a run and he hit his Top Speed of the race of 36.81mph. Unfortunately the winner had flown however and he could only get within 0.42 seconds of Al Qareem by the line.

Al Aasy has been stuck at this level for a few seasons now. However, based on this run, he stills looks able despite his age, and should be competitive in these events for a few years yet still.