TIMES suggest the ground was generally rather quicker than given officially at Royal Ascot 2020, but there was no doubt that conditions softened significantly overnight, following heavy rain, before the third day on Thursday.

That raised a question as to Stradivarius’s suitability for a slog over a marathon distance (remember, the first four had all broken the 12-furlong track record when he was third to Ghaiyyath at Newmarket less than a fortnight before), but he answered it in spectacular style, cruising through the race
and despatching Nayef Road and the others with a power-packed last two furlongs.