OTHER races on Ascot’s showpiece occasion were more falsely run and resulted in much less impressive overall times. In particular, Solow’s win in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes came in a time that was 1.08s slower than that put up over the same course and distance later on by the handicapper Musaddas, and resulted in a timefigure of just 99.

The Queen Elizabeth II Stakes looked to be slowly run early on and then possibly overly fast from halfway, a profile which is known to be especially harmful to overall times. Belardo (confirming impressions from the week before) and Gabrial closed from out the back but Solow won with something to spare.