ROYAL ASCOT
20-24 June
@jen_donald
Royal Ascot, Ascot Racecourse, Berks
IF Royal Ascot could be distilled into the performances of two people this year, it was whether the retiring Frankie Dettori could go out with a winner or achieve what looked like an optimistic three to round his 77 previous winners up to 80, and how The King, who very much took a backseat role when The late Queen was alive, would adapt to being in charge. As it turned out, they both played a blinder.
For some reason, despite Paddington putting up possibly the best equine performance of the week in the St James’s Palace Stakes and, on paper, it being the best day of racing, Tuesday felt a bit flat. Dettori rode three seconds, picked up a nine-day ban and one might have thought, “Here we go again”, after the problems the jockey encountered 12 months ago when he would have struggled to win a walkover.
“I knew he FRANKIE DETTORI ON COURAGE MON AMI
