Ed Chamberlin looks back on a memorable Royal Ascot week when the whole Flat season came alive thanks to Frankie Dettori, Hayley Turner and Blue Point.
A week to remember but it got off to a less than promising start. The season really needed Royal Ascot to give it a lift-off - it just felt like it had been a slightly underwhelming season with no emergence of a star, and we haven't seen Enable.
I came to Ascot full of hope as the meeting has got everything, but to show off everything and the best of British you really do need at least decent weather, and it was a bit of a damp squib.
I left both of the opening days after a song on the bandstand looking like a drowned rat and went home for a hot bath. That's not what Ascot's all about in the middle of June.
The real headline for me over the first coupe of days was Crystal Ocean, I was so pleased for the horse to get a Group One and for Sir Michael Stoute, who is just a master of his craft.
After the weather we had I just left with huge admiration for all the stable staff and the cameramen who all had to work in atrocious conditions. It made Cheltenham in December feel like a piece of cake.
On Thursday the whole thing needed a lift and little did we know what we were in for. It was the most extraordinary day.
I can tell you - after the second race when Sangarius won the Hampton Court my editor Paul Cooper came through in my ear and said 'what do you think, should we go with the possibility of Frankie going through the card?' and I just wasn't sure.
I went with him and give him the credit but I had brilliant football commentator Clive Tyldsley in mind when he, in the Champions League final between Liverpool and Milan simply said 'oh... hello' when Steven Gerrard got one back to make it 3-1.
I tried to take a leaf out of Clive's book with 'he couldn't, could he?' and just left it to breathe for a few seconds. I got a bit of inevitable grief on social media, but what unfolded just became more and more exciting.
Next was Star Catcher and suddenly the bookmakers became a big story with the liabilities riding onto Stradivarius and ahead of the Gold Cup the whole racecourse was crackling. Suddenly, not just Ascot but the Flat season had come alive at that moment. The adrenaline was coursing through our veins.
I've probably not felt anything quite like that - the big races at Epsom get your blood pressure up but nothing quite like this. When Stradivarius won last year it was one of the best shows I'd been involved with, simply because of Frankie and the Queen and a brilliant racehorse on the way to a £1million bonus.
But you can times all that by ten for what I was feeling this time. When Frankie's at his confident best he's almost unstoppable and even with Stradivarius trapped in turning for home you just knew he was going to win.
It didn't need many words from me really as it felt like the roof was going to come off the stand. Don't forget I'm on the other side of the grandstand and can't actually see the action live, but I can hear the noise. And it was a brilliant performance - what a horse.
It was a fantastic ride from Frankie but I was very keen for the horse to get the credit he deserves. Jason Weaver always said Stradivarius has the best mind on him and no matter what he finds a way to win. I hope he goes on to win the bonus again, he stamped himself as a truly great stayer on Thursday.
But very quickly the story moves on and all of a sudden you're trying to work out what's at stake here. I had a few of the bookies coming to our pitch saying this could be absolute carnage if Turgenev wins the Britannia.
There was a funny moment when Rab Havlin, who spoke to Luke Harvey down at the start, said he'd been cheered down to the start as punters had thought he was Frankie in similar green colours.
Honestly, when Turgenev went two lengths clear and Richard Hoiles' commentary made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, everyone to a man was screaming for Frankie - apart from the bookmakers. The noise was deafening and louder than Stradivarius.
What sums it up is that we had huge viewing figures on ITV Racing on Thursday but the peak audience was for Turgenev and not the Gold Cup. Everyone had heard and seen on social media what was unfolding and people were aware of it.
I felt for Harry Bentley on Biometric as it felt like he'd shot Bambi, the balloon had been pricked. I admire Ralph Beckett and know him quite well so was absolutely thrilled for him winning but it did feel a bit flat at the course. But everyone was still buzzing and talking about it. It was a privileged to be there.
Frankie then walked through our brand new, pristine Ascot hedge and joined us for an interview on the podium. We were giving him stick that he went too soon on Turgenev but he was so relaxed and so much fun, admitting that 20 years ago he'd probably have won.
It's given me memories that will last for years. Dettori is priceless for racing, he and The Queen are gold dust, we're so lucky to have her and her smile lights up Ascot more than anything really.
If I'm honest we were wondering how we'd follow that on the Friday but the stories just kept coming. David Egan with his first winner, Japan producing a classy performance, the French winner Watch Me in the Coronation Stakes and then came what I'd say would be one of my favourite stories since I started presenting sport.
It was wonderful for Hayley Turner to do what she did, for women's sport and largely for the fact she's just such a great person. I'd never met her before I started working on ITV but I've got to know her well and grown to love her. She's so generous, funny and an honest down-to-earth good egg. I don't mind saying I properly couldn't speak after she won the Sandringham.
It was similar to when Bryony Frost won at Cheltenham and TV etiquette just went out of the window - I just went and hugged her. And then Charlie Fellowes gave his extraordinary interview and explained the emotions they'd been through with one of the owners losing his mum and his sister having just been diagnosed with breast cancer. What they must have gone through, that all took you on another roller-coaster of emotions.
And all the time Hayley just wouldn't leave the podium - she just kept saying 'I don't believe it.'
Saturday never quite reached those heights but in Blue Point we saw a magnificent performance to win the two races in a week.
The sadness for me was for the Czech raider in the Hardwicke Stakes, Nagano Gold. International engagement is a huge thing for Ascot and to have a Czech runner was fantastic. He was so unlucky, right from the start, and I felt sorry for connections.
It would have been great for the meeting to have had a Czech winner but the racing manager for connections showed real class and dignity after the race I thought.
To sum up the week we had the emotion of the King Power winner, Cleonte, in the Queen Alexandra in the very last race after a horrible week for the ownership to that point. The picture of Vichai (Srivaddhanaprabha) in the paddock got us all going again, they were carrying a photograph of him after the horse won and it was a race dedicated to him with his family there.
You could tell from Andrew Balding's reaction what that meant to him and all the team.
It's been an unbelievable week and great to present. We've an extraordinary team behind the camera and I hope that what this week shows is that after the Derby we've listened to the constructive criticism and changed a few things - I really hope everyone as home enjoyed it as much as we did. The growth in viewing figures has been superb and that meeting was a brilliant way to showcase our product and the sport in general.
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