David Cleary's Royal Ascot analysis

Khaadem has ideal set-up again

The week's second million-pound Group 1, the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, was surprisingly a purely domestic affair, not even an Irish-trained runner among the 13 that went to post. The race was also the weaker for the absence due to the ground of a Group 1 regular Kinross. As it was, the places were filled by a trio that had contested the 1895 Duke of York last month.

However, Khaadem, successful in this race in 2023, had shown so little in trailing home last of 13 at York that Jamie Spencer deserted him for his stable-companion Mitbaahy. Khaadem was a different proposition with that run under his belt, cruising along and quickening to the front in the final furlong. As last year, he was very much seen to an advantage in a race set up for him. Khaadem was only the second horse in exactly a century to win this race twice in succession, Right Boy in 1958 and 1959 the last to do so.

The filly Swingalong also stepped up a good deal on her return last month in taking second, perhaps deserving a little extra credit the way the race was run. The York winner Mill Stream, who unlike the first two had had an outing this year beforehand, came to hold every chance but could manage only third.

Under optimum conditions and with a lot in his favour, Khaadem has shown himself at least as good as ever. Swingalong excelled herself, even if plenty of the others were some way below form. Even so, this isn't form anything out of the ordinary for the grade, no surprise that the impressive Commonwealth Cup winner Inisherin is a clear favourite for the July Cup next month.

First two in Coronation on the up

As with the St James's Palace Stakes at the start of the week, the Coronation Stakes provided the opportunity for the Classic miling fillies to put themselves in some sort of pecking order.

All nine had run in a Classic, and though the field lacked Fallen Angel, successful at the Curragh, and her stable-companion Darnation, winner of the German Guineas, it was still a representative one. The race doesn't quite rate as a vintage Coronation Stakes, but the first two deserve credit for improved performances.

The race went the way of the Newmarket runner-up Porta Fortuna, who showed once again how effect she is on going firmer than good. Travelling more sweetly than in the Guineas and tracking the leaders, she picked up well to overhaul the always-close-up Curragh third Opera Singer in the final furlong. The runner-up also benefited from a return to firmer conditions.

Two others from the 1000 Guineas completed the frame. The well-supported favourite Ramatuelle, took third, ridden with more restraint than at Newmarket, but not fully getting home.

She is surely worth a try at this level back over shorter. The Guineas heroine Elmalka, sent off a much bigger price than the pair she'd beaten at Newmarket, was further back than ideal and not so well served by the way this race was run, the pace much steadier than it had been back in May.

Rodin ridden to perfect

A double-figure field lined up for the million-pound Prince of Wales's Stakes for the first time since 2013. While the runners included a couple of pacemakers and a few of a standard a little short of that usually required, there were four multiple Group 1 winners amongst the ten that took part, even if they all had a little bit to prove after being below par so far this campaign.

The pacemakers did their job well, ensuring a truly-run contest and that, coupled with a return to firmer ground, enabled Auguste Rodin to return to close to his best. Asked for his effort early in the straight, Auguste Rodin moved into a decisive lead under two furlongs out and was never in much danger of defeat thereafter.

Auguste Rodin was chased home by one of the outsiders, Zarakem. However, Zarakem had started favourite for the Group 1 Prix Ganay last time and had beaten the third here, Horizon Dore, in the Harcourt in the spring. A well-run race on firmer ground looked ideal for one that prior to the Ganay was generally progressive, so Zarakem's improved effort hardly gives cause to question the form.

As for Inspiral, the winner's main market rival, she still looks to be working her way back to form. She got warm beforehand and never threatened from the back of the pack, though plugging on late on. Perhaps the Nassau might be the race for her to revive in.

Rosallion responds well in SJP

The three-year-old milers 'decider' went the way of the Irish Guineas hero and Newmarket runner-up Rosallion. With the three main Guineas winners in the field, as well as a pair that had won at the highest level at two and another couple that were unbeaten and progressive this year, the line-up was about as representative as it could have been. The race was a fair one, run at a sound gallop, the one negative about the form the fact that the 2000 Guineas winner Notable Speech clearly didn't give his running.

Unquestionable set the pace, tracked by his stable-companion Henry Longfellow, with the Poulains winner Metropolitan racing in third. The race was set up nicely for Henry Longfellow and he looked set to take the catching when he kicked on early in the straight; Rosallion conceded first run and had to wriggle his way through, but responded well once in the clear. He probably deserves a shade extra credit. Metropolitan, whose classic-winning form looked a bit below the level of the other principals beforehand, was a creditable if one-paced third.

The first two, nicely clear, deserve crediting with improvement, though it's probably no more than form of an average running and whether the winner's effort was quite as good as Notable Speech's at Newmarket is open to doubt. That form had been working out well, as the winner again showed, but Notable Speech just wasn't at the top of his game. He wasn't ideally positioned, but that he was unable to sustain his run in the final furlong suggested there was more to it. It's possible firmer ground wasn't ideal.