David Ord was our man on the ground soaking up the majesty of Field Of Gold's St James's Palace performance as the grey colt emulated his sire, Kingman.
“Like father, like son”.
And with that, John Gosden is whisked away for the presentation ceremony.
Field Of Gold has just won the St James’s Palace Stakes, making a sun-drenched afternoon even brighter with a performance right out of the top drawer.
There’s a moment in a horse race when your eyes are drawn to a single horse.
Up to that point you've been assessing the general story, is Ruling Court being niggled along? How much has Ryan Moore saved on Henri Matisse?
Then shortly after turning in, Colin Keane angles Field Of Gold between weakening rivals. He has clear blue water, and two furlongs of the Ascot turf in front of him to devour. You have to watch him and him alone.
He's swinging away on the bridle but it’s what happens next that separates the very good ones from the Group One-winning rest.
Because when his new rider pushes the button, Field Of Gold is gone. In three strides the race is over. It’s a question of how far will he win by?
But Gosden senior, watching on from the rails, can’t relax.
“There was a solid pace, Oisin (Murphy aboard Windlord) did a nice job going an even pace, then they came to the head of the straight and we have a lot of horse. Then for a second, I think ‘whoops’.
"This is Ascot, it climbs all the way nearly to the finish line. Had we gone a bit soon? I didn’t watch him, I watched at the back for the closers. Fortunately, nothing was coming."
The Field Of Gold Story somehow includes two defeats. The first came in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on Arc day.
“Running in France was a mistake in the end. It wasn’t the ground, he beat the latch, was too free in front and didn’t finish off. I should have run him in the Dewhurst. I regret that,” Gosden said.
“Then this year he’s been exemplary in everything he’s done.”
And he has – apart from the fact he didn’t win the 2000 Guineas. Just like his sire Kingman.
That brilliant miler came to Berkshire to take revenge on his own Newmarket conqueror, Night Of Thunder. 11 years later, his grey son does likewise on Ruling Court, a swing of just under seven lengths in the space of six weeks.
How on earth did he get beat in the first Classic? The 2025 renewal has been replayed time and time again. It cost Kieran Shoemark the Clarehaven job and the ride on the horse of a lifetime.
It accelerated Keane’s ascension to the Juddmonte throne.
Today’s not a day to rake over those coals but for all he might have been out of his ground when the tempo quickened, the way he picked up today still leaves you scratching your head. Again, how on earth did he get beat?
Newmarket, fast ground, the Dip, it took him too long to get organised. Remember at the time the worry was getting him to switch off. It’s easy to see how he was a little further back than they’d have liked.
He couldn’t engage overdrive until he met the rising ground, despite his rider’s best efforts. That’s how he lost the 2000 Guineas. Just like his father did. When things transpire against a horse, the dominos fall in a different way, anything can be beaten.
Remember the 2011 St James’s Palace Stakes? I bet you do. The closest Frankel came to being beaten. All Zoffany needed was a few more strides.
That's why there are bookmakers, why this isn’t an exact science. But the beauty of the 2025 St James’s Palace Stakes is it provided the moment for which Field Of Gold will be remembered, one in glorious victory rather than agonising defeat.
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Talking of those, Reaching High has just sauntered through the Ascot Stakes for the King and Willie Mullins, never coming off the bridle.
The problem is he never sees daylight either from stall one - traffic problems all the way down the straight. He finishes ninth, beaten four lengths, ears pricked.
As with all great plans...
No, it’s not an exact science. But when it goes right, when a horse like Field Of Gold has the opportunity to showcase his talents in a race like Tuesday’s Group One showpiece, it’s a glorious spectacle.
Push-button acceleration, the thrill of a top-class thoroughbred in full flight, surging clear of another pair of 2000 Guineas winners, you don’t beat it.
It is what Royal Ascot is all about; it’s what Flat racing is all about.
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