Royal Ascot Handicappers' Corner: All the fallout from five fabulous days

In terms of a single meeting in Britain, Royal Ascot stands alone as the pinnacle of Flat racing and 2012 looked particularly special, featuring the two best horses in the world. Frankel delivered all that could have been asked of him and more, putting up the best performance in Timeform's history in winning the Queen Anne (the rating is explained in more detail here), but Black Caviar made much harder work of winning the Diamond Jubilee.

It's fair to say considering Black Caviar had at least 10lb in hand of her rivals on pre-race ratings, that her effort in scrambling home, even taking into account her being prematurely eased, was a long way below the level she has shown in Australia. She has posted six individual 130+ figures on home soil, but was required only to run to a figure of 123 (+2 lb for her rider's misjudgement) to win the Diamond Jubilee.
The finish of the race was dominated by fillies/mares with the French-trained pair Moonlight Cloud edging out Restiadargent for second, running to 123 and 120 respectively. However, Society Rock would almost certainly have gone close to replicating last year's success but for his awkward start and remains rated 124.

Also overshadowed by Frankel's performance in the Queen Anne was that put up by Little Bridge in winning the King's Stand, the other Group 1 sprint of the meeting held later on the first day. His winning figure of 128 was the best in the race since Dayjur ran to 137 in 1990.

Black Caviar was by no means the only antipodean interest during the week. So You Think has numerous 130+ performances to his name in Australia, but unlike Black Caviar he has proven just as effective in the northern hemisphere over the last 15 months. His win in the Prince of Wales's Stakes merely reiterated that he is a top-class performer, running to 130+, any suggestions that he was a different horse compared to last year certainly not backed up by any evidence in the formbook.

One rival that will surely give So You Think more of a race should they meet again is Farhh. Upgraded to Group 1 company after one of the best handicapping performances likely to be seen all year at Thirsk, Farhh met plenty of trouble in trying to stay on from behind and has been rated as finishing a clear second.

If Dettori didn't cover himself with glory in the Prince Of Wales's, he made up for it with his effort in the Gold Cup as Colour Vision held off last year's runner-up Opinion Poll. The bunched finish (a result of the way the race was run) prevents taking a positive view of the bare form, though there is a feeling that the current crop of stayers is as strong as we've seen for a while.

Colour Vision and Opinion Poll were adjudged to have run 3lb below their current master ratings of 125 and 122 in the Gold Cup, and Saddler's Rock remains the highest rated on 126 (ran to 121 on Thursday), the muddling gallop inconveniencing him the most. Gulf of Naples had the run of the race and seemed to improve markedly, his rating of 120? 11lb higher than his pre-race figure.

Sea Moon also ran to 128 in winning the Hardwicke, a Group 2 in name only this year, whilst Dunaden also emerged with his reputation (and rating) enhanced, likely to have finished closer but for meeting interference, and now rated 126 as opposed to 124.

The best of the efforts from the three-year-olds came courtesy of Fallen For You in the Coronation Stakes, stamping herself as the best filly over a mile with her commanding victory over stablemate Starscope. Hot on her heels were St James's Palace winner Most Improved and Ribblesdale scorer Princess Highway, who both ran to 120. Princess Highway's performance, backed up by an equivalent timefigure, making her the one to beat in the Irish Oaks.

Amongst the juveniles, Dawn Approach returned to the top of rankings having briefly lost his position to Sir Prancealot. He earned a figure off 116p for winning the Coventry, another performance that was backed up by the clock.

Visually, the most impressive of the 2-y-o winners was Newfangled in taking the Albany. In making just about all, Newfangled was value for extra over the bare result as she was closed down late on having looked far more superior a furlong out than at the finish. The standards for the Albany suggest a range of 100-107 for Newfangled on the bare result, but having looked value for double her winning margin, she's been rated higher than that, at 108p.
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