The Royal Ascot jamboree may have broken records and thrown up some thrilling racing moments, but it's what happened between those show-stopping wins that has left many in the sport scratching their heads. A bias towards horses drawn high on the straight course has cast a dark cloud over an otherwise fantastic week at the premier flat meet.
As Aidan O'Brien celebrated a major milestone with his 100th Royal Ascot winner, and the crowds flocked to watch, many trainers and owners were left feeling mugged off by the system. The disparity was clear from day one – winners consistently haring down the near-side rail from high draws, leaving those lower down on the straight with little hope of winning.
Simon Crisford, no stranger to the pressures of owning a top-level thoroughbred, let rip after his Jazl finished last in a race dominated by a stall 31 winner. "It's not right when you pay what you pay as an owner to come to Royal Ascot and not have a fair racing track," he fumed.
Thursday's Britannia Handicap was the most egregious example of this bias – 15 runners on one side, 15 on the other, but only one way to go: stall 31 won again! Nine out of 11 winners came from that stands' side group, with an astonishing nine drawn in stalls 22 and above. It was a stark reminder of how much the draw can skew the outcome.
Ascot's straight-mile course has no obvious excuse for such a bias, unlike some smaller tracks around the country. So why did it happen? Chris Stickels, Clerk of the Course, acknowledged the issue on Saturday morning: "We work hard to provide as fair a track as we can. We study the data, aerate and irrigate evenly...it does seem that high numbers have been winning." The evidence was clear – 18 out of 35 races affected by this seemingly insurmountable draw advantage.