RACING/Royal Ascot: Somehow there was inevitability about Kieren Fallon breaking his festival famine in the Gold Cup.

After enduring two and a half days of frustration, the champion jockey was looking decidedly frosty before the leg up on Mr Dinos. However, Fallon's legions of fans need not have worried.

Five championships, a couple of Derbys and a world wide reputation confirm the Co Clare-born rider's mastery of the trade. But the perception remains maybe one or two of his colleagues might edge him in the subtlety stakes.

The Gold Cup requires many things, but subtlety is not one of them and when it comes to having a will to win, Fallon is never going to concede much. So it was with Mr Dinos.

That hardy perennial Persian Punch dutifully set off in front and was tracked by Mr Dinos and the Irish hope Black Sam Bellamy.

As a brother to Galileo and a Group One winner over half the Gold Cup trip, Black Sam Bellamy travelled perfectly to a mile out when Fallon decided the poncing about had to end.

He harried and bullied Mr Dinos up to Persian Punch and sure enough, Black Sam Bellamy's stride began to shorten dramatically before the turn-in. He wasn't the only one.

Mamool's class couldn't carry him into a challenging position, Black Sam Bellamy faded badly to eighth and it was Persian Punch who stayed on best of the rest.

But with Fallon and Mr Dinos in full flow, there was only the one winner at the line and the six-length success unleashed a range of emotions from Paul Cole.

From the days of 19 previous festival successes, and the 1991 Derby triumph of Generous, things have slowed dramatically for the trainer but this meant a lot.

"I've never run one in the Gold Cup before and it's a race I've always wanted to win. It's actually quite emotional because the last six weeks have been pretty tense because we've had health problems in the yard and I've been worried about the ground. After a while you look for problems. But it's worked out," Cole said.

Fallon's reaction was rather more low key and typically he had half an eye on the future. "The first couple of days have been very frustrating but in every big meeting, the first winner takes a weight off," he said.

It didn't, however, take enough off Sublimity in the Hampton Court Stakes. The Fallon-ridden favourite was out of the frame behind Persian Majesty, who provided Johnny Murtagh with a winning return from injury.

Persian Majesty drifted dramatically to his right and interfered with the Dermot Weld-trained Evolving Tactics who was gambled on but faded to third.

Frankie Dettori set himself up for what must have been a sore fall in a Norfolk Stakes won by Russian Valour.

Beforehand, the Italian claimed only "pilot error" could stop the odds-on Kheleyf from winning. There didn't appear a whole pile wrong with Dettori's effort but effort was the one thing Kheleyf was not prepared to put in.

"Really green," reported a downbeat jockey afterwards, while Mark Johnston welcomed back his third two-year-old winner of the week.

"I've never trained anything of this size!" exclaimed Johnston who later picked up his fourth race of the week when Fantastic Love overcame a slow start to win the King George V Stakes.

The Mick Doyle-owned winner received an inspired ride from 20-year-old Keith Dalgleish who just got Fantastic Love up by a short head from Salsalino.

Dalgleish and Johnston only just failed to add the Britannia Handicap to their festival toll when Helm Bank emerged best of the supposedly favoured stands side group.

However, it was New Seeker on the other side of the course that defied the perceived bias under Jamie Spencer after just five of the 32-strong field raced away from the stands.

Richard Hughes rode his third winner of the week on Spanish Sun who defied a 269 day absence since her only previous start to land the Ribblesdale Stakes from the favourite, Ocean Silk.

"The Oaks was the original plan with the filly but she's had a few niggles.

"However, he has also got a lot of talent," said trainer Michael Stoute.