Racing Royal Ascot reportA rousing chorus of Wrap The Green Flag Round Me, Boys might not have been appropriate in the circumstances but at last the Irish were roaring yesterday after In Time's Eye's success in the Wolferton Stakes brought the Royal Ascot famine to an end.

Quite how much of the roaring was due to the Dermot Weld-trained colt landing a colossal gamble - the horse was backed from 16 to 1 morning odds down to a 5 to 1 SP - is debatable but there was also an undoubted sense of relief.

A blank from 21 previous races had put a cork in the more cocky of the visitors and Aidan O'Brien's festival gloom deepened even further when he withdrew his two scheduled starters, Alberto Giacometti in the King Edward V11 Stakes and Arundel in the Queen's Vase.

"I don't consider the ground to be safe for them," said the Ballydoyle trainer, and there were plenty of out-of-pocket compatriots who would have agreed that it wasn't just the ground at Ascot that was unsafe.

But all that was forgotten as In Time's Eye finally put up a winning notch to rank with some previous placed efforts that had oozed potential.

One of those had been a second to High Chaparral, and Dermot Weld was quick to dismiss any notion that the gamble was in some way "inspired".

"He had the form and the credentials to win. He has a very good 108 rating and did it accordingly," he said.

Weld sometimes likes to present such a "what's all the fuss about?" face to the world after the event, but there was also no doubting the venom behind Pat Smullen's whip as he struggled to fight off the fast-finishing Persian Lightning by a neck.

"We have some big plans for this horse for the rest of the year so he had to win to justify those," said Smullen, who was adding to a previous Royal Ascot success, on Irresistible Jewel, in last year's Ribblesdale.

"I didn't want to say too much beforehand but I felt if I was to have a winner this week he would be it," added Smullen.

Enough of that confidence managed to filter out, however, and the bookies were left paying out big time after one of the gambles of the season. Mind you, their mood can't have been helped by some of the previous results.

Russian Rhythm duly became the first in 24 years to complete the 1,000 Guineas-Coronation Stakes double with a decisive defeat of Soviet Song.

"That's relief considering the record of Guineas winners," admitted trainer Michael Stoute.

There was no relief for the bookies in the King Edward VII Stakes as Marcus Tregoning's High Accolade powered through to beat Delsarte.

However, at least they weren't left completely floundering in the Queen's Vase as another Irish gamble went astray on the John Oxx second string, Cruzspiel.

Backed down from 16 to 1 in the morning, Cruzspiel had to settle for third behind Shanty Star, who provided Mark Johnston with a fifth success of a remarkable week.

Earlier Russian Rhythm's rider, Kieren Fallon, picked up a one-day ban in the Albany Stakes, which technically would keep him out of tomorrow week's Irish Derby and the likely ride on Kris Kin.

A Jockey Club spokesman confirmed, however, the offence was minor and could be successfully appealed by the rider.