Walter Swinburn made a triumphant return to Royal Ascot's centre stage with a superb 419 to 1 treble yesterday, setting him up perfectly for a duel with Frankie Dettori to become leading jockey at the meeting.
After Bint Allayl sprinted away to win the Queen Mary, Dettori could have been forgiven that his third winner of the festival put him in the driver's seat but Swinburn has overcome greater obstacles in the past and bounced back with a victory roll highlighted by Exclusive's defeat of Zalaiyka in the Coronation Stakes.
The last of Swinburn's previous 25 Royal winners had been Royal Applause in 1995 after which the Irish jockey missed out because of injury and a well-publicised sabbatical to deal with a chronic weight problem.
With that brought under control, Swinburn has returned a happier man and his return was gilded yesterday by Maridpour in the Queens Vase, Greek Palace in the Bessborough but especially by Exclusive who came through a gap to peg back the hot favourite, Zalaiyka, by a length and a half.
"Royal Ascot really is a special occasion, every race is like a Group One," Swinburn grinned before confirming: "I am enjoying my riding more than ever. Everything seems to be pretty level at the moment and it's up to me to keep it that way."
All three winners were saddled by the recently knighted Michael Stoute who was winning his third Coronation Stakes. "I was far from certain she would beat Zalaiyka but she came from behind and ran on the better. She has plenty of big entries including the Eclipse," Stoute said.
Zalaiyka's trainer Alain de Royer Dupre yet again missed out on a winner in Britain and said: "She was changing her legs continuously and she found it a bit long in the end."
Winona ran on to just snatch third for John Oxx and John Murtagh and the Curragh trainer reported: "We thought she'd got third in the photo for the Irish Guineas and didn't so it's good to get it this time. She might like a little further in something like the Meld Stakes."
Zalaiyka's owner the Aga Khan, besieged by photographers wanting photographs of him with his new wife, had better luck with Maridpour who had too much stamina for the favourite Capri and then held off Laurnetide in the Queens Vase. Dermot Weld's Francis Bay was a tailed off last.
Swinburn's treble was completed by Greek Palace who travelled well throughout the Bessborough and then held off the favourite Sabadilla with Oxx's Winged Hussar back in third. It was a day of third placings for the Irish as Coralita ran a fine race to take the minor place behind the impressive Bint Allayl in the Queen Mary.
Bint Allayl, trained by former England soccer international Mick Channon, looked an exceptional prospect in beating Pipalong by two lengths, prompting Dettori to say: "It will take a pretty good one to beat her."
Diktat was another winning favourite in the Jersey Stakes where Bianconi faded to fifth but the 20 to 1 shot Refuse To Lose did just that by making virtually all in the Royal Hunt Cup, beating Dettori and the favourite Fly To The Stars by a length and a half.
The Royal Ascot stewards yesterday expressed their concern to Aidan O'Brien that the travelling arrangements of his horses was jeopardising the interests of the betting public. O'Brien's horses African Skimmer and Desert Fox missed their races on Tuesday because of a technical problem with the plane flying them from Shannon on Tuesday morning.
