Reflecting on today’s racing at Ascot, I felt the final race at 3:45 featured a couple of disappointing rides from Harry Skelton and Sam Twiston-Davies on Hitintheheadlines and Saint Jeannais, the first and second favourites. Both were held up at the rear despite a very sedate pace—the slowest time of the day.

The winner, The Walk, and the runner-up, Double The Dance, were well positioned throughout and were given plenty of leeway when the latter quickened from the front with about four furlongs to run.

I think Brendan Powell is riding extremely well at the moment, and Joe Tizzard, who trained the winner, has his horses in excellent form. Powell is strong in a finish and makes very few errors.

Harry Skelton is known for riding from the rear on many of his mounts. It seems clear that his brother Dan prefers his horses to be ridden patiently, a style that doesn’t necessarily suit every horse.

Good cards tomorrow in the UK and France. I will try to give a couple of selections worth looking at in the morning.