Five horses that caught the eye at Royal Ascot 2025

The dust has settled after a blazing Royal Ascot replete with a number of outstanding winners across the five days of top-class Flat racing action.

There were plenty of star performances that jump readily to mind; Field Of Gold romping away with the St James’s Palace Stakes; Ombudsman’s massively impressive Prince Of Wales’s Stakes victory; Trawlerman finally landing the Ascot Gold Cup; the upwardly mobile Amiloc remaining unbeaten in the King Edward VII Stakes; and the final day success of French star Lazzat in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, to name but a few, writes Paul Alster.

I have taken a long look back through the five days and thirty-five races and have picked out five horses who didn’t win at Royal Ascot – one from each day’s action – but who did enough to suggest they will be worth following for the rest of this campaign.

Day One – STARLUST (Ralph Beckett) ran a race full of promise of better to come when a strong-finishing fourth in the Group 1 King Charles III Stakes won by Scotland’s American Affair on the opening day of the meeting. Having only his second run of the season, the 4yo Zoustar colt was well off the pace for much of the race then finished with a real flourish to get up for fourth. Third in last year’s Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes at York on quick ground having won twice earlier in the campaign on the Knavesmire to confirm his liking for the track, he went on to win the Breeders Cup Turf Sprint last November demonstrating how good he is when his hooves are rattling.

Given similarly quick conditions at York in August, STARLUST may well go very close to landing the Nunthorpe Stakes this time around.

Day Two – GREEK ORDER (Michael Bell) ran a cracker to finish fourth in the Royal Hunt Cup, coming home second on the stands to the overall winner My Cloud, a horse who could very easily prove to be Group class before too long. Bell’s 5yo was the only one of the stands’ side runners capable of going with the eventual winner, the pair pulling five lengths clear of Ancient Rome, the next home in that group.

The big margin back to the third suggests that GREEK ORDER caught a real tartar on only his second start back in Britain after a fruitless spell with Bill Mott in the US. Versatile with regard to ground conditions, the 2023 Cambridgeshire Handicap runner-up can build on this fine effort and should pay his way in top 8f-10f handicap events, including potentially another crack at the first leg of the autumn double in September.

Day Three – PAROLE D’ORO (Michael Bell) was another for the yard who ran really well without managing to trouble the judge. Travelling strongly in the nearside group throughout the Britannia Handicap cavalry charge down the straight mile, the gelded son of Without Parole was denied a clear run on a number occasions, getting into the clear when it was too late, but staying on strongly to finish eighth of the thirty runners.

There will be other days for this promising sort whose connections can console themselves with the knowledge they have a horse who will be very competitive off his current mark of 92 as the season progresses.

Day Four – ZAHRANN (Johnny Murtagh) ran a mighty race to finish second in the Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes on the penultimate day of the meeting. The Night Of Thunder colt only made his racecourse debut in April this year, running a promising second, then followed up with a maiden success and an impressive listed win over 1m4f at Cork in early-June. He was asked to tackle hot opposition at Royal Ascot just fifteen days later, and after getting a little outpaced before the home turn stayed on very strongly inside the final furlong to push the unbeaten Amiloc – a potential Group 1 horse – all the way to the line.

Murtagh was delighted with ZAHRANN’s effort and will now give him a break after four quick runs, but he should be back in a few months’ time to contest some serious races and can pay his way. Easier ground would not be an issue.

Day Five – HOLKHAM BAY (William Knight) was a real eyecatcher in the ultra-competitive Wokingham Handicap on the final day of the meeting. He scraped into the race as first reserve having hinted he was coming to hand with a promising run at York the time before. Drawn under the seemingly unfavoured stands rail, he burst to the front of that group around a furlong from home then ran on powerfully to the line, coming three lengths clear of the rest of that group but unable to reel in the winner, Get In who had made the best of his way home down the centre of the track.

Beaten just three-quarters-of-a-length in a very close fourth place and only race one pound by the handicapper, there could be some nice races in HOLKHAM BAY before the season is out, the Stewards’ Cup being an obvious target, although the way he finished off in the Wokingham, a first crack at seven furlongs in something like the Bunbury Cup or similar would be well worth a try.

Paul Alster has broadcast and reported on the British racing industry for almost four decades as a commentator, journalist, presenter, betting correspondent, SP Returner, tipster and form analyst, among other things.