So You Think spoils royal House party

Hopes of a major Royal Ascot winner for Queen Elizabeth in the year of the Diamond Jubilee were dashed when So You Think finished too strongly for Carlton House in the 150th Anniversary of the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes yesterday.

Queen Elizabeth, without a British Group One since Dunfermline a quarter of a century ago, looked at ease as she saw the 7-2 second-favourite in the paddock but a nervous couple of minutes were in store.

Carlton House had every chance when delivered by Ryan Moore over a furlong from home, but he was unable to answer the power and speed of So You Think, with trainer Aidan O’Brien believing he had finally restored the imposing six-year-old to the form which saw him arrive with such a reputation last season.