'We always thought he was our best' - Thesis lands Britannia for the Charltons

Thursday: Royal Ascot

Thesis broke his maiden tag in tough fashion to provide his trainer Harry Charlton with a first Royal Ascot winner in partnership with his father Roger, when landing the Britannia Stakes.

The Juddmonte-owned three-year-old had yet to get off the mark in four attempts, being turned over at odds-on twice, but had got close to My Prospero – third in the Group 1 St James's Palace on Tuesday – so there was hope for Charlton that he may be better than his opening mark of 90.

"He won off 90 today, he's heading towards 100 now." said Charlton. "I think he's a good horse. He was the biggest horse in the field; he's got scope and size, so hopefully he can progress."

Winning jockey Ryan Moore hit the front at the furlong marker, driving his mount clear and had enough left to fend off the fast finishing Saga and Frankie Dettori by a head, denying the Queen a first Platinum Jubilee winner at the royal meeting.

"It's great to get a win," Charlton added. "He's unbelievably talented. We've been running in novices, he was second to My Prospero at Newbury, we got beat in a slowly run race at Lingfield and he tried to make all at Donny and got caught.

"Nothing's quite gone as we would like, it was quite a bold call from Juddmonte to come here as we could have ended up a five-race maiden with a horse we always thought was our best one.

"They said give it a go and to be fair to Ryan, he called up and said enter the horse, I want to ride him."

Inver Park continues Boughey's great season

Inver Park recorded back-to-back wins to continue a fantastic season for trainer George Boughey when giving him a first Royal Ascot win by landing the Buckingham Palace Stakes.

In similar fashion to the previous handicap on the card, Ben Curtis drove his mount to the front from his low-draw side, recording a length victory over 40-1 outsider Ropey Guest.

"It's amazing," said Boughey, who won the 1,000 Guineas with Cachet last month. "He's just a very tough horse; he's been very progressive. It's great to see Ben back on him there. He's by Pivotal, so he probably doesn't want this ground. I think it's testament to him that he's run such a massive race."

Boughey added: "Huge credit to Sam Haggas; he buys a lot of my horses. I actually never saw the horse, he does a lot of what he does on the computer. We bought the horse online and he kept making me take one more bid and thank God we did! It's a very special day."

Boughey has had a great start to the season, winning the 1,000 Guineas in May and bringing up his 50 a month earlier than his career best season last year.

"It's been great. I think that was our 51st winner of the year – July 18 was our 50th last year. They're running great and huge credit to everyone at home."

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