After another succession of favourites won on the fifth day of Royal Ascot there was only one bookmaker up on the week and that was Paddy Power in his guise as an owner.
David Power, who founded the business, top and tailed the meeting by winning Tuesday's big sprint, the King's Stand Stakes, with Sole Power and Saturday's even bigger sprint, the Diamond Jubilee Stakes with Slade Power.
Both horses, no relation, are trained by Eddie Lynham, who brought four horses over from Ireland and, having also won the Queen Mary as well, went back home to Meath with three winners, a quite remarkable 75 per cent strike-rate.
His only worry was that once the 7-2 shot Slade Power a homebred Dutch Art colt named after Power's daughter's art college hit the front he would pull himself up. He did not do that but he ran around a bit and had to survive a stewards' inquiry after forcing the length-and-a-quarter runner-up Due Diligence to snatch up just before the line.
"He's only used to looking at one man and a dog in the mornings, not 70,000," Lynham said. "I never had an issue about the fast ground but by the time I read all the clever guys and watched The Morning Line I was beginning to have doubts. It's just coincidence I had the best horse in three races. Trainers only get 10 per cent for a reason it's only 10 per cent to do with us."
