Royal Ascot, part one

I really enjoyed cheering home Scenic Blast (pictured above, receiving a few pre-King's Stand tips from the past master Takeover Target) yesterday. Didn't he win well! It was just a tremendous performance. I'm just so pleased for his connections: coming from Perth to Melbourne is bold enough, but then coming all the way over here is such a big undertaking, and it's lovely that their spirit of adventure has been rewarded. If Takeover Target can make the frame - or even win, if that's not asking too much - on Saturday that would be the icing on the cake. We've actually already had some icing on the cake with the American two-year-old Strike The Tiger winning the last yesterday. With Jane Chapple-Hyam training the winner of the Ascot Stakes, that means that three of the winners on the first day came out of Abington Place Stables, which is remarkable, and really nice.

I met a really nice party of Aussies on Sunday evening, all of whom will have had a wonderful day at the races yesterday. Bryan Martin, the former Melbourne race-caller, always acts as leader of a tour party for Ascot, and the group were staying in the Bedford Lodge for a couple of nights over the weekend. I had the pleasure of joining them for a few drinks out on the terrace on a beautiful summer's evening on Sunday. They were, as you'd expect, a very pleasant crew. Danny Morton and his family turned up to have their dinner there, and I have no doubt that the entire party would have had a nice bet yesterday. In addition to discussing some of the Ascot races (when asked for my nap of the meeting, I took the easy way out and said, "Am I allowed to tip Scenic Blast?"), I took the opportunity to savour some FOO stories: Bryan was the managing part-owner of the syndicate which raced the dual Cox Plate winner Fields Of Omagh, and was as happy to share some recollections as he was taken aback when I got my camera out of my pocket and showed him some photos on it which I had taken of his horse (plus the 1990 Cox Plate and Japan Cup winner BLU - Better Loosen Up) in the paddock at Living Legends, the equine heroes' retirement home which we visited in January.

The final highlight of a very enjoyable Sunday was the third in the 'Empire of Cricket' TV series on BBC2. These are very good programmes. We've had potted histories of international cricket from the point of view of England, the West Indies and Australia so far, and I think and hope that we have a few more to come. So that's another good tip this week: if you haven't discovered this series yet, check it out on Sunday. It's a great way of warming up for the Ashes, and a great complement for the current Twenty20 series which, much to my surprise, I am really enjoying, despite the fact that cricket is more or less not televised any more (other than on the soccer channel, for which I don't pay) and despite the fact that I'm not sure that I approve of the idea of condensing cricket into little parcels more suited to those with short attention spans. I am, naturally, barracking for the Kiwis in this tournament, under the captaincy of my doppelganger Daniel Vettori.

As I write, we've had eight races from Royal Ascot so far. Scenic Blast has to be the highlight - even possibly from an objective point of view - but Canford Cliffs' class was a joy to behold, as was Mastercraftsman's toughness. Steven Arnold is my favourite Aussie hoop so his presence in the saddle was, for me, a further bonus of Scenic Blast's win, but I'd have to give Ride of the Meeting so far to Johnny Murtagh on Spacious, whose win continued the deservedly successful meeting so far being enjoyed by James Fanshawe, for whom the 8-year-old Cesare ran a great race to finish second in the Queen Anne. What lies in store? We'll just have to wait and see. It's shaping up as a very good Royal Ascot - and if Yeats can win tomorrow it will surely be one of the greats.