Royal Ascot: Palace Pier and Oxted among first day winners

Spectators returned after last year’s meeting was held behind closed doors Venue: Ascot Racecourse Dates: Tuesday 15 to Saturday 20 June Coverage: Commentary on feature race (16:20 BST) each day on BBC Radio 5 Live; commentary on most races on BBC Radio Berkshire

Frankie Dettori secured the 74th Royal Ascot win of his career as he guided the world’s top-rated racehorse, Palace Pier, to victory in the opening race.

Dettori, 50, took the Queen Anne Stakes on the 2-7 favourite, trained by John and Thady Gosden.

Palace Pier, in an eighth win from nine races, won by a length and a half from Lope Y Fernandez with Sir Busker third.

Cieren Fallon claimed his first Royal Ascot victory with Oxted, trained by Roger Teal, in the King’s Stand Stakes.

Fallon, the son of retired six-time champion jockey Kieren, said it was “a dream come true” after winning on the 4-1 chance.

Ascot welcomed British racing’s biggest attendance for 15 months as the five-day meeting started, with 12,000 spectators allowed daily as part of a test event. external-link held to assess the impact of crowds returning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dettori started the week as favourite to be the meeting’s leading jockey for the third year running and his opening victory came 11,319 days after his first at Royal Ascot, on Markofdistinction in 1990.

“He is one of the best horses in the world and everything went right,” said Dettori of Palace Pier.

“It is a mirage – I’m so pleased to have the crowd back. It’s great. What can you say? Royal Ascot with people is amazing and this meeting is a big part of my life. I couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Berkshire Shadow (11-1), trained by Andrew Balding, won the Coventry Stakes under champion jockey Oisin Murphy.