Commonwealth Cup has won over the sceptics - and this huge beast of a horse would be a worthy champion

There were raised eyebrows when the Commonwealth Cup joined the Royal Ascot playlist in 2015. Perhaps not quite the same kerfuffle adding the Mares’ Hurdle to the Cheltenham Festival in March caused, but nevertheless creating a Group 1 confined to three-year-olds over six furlongs was the sort of bold move traditionalists can recoil from.

So it is a measure of the race's success that, eight years on, it has not only become part and parcel of Britain's premier Flat festival, but it has unquestionably enhanced the penultimate day of the meeting.

It helped that the inaugural running went to Muhaarar, a failed miler in the French 2,000 Guineas. His Commonwealth Cup win was the first of four consecutive Group 1 triumphs and he finished the season as Europe's champion sprinter.