Commonwealth corker helps ITV post healthy viewing figures

The Commonwealth Cup being such a corker, and the weather being not quite so hot, would have done ITV's chances of drawing a good audience no harm on Friday, and the broadcaster and Ascot will have been happy with a midweek-high peak of 1.4 million.

Channel 4's peak on the Friday last year was 745,000, while their average was 475,000, in contrast to ITV's 900,000.

ITV Racing's audience share on Friday was 12 per cent, against 5.5 per cent for Channel 4 in 2016.

So far so good!

New racing fan

Olivia Colman, the triple Bafta-winning star of hit TV series Broadchurch and The Night Manager, enjoyed not simply her first ever day at Royal Ascot but her first experience of horseracing on a rare day off in a busy work schedule. And the good news is that she loved it, so might well be back.

Colman, who will shortly be starring in Mosquitoes, a new play at the National Theatre, was a guest of Royal Ascot and enjoyed a very good lunch before picking the best turned out for the Chesham and presenting the trophies.

"Everything is so perfect here and I'm having a lovely time, but the horses are much smaller than I expected," she said.

All smiles after Snoano win

There were no cold feet from owner Martyn MacLeod following the unexpected victory of Snoano in the Wolferton Stakes, but there was a sore jaw.

A proud Yorkshireman (like them all), MacLeod received his prize from actor Robert Bathurst, a man best known for his role as David Marsden in ITV comedy Cold Feet.

Speaking after the presentation, Bathurst revealed: "The owner was looking at the cameras and said to me, 'I'm not used to smiling so much, I'm from Yorkshire'."

The wonders of a Royal Ascot winner know no bounds.