IT WAS a glorious week of superb racing at Royal Ascot with champion performances that will live long in the memory.

The highs of the winners are ultimately dwarfed by the lows of the hard-luck stories littered across the world famous meeting.

Here’s half a dozen horses that might not have got the rub of the green and are worth following to gain compensation in the coming months.

Raasel (King’s Stand Stakes)

Mick Appleby’s sprinter has been stuck out on a wing more often than Ormer Locklear this year.

Although that’s a bit of a niche joke, there was little to amuse his backers again on the opening day.

From an unhelpful low draw he was pushed furthest towards the far rail and away from where the main action unfolded in the King’s Stand Stakes. It was a similar story to his last two runs.

If he heads to Sandown for the Group 3 sprint he won last year on Eclipse day, he might appear to be in worse form than he actually is. A repeat victory might be on the cards.

He could easily go one better than his second in the King George at Glorious Goodwood, as well.

Mukaddamah (Kensington Palace Stakes)

The worst place to be drawn on a hold-up horse on the round course is near the rail.

Mukaddamah proved that in the Kensington Palace Stakes. She made smooth progress around the inner early in the straight but, as often is the case, it became rather rough in the closing stages.

Trying to pick her way through from the rear, she got ironed out when one of the outsiders switched inside to get a run, forcing Jim Crowley’s filly, quite literally, into the rail.

She hasn’t had much luck since finishing third behind top-class Nashwa early last season with a combination of slow starts, soft ground and traffic issues hampering her progress.

She will get dropped again by the handicapper and looks set to strike when she gets a fast-run race.

Perfuse (King George V Stakes)

The leaders went off so fast in the King George V Stakes it’s a surprise they didn’t leave scorch marks in the Ascot turf ‘Back To The Future’ style.

You might have to ask your dad about Marty McFly and Doc, but you’d be better off setting your clock to the next time Perfuse runs as he’s likely to biff the opposition.

Sir Michael Stoute’s dual winner sat too close to the red-hot gallop in the early stages but he still came there cruising to hit the front two furlongs out.

Unsurprisingly, he couldn’t sustain his effort, weaking into fifth. That was still a huge effort and he has a big prize in him over 1m4f.

Live Your Dream (Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes)

It was a remarkable performance from Live Your Dream to finish third in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes for a number of reasons.

First of all, it was less than a couple of weeks since his excellent Haydock second when returning from the best part of two years off the track. That made him a prime candidate to be returning to the track too quickly.

He also had to work hard to get over to lead from a high stall and he was caught wide around the first turn. Saeed bin Suroor’s runner still went very smoothly and he took a couple of lengths out of the field spinning off the home turn.

He couldn’t hold off the late challengers but, in placing third, he was the only one of those positioned in the first six through the body of the race to finish in the first half.

He looks sure to win soon.

Bridestones (Sandringham Stakes)

It was a pretty dreadful week for Godolphin and that wasn’t just confined to the all-powerful operation’s main trainer Charlie Appleby.

Bridestones, trained by the Gosdens, had no luck under James Doyle wearing the famous blue silks in the Sandringham Stakes.

She had never raced on fast ground before but seemed to like it. Travelling well in the far-side group, she smoothly made ground up from the rear.

It all got a bit tight just when she needed some daylight but worse was to come as she was nearly knocked over when she was sandwiched by two rivals.

That was game over. It’s hard to know where she would’ve finished but there’s no doubt in my mind she would have gone close to leading home her group at the very least.

Now she has proven herself on quick ground, there must be a race or two for her in the coming weeks.

Olivia Maralda (Jersey Stakes)

There didn’t seem to be any track bias due to differences in the ground all week – it just paid to be where the strongest early pace was.

Unfortunately for Olivia Maralda, she was marooned towards the stands side having copped the highest draw in the Jersey Stakes.

That meant she raced away from the main action and, although she threw down a determined challenge in the closing stages, she was never going to be able to truly threaten those down the middle.

It was a decent effort to finish fifth and she would have been very competitive had she been able to race behind the pacesetters.

She looks a real 7f specialist so races like the Lennox Stakes, Hungerford Stakes and City Of York Stakes must be on her radar.

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