US sprinter Bacio blitzed home ahead of his 26 rivals in the concluding Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes, although connections of the 3/1 favourite were made to sweat after jockey Juan Hernandez initially weighed in light.

Successful in three of his four starts stateside for Wesley Ward, Bacio made a mockery of an opening handicap mark of 100 as he made all on the stands’ side for an emphatic three and three-quarter length victory.

Another US challenger Sandal’s Song (40/1) was second, with Ten Carat Harry faring best of the Europeans (22/1) in third. Calico Blue (22/1) and Starmade (17/2) were fourth and fifth.

Following a stewards’ enquiry, Ward said: “We were taking some pictures in here [the winner’s enclosure] and, when the horse jumped, the overgirth fell off – so when Juan weighed back in, the overgirth did not go through the scales. Then they found the overgirth here in the winner’s circle, put it back on, and we are all good.”

Asked what he was thinking when he went into the stewards’ room, he said: “I was wondering if Juan could go and have a cheeseburger and then weigh back in! Luckily, all we needed was the overgirth that he carried, so we are all good.”

Asked how it feels to win his first race here since 2021, Ward added: “This is the greatest place in the world to win a horse race. There is nowhere like it anywhere that I have been. To finally get here again after so much success early on… we keep coming over, and more Americans keep coming as that is what Royal Ascot is about – the international competition. Other Americans, people from all over the world, the Japanese, Australians and everyone else here… it is just so great to finally win a race again here and hopefully we will keep moving forward.”

Asked why he brought Juan Hernandez to Ascot, he said: “He is just an incredible rider, very good from the gate. He is Bob Baffert’s number one rider in California. So being a sprint here, there would not be anyone better – maybe as good, but none better – for him to get them out of the gate and in a good position. He rides with confidence as he has won 3,000+ races, and he did just that. He did that in the Queen Mary when we were third. He has another big chance tomorrow in the Norfolk, Ez Tina, so hopefully we will keep rolling through in the sunshine.”

Hernandez said: “I lost my overgirth in the winner’s circle and did not know, so I weighed in a pound light. We went back with the stewards, they checked my tack, and found I did not have my overgirth, so the lads came back, grabbed it, and I weighed in again and it was fine. It has never happened to me before. Back in America I am light as a jockey, but my horse was the best, so we have no need to cheat or lie. I ride like everyone else, and my horse showed he was the best today.”

On his first Royal Ascot success, he added: “Wesley did a beautiful job with this horse. He won the race out of the gate. He broke so well and, after that, was travelling beautifully all the way to the wire.

“I have ridden him the last three times. He worked really well at Churchill Downs a couple of months ago. He looked really strong coming back from a lay-off. I saw him galloping here on Tuesday and he looked amazing. He showed today that he is a really good horse.

“I love it here. It is something different in a good way. I am really happy to be here and grateful to the people at Royal Ascot. Hopefully, I can come back and win more races here.”

6.10pm Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes (Handicap)

1 Bacio (My Racehorse, Shockley, Hanna, Messenger) Wesley Ward USA 3-9-05 Juan Hernandez 3/1F

2 Sandal’s Song (Wathnan Racing) George Weaver USA 3-9-04 James Doyle 40/1

3 Ten Carat Harry (Aura Racing) Jamie Osborne 3-9-06 William Carver 22/1

4 Calico Blue (Michael D’Arcy) Roger Varian 3-8-12 Ray Dawson 22/1

5 Starmade (Paul McEwen) Ed Dunlop 3-8-07 Harry Davies 17/2

27 ran 

Wesley Ward – 13th Royal Ascot winner

Juan Hernandez – 1st Royal Ascot winner