Rogue Diplomat (28/1) powered up the stands’ rail to claim the Royal Hunt Cup, handing dual-purpose trainer James Owen and jockey Harry Davies with their first Royal Ascot wins.

One of eight horses to come near side in the 28-runner cavalry charge, Davies sent his mount to the front entering the final furlong and the four-year-old stayed on strongly to see off Blue RC (28/1) by a length. The third Indalo (9/1) led home the far side group, with Ebt’s Guard (20/1) and Cerulean Bay (25/1) filling the minor places.

Following four successive wins in the second half of 2025, Rogue Diplomat started his year with a nose defeat in the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster and finished seventh in a Listed race at Longchamp last time out.

An emotional Davies said: “This is a little bit overwhelming. Royal Ascot is such a special meeting. You come here to try and compete. Without everyone, day to day, it wouldn’t be possible. This is all just a little bit much at the minute.

“I grew up at Hugo Palmer’s yard, my mum’s doing her own pre-training now and I’ve always ridden out from a very young age. Horses are my life. I was never very good at school and I fell in love with horse racing from a very young age. I grew up watching this meeting, so to ride a winner here is really, really great.”

On the race, he said: “The plan was just to ride Rogue Diplomat cold – he always runs his best races when ridden steady. We were confident there would be a lot of pace. Whether we’d be drawn on the right side was something we had to wait and see.

“I thought halfway that the other side was ahead of us and I was getting a little bit worried. Luckily, the horse I followed took me to beyond the two and he picked up so well. I pinned him to the fence to keep him honest – he can get a bit lonely, but he’s won really well.

“This is what you dream of growing up. I obviously grew up in racing and to ride a Royal Ascot winner is definitely the highlight of my career. It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I started, and it’s great to get the monkey off my back.

“James has been a big supporter of mine, particularly in the bigger handicaps, and we’ve had a lot of success. To reward everyone with a Royal Ascot winner couldn’t be much better.”

Owen said: “We nearly didn’t run him because of the ground. We took him to France, where it was very, very quick and he didn’t like it. If he hadn’t been to France, he’d have been second or third favourite for this – that’s what we kept coming back to. He needs a straight mile. He’s a bloody good horse who ran well in the Lincoln and was probably a little bit unlucky that day.

“This is unbelievable. We’ve been knocking on the door, and to get our first Royal Ascot winner is unbelievable. We’ve got a great team and we’re loving it. This is what we want and we’ve got it.”

Blue RC’s trainer James Tate said: “He ran really well. It is a career best in a huge race and on a huge occasion, so to finish second is great. Second is always a slightly bittersweet feeling, but he loves this fast ground and we are delighted with him. As for plans, we’ll try and find some fast ground. His only disappointing run was last time at Newbury when it rained a little and it was just on the easy side, so fast ground – whether that be a Listed race or one of those valuable handicaps. There is one at Sandown we might think about.”

Ray Dawson said of Indalo: “I feel sorry for the horse. He was beaten in the Cambridgeshire and narrowly beaten the last day. I think he was the best horse in the race today, but unfortunately we were on the wrong side. He beat his side fair and square, but the first and second were up the stands’ rail. He will have his day.”

His trainer Roger Varian added: “Great run, no complaints. I thought Ray gave him an excellent ride and the horse performed admirably, as he often does. We’re delighted with the run, though we always prefer to win. I wouldn’t blame the draw. I think it looked fairly even a furlong out, and our horse hit the line strongly, so no complaints.”

5.00pm Royal Hunt Cup (Heritage Handicap)

1 Rogue Diplomat (The Rogues Gallery) James Owen 4-9-00 Harry Davies 28/1

2 Blue RC (Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum) 4-9-02 Hector Crouch 28/1

3 Indalo (Varian Racing Ix) Roger Varian 5-9-00 Ray Dawson 9/1

4 Ebt’s Guard (Jayant Pindolia) William Muir & Chris Grassick 5-9-06 Lewis Edmunds 20/1

5 Cerulean Bay (Nick Cable) David O’Meara 5-9-07 Daniel Tudhope 25/1

28 ran            5/1 fav Archivist (20th)

James Owen – 1st Royal Ascot winner

Harry Davies – 1st Royal Ascot winner