ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL

Menuisier delight at first Royal win

- CHRIS GOULDING

THERE was a Queen in the royal box at Ascot and there also one on the racecourse in Wonderful Tonight, the imperious winner of the Hardwicke Stakes.

After an absence of 245 days from the track, Wonderful Tonight might have lacked match practice but it did not show when thumping Broome, with Hukum in third place.

“She really is an absolute champion,” said the winning trainer David Menuisier, who was celebrating his first Royal Ascot success.

“I couldn’t be bullish because she was always going to improve for the run.

“I didn’t know what to say in the last 50 yards – it gave me a great sense of pride.”