Aidan O’Brien had four winners at Royal Ascot last week, but it was Jessica Harrington’s Alpine Star who delivered a show-stealing performance from an Irish perspective in the Coronation Stakes.

Alpine Star was having her first start of the season against a quality Group 1 field, but was much the best under Frankie Dettori. In winning, the daughter of Sea The Moon emulated the feat of her half sister Alpha Centauri who claimed the race in 2017.

Speaking from her base in Moone, Co Kildare, Harrington said: “It is absolutely amazing because I can’t go racing, and watching it on the telly is very hard. I could not believe it because she was the only horse in the field that hadn’t had a run this year, but she is amazing.”

With Irish-trained horses only eligible for Group and listed races, it was largely left to O’Brien to represent at what was a surreal yet memorable meeting.

Circus Maximus, in the Queen Anne, was the highlight for O’Brien who also unearthed two potential classic hopefuls in Russian Emperor (won the King Edward VII) and Santiago (Queen’s Vase).

Irish action

The action continues to come thick and fast on the home front, with the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby this Saturday at the Curragh. O’Brien is going for his 14th win in the race and has the first six in the betting, which is headed by Vatican City.

On Sunday, the Pretty Polly Stakes, could be a more diverse contest from the perspective of the trainers involved and with plenty of British interest.

Those two races head up a weekend of quality action at the Curragh which begins on RTÉ on Friday evening. The state broadcaster released positive viewing figures for Guineas weekend – a peak audience of 129,000 tuned into see Siskin’s 2000 Guineas win on Friday. There was a 150,000 peak for the 1000 Guineas won by Peaceful on Saturday – a substantial increase from the average peak across the last five years of 96,000.