Lydia Hislop reflects on the action from Royal Ascot

Until Saturday, this year's Royal Ascot had barely missed a feel-good beat. From a moment of joy that connected the Queen so tangibly with the public to the poignancy of Lady Cecil in the winner's enclosure, from the resurgence of Dawn Approach, it was a classic of its time.

But the Hardwicke Stakes brought our giddy elation to earth with a discordant bump, literally in the case of Paul Hanagan, whose excellent work during the preceding four days had threatened to go unnoticed. His meeting ended unjustly - but, thankfully without serious injury - when Ektihaam slipped underneath him on the bend, catapulting him over the rails to the ground.

That was shocking enough, but little more than two minutes later there came the wrenching sight of the winner, Thomas Chippendale, faltering and tottering before crashing to the ground with a suspected heart attack. He had just been indomitable in reprising his course-and-distance victory of the previous Royal Meeting.

You could not have a more visceral tableau of the precariousness of joy. Sport has the knack of compacting life into such visual and pitiless microcosms.

So, in a sense, this was essentially Royal Ascot, too. It is a pinnacle of sport, a meeting that encompasses everything: all of society, all of endeavour, the good bits, the bad bits and the damned unfair bits of life. This was the week that was.

A Royal "stay on!"

Immediately after Estimate won the Ascot Gold Cup, what a good idea it was to show, on the big screens and TV sets all over the racecourse, those shots of the Queen urging her horse home.

Seeing her uttering words of encouragement, like any owner or punter, the unfolding delight on her face and racing manager John Warren thumping what looked precariously close to Her Majesty's arm brought home her affinity with the crowd, who had just shared the same experience.

Whatever your political inclinations, you cannot fail to acknowledge what a benefit Queen Elizabeth II has been to British horseracing. She has given it status and currency.

More, she has demonstrated via her real, enduring and evident love that it is a sport that can intoxicate anyone who spares the time to really get to know it. I like to think the Queen was saying: "Stay on!" It's one of my favourite shouts, to hear or utter.

Lady Cecil and Sir Henry's team

Tom Queally steadying Tiger Cliff from his good draw in the Ascot Stakes, forcing a too-late scything finish in the short straight, and Chigun losing her head in a slowly run Duke Of Cambridge Stakes was an inauspicious start for the horses that Lady Cecil said populated one of the late Sir Henry's best Royal Ascot teams.

There could therefore have been no more appositely named winner for them than Riposte in Thursday's Ribblesdale Stakes. Among Sir Henry's many great achievements was the lasting connection he established with the racing public. This was permitted its joyful expression in the applause and cheers for Riposte.

Yet what a testing week of upheaval it was for Lady Cecil and the entire team. It started with a minute's silence in her husband's memory, allowing everyone time for their own thoughts. (For what it's worth, I recalled catching sight of Cecil tweaking Twice Over's tail with fond commiseration after his narrow defeat in the 2010 International Stakes, the two of them standing just feet away from the crowds mobbing the winner, Rip Van Winkle.)

Their week ended with the devastating public loss of Thomas Chippendale, seconds after his finest hour. Sir Henry's funeral takes place today, to celebrate his life and comfort those whom he leaves behind.

Agony and ecstasy

I did not see how Channel 4 covered Thomas Chippendale's death because I was working myself, but I did read the divergent reviews it earned. As a general rule, I think the media should not pretend racing's difficult moments aren't happening.

Provided the feelings of those involved are sensitively handled, it only enhances the public's empathy and understanding to see how much a horse means to its lad or lass, owner, trainer and jockey. This requires the simple, truthful acknowledgement that defeat is the flipside of triumph, unhappiness of joy. Racing has nothing to be afraid of from such honesty.

Sometimes, the best ride doesn't win

Now an X-ray has confirmed that Paul Hanagan escaped his fall with nothing more serious than extensive bruising, let's remember his Royal Ascot for two superb rides in defeat.

On Wednesday, his well-timed attack on Mukhadram in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes made it as hard as possible for Al Kazeem to reel him in. In the preceding race, Hanagan had already made his opponents play to his tune by setting a steady pace on Ladys First in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes.

Last season, Hanagan took a deep breath and, with it, the job as Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum's first jockey, leaving the cosy familiarity of being stable jockey to Richard Fahey and uprooting his family.

It wasn't a recruitment that met with unalloyed critical acclaim nor was it a banner first season, due to the ammunition rather than those asked to deploy it. It also brought new challenges, which demanded reflection and adjustment. The understated Hanagan kept his focus. It should be clear now to everyone that he was always absolutely the right man for the job.

Temper, temper

Having been irritated beyond control by the pedestrian pace and unseemly jostling of the early stages of the Derby, Dawn Approach used his short temper to good purpose in the St James's Palace Stakes.

Bumped and pushed left by the wayward Glory Awaits on his inside, his response was a snappish surging to the front and a tenacious head-bobbing finish. Any thoughts of him having lost the racing mood were succinctly despatched. It was clearly a training performance of great skill from Jim Bolger to refocus this horse just 17 days after his Derby implosion.

PS Some people dislike the anthropomorphism of horses. I think it's part of the fun.

PPS Some thought Toronado was more inconvenienced by the interference than Dawn Approach. Given the latter's schtick is a build-up of devastating momentum, I can't agree. Hopefully, this argument will be resolved in a re-match soon.

American hot

There have been impressive American-trained winners at Royal Ascot before - two of them were even trained, like No Nay Never, by Wesley Ward - but I've never been so impressed by one as the winner of the Norfolk Stakes.

It was the fact that things went wrong - he fluffed the start, the American asset - and yet was still able not only to win but to break the juvenile track record for five furlongs.

That's hot. Allied with the gorgeous-looking and now ante-post 2014 Guineas favourite, War Command, winning the Coventry Stakes, it made the two premier colt events the most memorable juvenile races of the bunch.

No Nay Never was also good news for the continuing international flavour of modern Royal Ascot, given the versatile and top-class Animal Kingdom had blown out so comprehensively in the Queen Anne.

Hold up and hope

That he was having a trying meeting Richard Hughes frankly acknowledged in his Racing Post column on Saturday. He apologised for cunningly switching to the near side in the Royal Hunt Cup on co-favourite Stirring Ballad, when the next few seconds were to prove he should have stuck to the far side.

Presumably, regrets about Wentworth (and not that that was the worst Britannia ride, actually) are to follow next week. However, no conundrum more tailored to Hughes was ever conceived than Sky Lantern drawing stall 16 of 17 in the Coronation Stakes.

Here, a nerveless hold-up ride was the winning tactic - perhaps the only feasible one - although being on the best horse and watching your main rival using up energy early in a more prominent wide position no doubt helped.

That contrasting decision from the widest stall made by Jamie Spencer on Just The Judge was startling, given it appeared a more beneficial opportunity than many of the 15 of his 24 Ascot rides to earn the race-positioning comment "rear".

(To be fair, Spencer did secure an important Royal Meeting success for his new employers in the Albany and produced a well-judged ride to win the Wokingham.)

Those of us who criticise this approach for its unswerving one-dimensionality are these days commonly lectured on our ignorance of race riding and tempos.

Clearly, the likes of Ryan Moore and Johnny Murtagh don't understand either because they seem to attempt to adapt their race-positioning to the individual requirements of their horse and the race it is in. Someone needs to tell them where they are going wrong.

Doyle Ascot

Johnny Murtagh, the ultimate right-place, right-time man (and multi-tasker, given he's a fully fledged trainer to boot), may have taken top honours as leading rider of the meeting, but James Doyle's Wednesday treble demands celebration.

It's always exciting to see young riders coming through, having grafted and honed their abilities on a quotidian level, to prove themselves on the big stage.

That's where the rewards and pressures are greatest, after all. It's no coincidence that Doyle has made his breakthrough since gaining the steady faith of trainer Roger Charlton.

Doyle's quick-fire treble, the fruits of burgeoning confidence after his most important career success yet in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes, was marvellous to watch - not least because it afforded a trademark boogying celebration from one of the remaining old guard, Clive Brittain, when Rizeena won the Queen Mary Stakes.

I won't lie: from the point of view of projecting the sport, it's also rather nice that Doyle is so personable and communicative.

Ripon up my tickets

The betting story of my personal Royal Ascot can be summed up by Stencive drawing stall 20 in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes: so very wide of where we needed to be.

Although I managed to scrape together a saver on the better drawn Opinion in that race, in proper terms Mubaraza's each-way fourth in the Ascot Stakes was the "highlight".

If that can be described as dribbling across the line, I had one other shot that was just wide and the rest I skied into the upper tiers. I had a winner at Ripon. Does that count?

That he was having a trying meeting Richard Hughes frankly acknowledged in his Racing Post column on Saturday. He apologised for cunningly switching to the near side in the Royal Hunt Cup on co-favourite Stirring Ballad, when the next few seconds were to prove he should have stuck to the far side.

Presumably, regrets about Wentworth (and not that that was the worst Britannia ride, actually) are to follow next week. However, no conundrum more tailored to Hughes was ever conceived than Sky Lantern drawing stall 16 of 17 in the Coronation Stakes.

Here, a nerveless hold-up ride was the winning tactic - perhaps the only feasible one - although being on the best horse and watching your main rival using up energy early in a more prominent wide position no doubt helped.

That contrasting decision from the widest stall made by Jamie Spencer on Just The Judge was startling, given it appeared a more beneficial opportunity than many of the 15 of his 24 Ascot rides to earn the race-positioning comment "rear".

(To be fair, Spencer did secure an important Royal Meeting success for his new employers in the Albany and produced a well-judged ride to win the Wokingham.)

Those of us who criticise this approach for its unswerving one-dimensionality are these days commonly lectured on our ignorance of race riding and tempos.

Clearly, the likes of Ryan Moore and Johnny Murtagh don't understand either because they seem to attempt to adapt their race-positioning to the individual requirements of their horse and the race it is in. Someone needs to tell them where they are going wrong.

Doyle Ascot

Johnny Murtagh, the ultimate right-place, right-time man (and multi-tasker, given he's a fully fledged trainer to boot), may have taken top honours as leading rider of the meeting, but James Doyle's Wednesday treble demands celebration.

It's always exciting to see young riders coming through, having grafted and honed their abilities on a quotidian level, to prove themselves on the big stage.

That's where the rewards and pressures are greatest, after all. It's no coincidence that Doyle has made his breakthrough since gaining the steady faith of trainer Roger Charlton.

Doyle's quick-fire treble, the fruits of burgeoning confidence after his most important career success yet in the Prince Of Wales's Stakes, was marvellous to watch - not least because it afforded a trademark boogying celebration from one of the remaining old guard, Clive Brittain, when Rizeena won the Queen Mary Stakes.

I won't lie: from the point of view of projecting the sport, it's also rather nice that Doyle is so personable and communicative.

Ripon up my tickets

The betting story of my personal Royal Ascot can be summed up by Stencive drawing stall 20 in the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes: so very wide of where we needed to be.

Although I managed to scrape together a saver on the better drawn Opinion in that race, in proper terms Mubaraza's each-way fourth in the Ascot Stakes was the "highlight".

If that can be described as dribbling across the line, I had one other shot that was just wide and the rest I skied into the upper tiers. I had a winner at Ripon. Does that count?