Back in the days of the old stand at Ascot, a favourite spot for race-watching was to climb up to the fifth floor above the press box for what felt like a bird's eye view of the action.From this vantage point in the first year of the new century, one of the most memorable Royal Ascot moments was imprinted on an impressionable mind as Dubai Millennium made all to win the Prince of Wales's Stakes, holding Group 1 status for the first time that year. It wasn't just the imperious manner of his eight-length success that left such an impression, but also the way in which he was appreciated by the crowd which started to applaud when he was barely halfway down the straight. If racing is your thing, is there anything more spine-tingling than that collective uplift of bearing witness and feeling the smallest part of what will certainly become a slice of sporting history?“You can wait 20 years and never get a horse like this. I've never seen or owned a horse like him,” said Dubai Millennium's owner-breeder Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum at the time. Perhaps he has again now.Against pretty long odds, Dubai Millennium, who never raced again after that unforgettable June day, and whose stud career ran to one truncated season before he was tragically struck down by Grass Sickness, still casts a long shadow over Ascot and indeed the bloodstock world. His veteran former champion sire son Dubawi is currently being eclipsed by his own champion son Night Of Thunder, and the Dubawi influence loomed large throughout the week's results in Berkshire with his sons New Bay, Ghaiyyath and Time Test, and grandson Make Believe, all being responsible for winners at Royal Ascot.In Ombudsman, maybe Sheikh Mohammed has his next Dubai Millennium, three generations and a quarter of a century later. The son of Night Of Thunder is not a homebred – the breeding honours go to James Hanly, present this time at Ascot after missing Ombudsman's first Prince of Wales's Stakes win for his daughter's wedding in Greece.It is heartening to see some of the cool-headed businessmen of the sales ring reduced almost to tears, or at least at a loss for words, at the realisation of a dream which starts in the cold, dark nights of the foaling season and culminates, for the lucky few, on the most dazzling stage in world racing.Hanly wasn't the only one in such a predicament at Ascot. Eddie O'Leary, too, appeared genuinely humbled by the victory of Mission Central (No Nay Never) in the G1 King Charles III Stakes, as did Brendan Hayes, who, though not present, spoke eloquently to Brian Sheerin about his delight at the G1 Queen Anne Stakes win for Ten Bob Tony (Night Of Thunder). Hayes struck again the following day with Blue Bolt (Blue Point) in the G2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes.How Lucky We AreRoyal Ascot, so long anticipated, more than lived up to expectations. We are unashamed supporters of the monarchy in this corner, and the Royal Family's daily presence at the King's own racecourse lifts the meeting beyond the sports pages and into the mainstream. At a time when horse racing is increasingly marginalised by the sports editors of the national papers, we must not underestimate the importance of this centuries-old association.Set against an impossibly glamorous human backdrop, with even the British summer weather playing ball, every one of the five days of the meeting provided at least one battle royal – not all of them fair fights – to stir the blood. Bow Echo, still on the slight side but visibly physically improved since the Guineas, overcame the buffeting and scrimmaging which saw Ryan Moore and Christophe Soumillon handed bans of three and eight days respectively to outgun Gstaad and remain unbeaten in a first-day thriller.Then came Ombudsman, with Minnie Hauk and Daryz trailing in his wake, delivering a performance that earned him a Timeform rating of 134 – the best in Britain since Baaeed.We love a hard-knocking stayer in this corner and, though it may be a division increasingly unloved by the bloodstock fraternity, the top stayers still raise a cheer like no other, as anyone present on course for the Gold Cup will have heard for themselves.There are echoes of that great season of 2000 in the pedigree of the new staying king, Scandinavia, whose dam Fabulous is a Galileo half-sister to the Iron Horse himself, Giant's Causeway. What a year that was, in glorious hindsight. Giant's Causeway in the St James's Palace Stakes one day, Dubai Millennium's Prince of Wales's Stakes the next.We can't mention Scandinavia without Trawlerman, however, for it was he who drew the full-throttle roar from the crowd, leading the field throughout until those final strides when the dream of a sensational comeback died. Without a run since last year's Champions Day and at the age of eight, Trawlerman served up the mightiest non-winning performance of the week.In Friday's Coronation Stakes, Saffie Osborne felt aggrieved at being kept in the pocket by Wayne Lordan when attempting to make her challenge aboard Touleen (Lope De Vega), and it was hard not to feel that the Shadwell filly would have run the winner Precise (Starspangledbanner) very close had she had the room to do so. In the end, settling for splitting the 1,000 Guineas winners of Ireland and England, Precise and True Love (No Nay Never), still represented a career-best performance for Touleen, who will surely have her moment in the spotlight before too long.There was some compensation to come for Sheikha Hissa Al Maktoum and the Shadwell team on Saturday, when Almeraq (Dark Angel), on only his second run since falling heavily and injuring Jim Crowley at York last September, leapt from Listed winner to Group 1 winner in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes. The meeting's final Group 1 encapsulated the global pull of Royal Ascot, with horses from Britain, Japan, Australia, France, Denmark and Ireland represented among the first eight finishers.The homebred victor, who capped an excellent week for William Haggas at Ascot, was all the sweeter for the Shadwell breeding operation as he is out of a mare by Muhaarar, who had been the first winner of the Commonwealth Cup in the Shadwell colours back in 2015.Tally-Ho Stud's Ascot HaulAlmeraq's dam Manaajim was herself bred by Tally-Ho Stud and is a half-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Fairyland. Sold as a Book 1 yearling for 925,000gns, she never raced but has more than made up for that now by producing a sprinter of this calibre.As has been so often the case in recent years, another graduate of Tally-Ho Stud played a leading role at Royal Ascot. Venetian Sun (Starman), who had won last year's Albany Stakes, became the third Tally-Ho Stud-bred three-year-old to win the Commonwealth Cup in six years, following the example of Campanelle (Kodiac) in 2021 and Perfect Power (Ardad) the following year. In the case of the latter, the O'Callaghan family also bred his sire, who was himself a Royal Ascot winner in the Windsor Castle Stakes of 2016, and both Campanelle and Perfect Power had also triumphed at the royal meeting as juveniles, in the Queen Mary Stakes and Norfolk Stakes respectively.The Stallion StakesOne of the many things that Ascot does well is its annual Royal Ascot winning breeders' lunch, usually held on the Friday of the King George meeting. There will be another happy throng there this year, each with their own captivating stories of the broodmares and families behind these successes.The more public scrutiny tends to come for the stallions involved, even though they are only one half of the equation. For every stallion that upgrades his mares, there will be umpteen mares who have produced an absolute dinger of a performer by a sire who is overlooked by an often fickle marketplace.The Dubawi-line dominance has already been discussed above, and eight of the week's 35 winners emanated from that male-line source, while Dubawi featured as the damsire of Wolferton Stakes winner Map Of Stars (Sea The Stars). His sons Makfi and Al Kazeem also made the winning broodmare sire list at the meeting.As is to be expected, the presence of Galileo in the first generation is receding, but the former multiple champion did have one last hurrah in the final and longest race of the meeting, the Queen Alexandra Stakes, won by Illinois. His most prolific son Frankel appeared just once on the scoresheet courtesy of Duke of Edinburgh Stakes winner Opportunity. Galileo did however rule as broodmare sire, featuring in that position for six of the winners, including Group 1 winners Scandinavia and Precise and G2 Hardwicke Stakes winner Giavellotto (Mastercraftsman).Scat Daddy's sons No Nay Never and Justify took high order, with No Nay Never featuring as the sire of two of the juvenile Group-race winners of the week, Great Barrier Reef and Libertango, as well as King Charles III Stakes winner Mission Central. Justify was seen through his sons Scandinavia in the Gold Cup, and Nola Soul and On Just Terms, who filled the quinella in the Chesham Stakes.Five of the six two-year-old races went to horses by Coolmore sires, with a good patch for St Mark's Basilica continuing through the victories of his Windsor Castle Stakes winner King Of Cloughan and G3 Jersey Stakes hero Thesecretadversary – a second winner of the week for Fozzy Stack and Seamie Heffernan. The late Wootton Bassett's two Group 2 winners included the Queen Mary Stakes success of Victorious.With Night Of Thunder flexing his considerable muscle as the sire of three Group 1 winners – Ten Bob Tony, Bow Echo and Ombudsman – the other Group 1 spoils went to Starman (Venetian Sun), Starspangledbanner (Precise) and Dark Angel (Almeraq).Blue Point, who was king of Royal Ascot in 2019 when winning two Group 1 sprints in a week, looks to have a Group winner in waiting in the form of Andrew Balding's highly progressive Wokingham Stakes hero Double Rush. He was one of two Royal Ascot winners for his sire this year, along with the Duke of Cambridge Stakes victrix Blue Bolt. Meanwhile, the Aga Khan Studs' Rayevka came within a head of winning the King Charles III Stakes.Box Office BillyIn the vociferous reception given to Bow Echo following the St James's Palace Stakes, it was hard not to feel that it was as much for his young and increasingly popular jockey Billy Loughnane as for the unbeaten colt himself. Loughnane ended the meeting with three winners, tied with Tom Marquand and the visiting James McDonald, that trio a distant second behind the runaway Ryan Moore on seven.Moore is famously in the let-the-horses-do-the-talking camp and he has long been of the stature where he doesn't really have to play the media game too much. Loughnane is of the TikTok generation which, like it or lump it, means he frequently has iPhones shoved in his face and microphones clipped to his shirt. Though not quite of the flamboyant Frankie persuasion, Loughnane does appear to be the natural successor to Dettori in the public popularity stakes. Both he and his main trainer George Boughey are already past masters in the art of the engaging interview and the sport is fortunate to have them both at the forefront of the rising generation.This column is also a huge fan of Kieran Shoemark. You can judge his riding by the fact that he already has two Group 1 wins in the bag this season. The real mark of the man, however, is how he dealt with the adversity of last year's departure from the Gosden stable, and the loss in the stewards' room of what would have been his first Classic success aboard Shes Perfect, with the utmost dignity. He kept his head down and, even though it must have been painful, responded to questions thoughtfully when required.Shoemark is a class act who has now struck up a fruitful partnership with the in-form Ed Walker. He throughly deserved his Queen Anne Stakes win aboard Ten Bob Tony, 12 months on from having to watch his erstwhile mount Field Of Gold win the St James's Palace Stakes under Colin Keane.One last word on the jockey front must go to 'Gentleman Jim' Crowley. All those years ago when Dubai Millennium ruled Royal Ascot, Frankie Dettori watched from the sidelines on crutches as Jerry Bailey reaped the rewards and emulated his flying dismount. This time around, Crowley had to watch Tom Marquand win aboard Almeraq, the very horse whose misfortune in falling at York has kept Crowley out of action for 10 months. It is good to hear that Crowley is back riding work and we look forward to his return to the weighing room.The post Seven Days: View of the Millennium at Royal Ascot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.