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King Of Comedy, sent off at 4/1, and Too Darn Hot, 2/1 favourite, came home a neck second and three quarters of a length third in the £538,750 G1 St James's Palace Stakes over a mile during Royal Ascot's first day.

John Gosden, who trains both the colts in Newmarket, commented: "One ran out of track and the other found that it was a little too stiff a mile.

"King Of Comedy  just ran out of track and he ran a blinder. He needed another 25 yards. He is a horse that in the end will go a mile and a quarter. 

"Adam (Kirby) said it was a pity he had to come round and through them."

He went on to speak of the third Too Darn Hot, saying: "Too Darn Hot  has run a very good race. He has come to win his race, got in front. 

"It is just stamina. It wasn't for him today. It is a stiff mile here and it just caught him out. He is a very powerfully built horse - he looks like a sprinter/miler. Frankie said he feels like a Jersey (7f) horse, and that is what he is. He was a champion two-year-old, who won the Dewhurst in great style.

"He needs seven furlongs or an easy mile. The G1 Sussex Stakes (mile, Goodwood, Wed, July 31.) will be next for him."

His rider Frankie Dettori added: "He ran a good race. He came there to win, but perhaps the stiff mile was too far for him."