Royal Ascot 2013: Lady Cecil's emotional win as Riposte strikes in the Ribblesdale Henry was just adored by so many people. People who had never met him just loved him. We hardly dared dream that we would have a winner but, at the beginning of the week, I thought this was one of the best teams we had going to Ascot for a while and that Henry would have been relishing this. Everyone knows how he loved Ascot,. Keeping busy is what is keeping us all going - if we had nothing to do then I think we'd all fall to bits. Tuesday was very hard - he was so looking forward to coming with a good team of horses. I am just so pleased that we managed this win for him. Though Riposte gave her trainer a few anxious moments with a tardy start, when she swept to the front about two furlongs out under Tom Queally, there was never a moment's doubt about the outcome. She beat Just Pretending by 2¼ lengths and, having come into the race as all potential and little experience, she could now go on to give the team their first Classic in the Irish Oaks. "Henry had been planning Royal Ascot since last year for some of these horses and definitely from the spring," Lady Cecil added. We are just carrying on as he wanted. Queally, who rose to prominence as the jockey of Frankel, said: "It has been a tough, tough week and I know a lot of people are struggling, emotionally as well as everything else. I am sure that Henry is looking down on us. Friday is potentially an even bigger day for the Cecil team. They send out Joyeuse, Frankel's younger half-sister, in the Albany Stakes and Disclaimer in the Queen's Vase, the race which is being run in tribute to Sir Henry, after which Lady Cecil is due to present the trophy with the Countess of Wessex. The opener on Thursday was a triumph for Wesley Ward, the American trainer, who does not have Cecil's record of 75 winners, but whose three have come at a good strike rate. His No Nay Never was way too good for the British and Irish in the Norfolk Stakes, which he won in a juvenile course record. The Americans missed the target with Animal Kingdom but Ward made his trans-Atlantic journey worthwhile and it continued a sensational year for world-class jockey Joel Rosario, who has already won the Dubai World Cup and Kentucky Derby. Though it was only Rosario's second ride at Ascot, it was not a case of beginner's luck. In the past American runners in these races have blasted up the course but, although No Nay Never was a couple of lengths clear after a furlong, Rosario hung on to the big colt in the middle of the race to save something for the business end. "I always thought this was the most talented horse I have trained," Ward said.