The John O'Shea-trained, Godolphin-owned galloper finished some three lengths behind the winner, who beat home the Hong Kong raider Gold Fun with the French trained Signs of Blessing third.

O' Shea said his second trip to Royal Ascot - his first as a Godolphin trainer - had been a valuable learning experience and that Holler, a Group One winner in Australia, was a good benchmark to judge the sort of horse needed to score at the highest level at the English festival.

"He probably only got beat three, three and a half, he was there for a long way, most probably his condition gave out at the hundred. It was a fair run. He definitely will improve, whether he will improve enough to win the July [Cup] ... that's what we have got to decide. Its a good learning experience - when we get a real horse you know you can come up here. If you can get a top-notch sprinter, a Newmarket winner, you can have a crack. That sort of class.

"He's always been a second-tier horse for us but a good Group One horse at that. It been a very good learning experience.

O'Shea is keen to come back, but not just for the sake of it. He would only return "not with big numbers but the right ones".

He might be tempted to bring a high-quality Australian two-year-old out to race in the Group One Commonwealth Cup, a race for three-year-olds by UK time.

"The race that tickled our fancy a bit was the Commonwealth Cup. If you got a horse that ran well in the Slipper you know....i think they would need to be a sit and sprint horse....that would be the right sort of horse."

Jockey James McDonald was pleased enough with the performance. "He got off to a flying start although I don't think we went off too quick. I was happy with the start and how we were travelling. But he's a big, burly colt and he hasn't run for two months which is a long time," he said.

"He's done a lot of work at home but you can't beat match fitness and I think that showed a bit today. But I think there's improvement. He's a good, honest thing and he loved that straight."