By Cornelius Lysaght BBC Sport racing correspondent

It's the oldest rule in the marketing book - send your customers away yearning for more.

As no-one will be invited back to Ascot for Royal Ascot for at least two years, during redevelopment, the 2004 meeting was the most important in generations.

Dettori delighted the Ascot crowds

It simply had to go like clockwork to leave sunny memories - literally, as much as possible - for the 300,000 that togged themselves up and attended.

And thanks to near-perfect weather and the rampant success of racing's biggest stars, the marketeers can breathe easy.

Even those regulars that give a swerve to York, Royal Ascot's temporary home, will be back in Berkshire once the builders have gone.

If The Queen were to hand out Redevelopment Honours, there is no doubt who'd be collecting gongs.

First, Frankie Dettori. Already an MBE (honorary, because he is Italian), he should receive much more for delighting punters, of course, with six winners, but, more important, for just being him.

The sheer feel-good factor generated by those results, the trademark leaping from the saddle and the remainder of his dotty Latin celebrations are extraordinary.

As idols, football may have Rooney and Beckham, rugby union Wilkinson and tennis Henman, but- no disrespect intended - I wouldn't swap Dettori for a dozen of them.

And those that accuse the 33-year-old of saving it all up for the biggest occasions, obviously weren't at Pontefract the day after the end of Ascot.

After a brace of wins at the West Yorkshire track, he was leaping into action again, like he was at low-key Folkestone, Kent recently, and at Musselburgh, East Lothian, and elsewhere.

Kevin Darley saddled Attraction to success in the Coronation Stakes

Inevitably, the jockey gets most of the glory in these cases, but the team behind his sextet of victories is also deserving of considerable praise.

Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin stable, with its much-liked trainer, Saeed bin Suroor, was in storming form, and has plenty to look forward to with Ascot heroes like Doyen and Papineau.

If they were the heroes of the week, there is no doubt that Attraction was the standout heroine.

The Duke of Roxburghe's homebred filly made mincemeat of her opponents in the Coronation Stakes, making it eight wins from eight starts.

Something of a Cinderella, she wasn't rated pretty enough to be sold, so went into training with Mark Johnston, who has made her the belle of any ball.

With notoriously ropey legs, and clearly not always easy to prepare, Johnston has done a remarkable job.