THERE is little question as to which winner posted the best relative time performance on the third day of Royal Ascot, and that is Benbatl in the Hampton Court Stakes, a race in which the average speed was quicker even than that of the Britannia Stakes, run over two furlongs shorter later on the card.

Benbatl was pursued fairly closely by Orderofthegarter, who ended up with a bit to do, Mirage Dancer and Taj Mahal, but it was then a sizeable gap back to the remainder. Timefigures of 121, 120, 118 and 117 are well above the norm for a Group 3.

That puts Benbatl level with the Oaks winner Enable and behind only Harry Angel (127 at Haydock), Lady Aurelia (125 at Royal Ascot) and Churchill (124 at the Curragh) among three-year-olds in Britain and Ireland this year.

Indeed, it could be argued that this year’s classic crop is a vintage one, at least judged on times as 13 of them have timefigures of 119 or higher already, when only six had at the same stage in 2016 and only 15 had by that year’s end.

All in all, the Hampton Court Stakes is a race worth following, as by association does Chantilly’s Prix du Jockey Club, won by Brametot, in which Orderofthegarter was a possibly-unlucky sixth and Taj Mahal was fourth.

It is not quite so clear whether the form of the Derby at Epsom, in which Benbatl was a never-nearer fifth to Wings of Eagles, can be considered to have been franked, but this did not do it any harm.