THE biggest race in Ireland and Britain outside the Eclipse was the Lancashire Oaks at Haydock, where Horseplay beat God Given by a short-head but was value for a bit more.

The overall time of the race was 1.20s slower than that for the Old Newton Cup Handicap 35 minutes later, but the race sectional from three furlongs out was 0.95s quicker.

The fillies’ race was steadily-run, in other words, and the base timefigure of 99 for the first two is nothing special, but sectionals boost that figure to a more representative 106 for Horseplay and 104 for God Given. They will do well to win in an even higher grade than this Group 2, however.

That Old Newton Cup went to Rainbow Rebel, with a timefigure of 103, which means that runner-up Crowned Eagle, conceding him weight, comes out at 114, the kind of figure that should make him competitive in listed/Group 3 races.

The other valuable handicap at Haydock was the opener for three-year-olds over 14 furlongs. Making Miracles was probably good enough to win regardless but benefited from a fine Richard Kingscote ride from the front. The gelding’s timefigure of 90 gets boosted to 99 on sectionals in view of quite a fast finish.

Group 3 races took place at Sandown, where Judicial won the Coral Charge by a diminishing neck from Muthmir, and at Fairyhouse where Xenobia overhauled Could It Be Love late on in the Brownstown Stakes.

Judicial gets a timefigure of 115 (it was the only race on the straight course, so that is slightly speculative) and Xenobia one of 104.

Sectionals were not easy to get for the latter race, but they suggest that Could It Be Love overdid it slightly yet again (approximate last-two-furlong speed was 97.7% of her average race speed), two lengths up inside the final furlong before being run down.

There were no especially good times among the handful of older-horse listed races in the period under review, won by Mustashry (84), Awesometank (91) and Nearly Caught (just 73) at Sandown and by Kalaxana (102) at Roscommon.

RIGHT WAY

The last-named, who took the Lenabane Stakes, is very much going the right way as she steps up in trip, however, while runner-up Maths Prize (107) was another advert for the training skills of Richard O’Brien.

There were useful listed wins for the juveniles Land Force (104) at Tipperary and Well Done Fox (102) at Sandown, the latter adding early substance to the interpretation that prominent-racers in the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot (of which he was one) deserve marking up.

John Gosden introduced a highly promising youngster later on that Sandown card, with the Kingman colt King Of Comedy overcoming blatant greenness to win a novice stakes by two and a half lengths.

King Of Comedy’s overall time was by no means special – worth a basic timefigure of just 75 by my reckoning – but his closing splits were fast (about 23.45s for final two furlongs) and are what you would expect of a colt capable of running to 102 if not higher. This was not quite a Calyx-like effort, but it seems odds-on that we will hear a good deal more of King Of Comedy hereafter.