THREE group races at 1600 metres at ParisLongchamp on Sunday promised some ready comparisons, but in the end there was more contrasts than similarities to be found when comparing each race.

The Prix du Moulin for older horses was run in a time – 1m 36.00s – over 4.0s quicker than the Prix d’Aumale (1m 40.51s) and the Prix des Chenes (1m 41.12s) for two-year-olds. The last two were notably slowly-run, and even the Moulin was a little stop-start. Fortunately, sectionals are a lot of help in unravelling what went on.

According to the splits the Moulin deservedly went to Recoletos, previous winner of the d’Ispahan here and second to the mighty Alpha Centauri in the Marois at Deauville. His overall timefigure of 121 gets raised to his previous best of 127 on the back of a final 400 metres of 22.45s.

He just got the better of Wind Chimes, herself so impressive on sectionals in the Prix de Lieurey at Deauville the time before and worth a sectional rating of 123 here. Expert Eye was going on well at the finish but still posted a new personal best of 124 on sectional ratings.

All in all, the Moulin lived up to its billing as one of the best mile races to be run anywhere in the world. But perhaps the biggest takeaway was the confirmation that Alpha Centauri really is something very special to have beaten Recoletos as easily as she did at Deauville.

The juvenile races are trickier, with Rocques in the d’Aumale and Anodor in the Chenes worth timefigures of just 68 and 62 on overall times but getting huge upgrades on account of running the last 400 metres in 22.23s and 21.84s respectively.

I have the former worth a figure of 97 – this looks ordinary form, as well as messy form – and the latter 106 once those have been factored in. Anodor has plenty of potential, though third-placed Shaman (beaten in a listed race the time before) was every bit as quick late on and gets a 103 sectional rating himself.

The Prix Gladiateur over nearly two miles was also steadily-run, and Called To The Bar comes out at 117, with runner-up Holdthasigreen on 114, once sectionals have been allowed for.

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Lastly, there was an extraordinary performance over in Seoul on Sunday morning (our time), when the Japanese-trained London Town won the Korea Cup by 15 lengths, with Irish raider Riven Light a most disappointing last.

The five-year-old had won in 2017 also, when his margin had been a more workmanlike four lengths over Chrysolite (rated 118 by Timeform). London Town had also finished fifth in a Local Government Group 1 at Ohi (Tokyo) at the end of 2017.

Taken overall, then, London Town is probably a very smart horse, rather than a world-beater, but it would be interesting to see that put to the test at the Breeders’ Cup or similar. His overall time of 1m 50.6s for 1800 metres at the weekend suggests the dirt surface was pretty testing.