ONE way or another, Goodwood proved not to be a great meeting for overall time performances this year. The sectionals provided by TurfTrax confirmed that a lot of races were less than truly-run, and that tactics often played a big part.

Tactics had helped Big Orange win the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket earlier in the month and were a factor in the gelding’s successful defence of the Goodwood Cup. But that is not to say that Big Orange is anything other than a very smart performer and a class apart from most stayers around now.In contrast to Newmarket, Big Orange went hard early on - much faster than he had 12 months earlier - but his jockey (Jamie Spencer this time) crucially managed to get a significant breather into him after halfway so that the horse had plenty in reserve to see off challengers late in the day. A timefigure of just 97 is a reflection of the uneven nature of the pace, not any failings on Big Orange’s behalf.

Dutch Connection’s 111 timefigure for winning the Lennox Stakes reflects a truer pace in that contest but is still a bit below the colt’s personal high of 116.

The four-year-old is not far behind the best on his day, but it would be difficult to script a much better scenario for him than a well-run seven furlongs, on good to firm going, on a turning track, and against slightly inferior opposition.

It would also be difficult to script a much better scenario for Take Cover than five furlongs at Goodwood on good to firm going. He had won the King George Stakes in such circumstances in 2014, finished second in the race in 2015, and was back in front again this time.

A timefigure of 108 compared to his recent best of 119 reflects the fact that Take Cover did not have to go outrageously fast in making all.

The runner-up Washington DC and fourth-placed Easton Angel finished strongest and might have been a shade unfortunate, the latter especially so after meeting some trouble in running.

Easton Angel has the right credentials for the Nunthorpe Stakes at York but is not as good as Mecca’s Angel, while all older horses would be vulnerable to a good two-year-old in that race, if one turns up, due to the anachronistic weight-for-age scale.