THE victory of Sea of Class in last Saturday’s Darley Irish Oaks at the Curragh may not go down as the greatest piece of form ever shown in the classic, but there are good reasons for viewing the winner herself as high class.

On the one hand, the middle-distance classic fillies have not seemed a good bunch, and in beating the Oaks winner from Epsom, Forever Together, and the listed winner Mary Tudor by a neck and one and a half lengths, in a time which translates into a timefigure of 111 by my reckoning, Sea Of Class was not elevating herself greatly above them.

On the other hand, in doing so by coming from last to first in a steadily-run race, under comparatively tender handling, on what was just her fourth start, the William Haggas-trained filly deserves a good deal of credit over and above the bare result.

There are ways of quantifying such things nowadays. I made Sea of Class’s last three furlongs 34.54s, as against her overall time of 152.54s, which equates to a finishing speed that is 110.4% of her overall speed.

QUICK FINISH

The par finishing speed for the Curragh’s 12-furlongs is about 104%, so Sea of Class was indeed finishing quickly in relative terms.

The difference between her actual finishing speed and that par prompts an upgrade of 9lb, raising Sea Of Class’s 111 timefigure to 120 on sectionals.

Forever Together (108.3% finishing speed) goes up from 111 to 115, and Mary Tudor (109.2%), who also came from a bit off the pace, goes up from 108 to 114.

Those behind ran quite close to par and get little or nothing in the way of sectional upgrades.

In other words, Sea of Class could have won by something like three lengths, with the first three even further clear of their rivals than in the actual result, or that’s the theory.

That 120 sectional rating has Sea Of Class adrift of Alpha Centauri (131) but close behind the likes of Masar and Roaring Lion (both 123), and she would get a sex allowance if she met the colts.

In sectional terms, then, Sea Of Class could be expected to mix it with the best middle-distance performers in what has so far been a less-than-vintage season in that division. It seems as if she may get the chance in the Arc, in which, of course, her sire Sea The Stars triumphed in the same colours.

Good though Sea Of Class probably is, these things are all relative. Twelve months earlier, Enable won the Irish Oaks even more spectacularly, with a similar overall time but with a searingly quick 33.35s closing sectional.

That made Enable 130 on sectional ratings, a figure she pretty much confirmed at Ascot as well as Longchamp subsequently. There is no disgrace in coming up slightly short in comparison with Enable, though!