THE Irish Derby was not the only falsely-run race across the three days at the Curragh – far from it.

The Juddmonte Pretty Polly Stakes on Sunday was another steady/fast scenario with British raider Urban Fox completing in 108.5% finishing speed.

In this instance, however, she looks the best filly in the race, if one who should be able to run faster than the 111 overall timefigure she managed here.

Urban Fox had put in fast closing sectionals when winning at Ascot on her reappearance but had then ended up too far out of her ground at the same eight-furlong trip at the royal meeting.

This 10-furlong distance possibly suited her better than the runner-up Forever Together, especially given how things unfolded, but the latter (103 here, having been 113 when winning the Oaks at Epsom) further underlined the impression that the best three-year-old middle-distance fillies are not especially good at this stage.

Urban Fox was, nonetheless, comfortably the fastest of five 10-furlong winners at the meeting and just over 2.0s quicker than Yucatan (86) had been in winning the International Stakes earlier on the card.

SMART COLT

The latter is a smart colt, as he had shown from time to time previously, but he was helped by making the running here in first-time blinkers, and connections of placed horses Stellar Mass (84) and Reckless Gold (82) would be entitled to fancy their chances of turning the tables another day.

Flag Of Honour was another front-running winner in the 14-furlong Curragh Cup, which he took by by a length and a half from fellow Aidan O’Brien-trained three-year-old Giuseppe Garibaldi.

The time of this was not so bad – I have a timefigure of 105 on the winner – but I would be somewhat surprised if Flag Of Honour, who had been readily beaten in the Chester Vase and Prix du Jockey Club on his two most recent starts, made it to the top grade.

SIGNIFICANT

Fleet Review was the fastest of five winners at six furlongs over the three days – his Dash Stakes defeat of Intelligence Cross worth a 103 timefigure – but the successes of the juveniles Van Beethoven in the Railway Stakes and So Perfect in the Grangecon Stud Stakes look more significant for the future.

Both ran their last three furlongs in around 34.3s for finishing speeds of 105.5%, and look capable of taking their form to a still higher level.

Van Beethoven accounted for the British-trained pair Marie’s Diamond and Certain Lad in workmanlike style for a 101 timefigure, while So Perfect had Skitter Scatter and Cava half a length and the same in arrears while posting a 104 rating.

That makes So Perfect second only to the Royal Ascot flop Natalie’s Joy (110) on timefigures among two-year-old fillies seen out so far this year.

She had seemed to find the five furlongs of the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot too short the time before.

Before moving on from the Curragh, a special mention must be made of Caspian Prince, who failed by a short-head to carry 10-07 and the second-highest ITC mark this century to victory in the Rockingham Handicap on Saturday.

The evergreen nine-year-old ran a fabulous 122 timefigure behind Battle Of Jericho (105) and is capable of making even very good sprinters to pull out all the stops when in this sort of form.