ROYAL Ascot provided the racing industry with a much-needed surge of positivity. Top class racehorses racing on fast ground in the glorious sunshine made for a tremendous spectacle which was enjoyed by crowds that were bigger than in 2023.
The action on the track made for fascinating viewing and produced some tremendous performances. The Race iQ data produced is most revealing and gives us a good handle on what happened out on the track. Some of the best time performances are detailed below along with an in depth look at the two-year-olds who contested six of the races over the whole meeting.
Race iQ data includes a Time Index score between 0-10 for all races. This score is derived from looking at the final time achieved in a race and then comparing it with historical data for the class of race at that track run on the same ground. The score that would be expected would be somewhere between 5 and 6. This year’s meeting overperformed as can be derived from the average scores from each day.
Day 1 Average Time Index score: 7.61
Day 2 Average Time Index score: 7.94
Day 3 Average Time Index Score: 7.59
Day 4 Average Time Index score: 6.28
Day 5 Average Time Index Score: 5.85
The relative high scores denote, in general, fast times aided by fast ground, but this is just an overview of the meeting and contained within those average scores were outstanding individual performances.
I analysed the outstanding time performance of Israr last week, what can now be added is that his time performance was the second best at the meeting. The best belonged to Auguste Rodin on Wednesday in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and I will detail his performance and the other best performances on a daily basis.
AUGUSTE Rodin has never received the accolades that he deserves. He has raced 12 times and has won six Grade 1 races including the Derby, Irish Derby, Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Turf. I am not sure what more he has to do to be lauded as a champion.
This Prince of Wales’s Stakes win came on the fast ground that is pivotal to his best performances. This race was strongly run courtesy of two pacemakers which also suited him.
The outstanding final time he achieved was 2m 3.12secs which came about courtesy of being able to race evenly. He recorded a Finishing Speed Percentage of 101.20% meaning that he was 1.20% faster in the final three furlongs than he was in the previous seven. This suggests that he was able to maintain a strong gallop rather than quicken sharply.
The benchmark for a top-class racehorse over 10 furlongs on fast ground is two minutes which equates to ten 12-second furlongs and his final three furlongs on this stiff track were close to even 12s.
Final three furlongs in Prince Of Wales’s Stakes:
F8: 12.14secs
F9: 11.98secs
F10: 12.51secs
His total time for the final three furlongs was 36.63secs which he achieved having been well placed in the race just behind the pace, a tactical masterpiece from the Ballydoyle team.
He did not need to quicken smartly to win this, but merely to gallop evenly, but he does have a turn of foot in his locker if needed in a more tactical race. In last year’s Derby he quickened smartly to catch and beat King Of Steel. It is worth reprising the numbers he posted that day to illustrate that he is more than just a one dimensional galloper.
Final three furlongs in the Irish Derby 2023:
F10: 10.85secs
F11: 10.89secs
F12: 11.57secs
This amounted to a final three furlongs of 33.31secs.
This was the best time performance of the meeting, and best times are achieved when the pace of the race is at its optimum, and it was here under fast conditions that played to Auguste Rodin’s strengths.
ENGLISH Oak had the best time performance on Thursday in the Buckingham Palace Stakes and this horse looks as if he may take advantage of the relative weakness of the sprinting division this year albeit with Inisherin now established as one of the leading sprinters after his Commonwealth Cup success. Their respective Time Index Scores are detailed below.
English Oak: 8.47
Inisherin: 6.96
English Oak forged clear to win this off a mark of 99 and was value for more than the winning margin of three lengths. The pace which he tracked was strong and he was rated evenly by James Doyle recording an FSP of 98.39%. This suggests the pace had been strong enough early on and this is backed up by the sectional data.
English Oak recorded his fastest furlong of the race in F3: (11.33secs) as he chased the pace set by Make Me King who took the field along through hot fractions, as shown.
Make Me King early sectionals:
F1: 14.44secs
F2: 11.35secs
F3: 11.36secs
F4: 11.53secs
F5: 11.63secs
It was in furlong six where English Oak hit the front recording splits of 12.10secs and 12.63secs for the final two furlongs. That fierce early pace had sapped the fields energy, but those final splits were good enough for English Oak to win having been better placed than his nearest pursuers. Both Billyjoe (2nd) and Carrytheone (3rd) ran the final two furlongs faster than English Oak as detailed below, but they did so whilst having saved energy at the rear of the field. English Oak had been in the heat of the race from the outset and deserves extra credit for that.
Final two-furlong splits of the first three home:
1st English Oak: 24.73secs
2nd Billyjoe: 24.22secs
3rd Carrytheone: 24.42secs
The speed English Oak showed here suggests he will have no trouble dropping back to six furlongs and the July Cup is a possibility. One slight caveat is that if he does contest six-furlong pattern races he could improve his gate speed. At Ascot he was 12th fastest in the race to get from 0-20mph, taking 2.97 seconds.
Handicaps will be a thing of the past now for English Oak.
AN impressive performance from Calandagan in the King Edward VII Stakes who has now won four of his five career starts. This was the first time he had encountered good/firm ground, and it brought about a career best with the promise of more to come. 
This was a strongly run race with the first four home all racing to the rear of the field. Chief Little Rock was the pacemaker for Diego Velazquez and set a very strong gallop. The first four furlongs, as detailed below, were particularly strong.
F1: 13.53secs (Standing start)
F2: 11.30secs
F3: 11.57secs
F3: 11.77secs
Through these furious splits the winner sat in 13th place, the second in ninth, the third in 11th, and the fourth in 14th.
Stephane Pasquier aboard the winner judged the pace perfectly, rating Calandagan to such an extent that he was able to finish the race relatively quickly compared to those who raced closer to the pace.
In completing the final three furlongs in 36.28secs Calandagan recorded an FSP of 103.10% showing that Calandagan had been able to save enough energy for a relatively strong finish compared to his rivals. Indeed, he was far superior to them as shown by the final three-furlong finishing splits of the first three.
1st Calandagan: 36.28secs
2nd Space legend: 37.72secs
3rd Royal Supremacy: 37.74secs
He was the only horse in the race able to quicken off the stern gallop as evidenced by his closing five-furlong splits, showing his change of gear between F9 and F10. In viewing these, it is noted that he was the only horse in the race to be able to run sub-12.00secs furlongs through the final half-mile.
Calandagan’s final four-furlong splits:
F9: 12.51secs
F10: 11.94secs
F11: 11.93secs
F12: 12.41secs
This was a dominant, top-class performance from a lightly raced gelding. His Race iQ Time Index score of 7.05 was easily the best on Friday. Being a gelding limits his Group 1 options going forward, but he should be feared wherever he shows up.
ON Saturday, Hand Of God put up the best Race iQ Time Index performance in the Golden Gates Stakes. His score of 7.66 may have been better had he not been forced wide on the home turn. It is interesting to compare Auguste Rodin’s final time with this one.
Final times over 12 furlongs on good/firm ground:
Auguste Rodin: 2m 3.12secs
Hand Of God: 2m 5.21secs
This equates to Auguste Rodin running 12 and a half lengths faster than Hand Of God, but that should not detract from this handicap performance in a race that should work out well.
Hand Of God raced in 10th in a strongly-run race and finished off with an FSP of 103.01%, his final three furlongs of 36.60secs being 3.01% faster than his previous 11 furlongs. Having lost ground on the home turn he kept on strongly, his penultimate furlong of 12.09secs took him from 5th to the lead, and that surge was too much for his two nearest pursuers who recorded 12.17secs and 12.56secs respectively through the same furlong.
This was a strong staying performance, achieving the best time of the day, and he should be up to competing in pattern company, although given he raced off an official mark of 91 here, he still has scope to win another high-end handicap.
THERE has been plenty of post Ascot talk about the relative merits of Fairy Godmother in the Albany and Bedtime Story in the Chesham. We will have to speculate because it is unlikely that connections will allow them to clash. The Moyglare will clearly be on the agenda for one of them. Here is what the data said they achieved.
The Albany was a strongly run race with Fairy Godmother finding trouble before staying on strongly to win. The Chesham was not as strongly run with Bedtime Story displaying a sharp turn of foot to win very easily. It is counter intuitive to think that Fairy Godmother’s win over six furlongs was achieved utilising her stamina, but Bedtime story won over seven furlongs utilising her speed.
A comparison of the FSPs achieved shows that rather than quicken out of trouble Fairy Godmother just kept on strongly, whereas Bedtime Story displayed a sharp turn of foot.
Finishing Speed Percentages:
Fairy Godmother: 100.82%
Bedtime Story: 104.10%
Their finishing efforts can also be compared by looking at their final two-furlong splits, but in so doing the nature of the early pace in each race must be factored in. The first four furlongs in the Albany were run in 49.2secs, the Chesham was 2.51secs slower at 51.71secs. Bedtime Story was able to save more energy for a stronger finish given this pace scenario.
Final two furlongs:
Fairy Godmother: 24.20secs
(Running evenly rather than quickening sharply)
Bedtime Story: 23.88secs (Quickening F5 and F6)
Fairy Godmother is not devoid of speed, it is just that she had to use her speed early in the race. Her fastest furlong being F2 (11.37secs) whereas Bedtime Story saved energy to fire her best furlong through F5 (11.42secs).
It is ironic to think that Fairy Godmother would be better over further given the stamina she showed, and Bedtime Story would be just as effective down in trip given the speed she showed. If pressed, I would nominate Fairy Godmother as the most likely 1000 Guineas winner, but both are very smart and provided stunning performances at a meeting that had everything and does the sport great credit.