iCatcher

THE Curragh hosted some exciting action over the weekend. However, one horse that may go under the radar, but is definitely worth noting, is Jan Brueghel who decisively won the 10-furlong maiden race on Saturday (5.25pm), writes Page Fuller.

Checking the times tells us that he was good, as he won unchallenged in a race time 1.37 seconds faster than the handicap earlier that day. But how impressive was he?

This gives me the perfect opportunity to introduce our new RaceiQ Time Index. The RaceiQ Time Index is a new tool which is calculated by assessing a race time compared to the time we expect that race to be run in.

This includes the effects of race class, course, distance and official going. We then allocate it a score out of 10 to give us context about how much a race has over or underperformed on the clock compared to what we were expecting. A race run in the expected time would score around a 5 or 6.

Our Time Index tells us that his winning time scored 9.45 out of 10. This means it was a very fast time based on historical race times we have for the Curragh. The average score for Saturday was 6.46, so it is clear that he over achieved on the day.

He has entries at Royal Ascot and the Irish Derby later this season and I think it would be dangerous to underestimate him after a performance like that on his racecourse debut.