ZARAK had a lot to live up to from the outset, being a son of Dubawi and the unbeaten Arc winner Zarkava, but he is doing a very good job of it now, with his win in Sunday’s Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud his most impressive performance yet. It came in a good time as well, by a long way fastest of the three at 2400m on the card.

I make it worth a timefigure of at least 119, which is one of the fastest by an older horse anywhere this season. A final 500m of approximately 30.9s (with Zarak a few lengths off that pace) translates into a finishing speed of 99.6%, confirming that this was a good test. Mum would be proud. The best timefigure in Britain in the period under review came from Home Of The Brave, who put up a 118 performance in beating Jungle Cat by three-quarters of a length in the Group 3 Criterion Stakes at Newmarket, running sectionals that were very close to par for the course throughout.