7 minute read
Smart times at Royal Ascot
Rosallion, Shareholder and Porta Fortuna beat the clock, writes Page Fuller of Race iQ
WE WERE LUCKY enough to start our journey together with an in depth analysis of the Cheltenham Festival, and now we can start our Flat journey by dissecting the summer’s flagship festival, Royal Ascot.
For this meeting we will be using Longines tracking data to uncover the narratives behind some of the performances – hopefully, we will uncover some of the less obvious achievements.
Obviously Tuesday is the sensible place to start, but it is made even more suitable by the performance Rosallion put up in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes.
This son of Blue Point seems to have inherited the potent combination of his father’s speed, as well as staying ability from his dam sire New Approach.
Prior to the race it was hard to see how he would turn the form around with his 2,000 Guineas conqueror Notable Speech, who had shown exceptional speed to win at Kempton in the winter, and then stayed on very strongly off a fast pace in the 2,000 Guineas.
So what could Sean Levey do in order to come out on top?
One thing the data highlighted pre-race was that Rosallion was equally fast, if not faster, than Notable Speech.
His victory in the Irish 2,000 Guineas saw him post a Top Speed of 41.79mph, which was the fastest Top Speed recorded by any of the runners in that field. Notable Speech had only managed to reach 41.66mph and 41.40mph in his runs at Kempton in April and January respectively.
Rosallion’s inherent speed was harnessed to perfection by Levey. He sat quietly into the home straight, timed his run for the second-last furlong, and Rosallion answered accordingly.
The horse hit a Top Speed of 40.23mph at this point and the injection of pace soon sent him to the front.
In fact, he was the only horse in the race to break the 40mph barrier.
Rosallion’s Finishing Speed Percentage (FSP) of 107.96 per cent was the highest FSP of the meeting, which means he covered the final two furlongs of the race 7.96 per cent faster than the rest of the race. Electric.
Kodi Bear’s progeny find the speed Kodi Bear may have produced his best efforts over a mile, but his progeny seem to have a bit more speed about them as Leovanni proved in the 5f Queen Mary Stakes (G2).
Kodi Bear’s progeny find the speed
Kodi Bear may have produced his best efforts over a mile, but his progeny seem to have a bit more speed about them as Leovanni proved in the 5f Queen Mary Stakes (G2).
She showed a good turn of foot to land this Group 2 contest hitting 41.84mph in the second last furlong and maintaining that to the line with an FSP of 101.19 per cent.
However, it was Cowardofthecounty, the first of Kodi Bear’s three progeny to run at the meeting, who caught our eye in the opening day’s Group 2 Coventry Stakes.
He is a rare son of Kodi Bear who looks as though he needs a little further. He was very slow away taking 2.95sec to reach 20mph, the slowest of the field. This slow start meant that by the end of the first furlong he was 0.51sec, or 3l, behind the eventual winner Rashabar and 1.14sec, six and a half lengths, behind the leader.
He never found life easy from that point and was one of the first horses off the bridle, but stayed on strongly to the line with an FSP of 100.5 per cent.
He will have learnt a lot from this experience and, considering how much ground he gave away at the start, and how outpaced he was through the race, we could see a top class prospect when stepping up in trip.
The Prince Of Wales’s Stakes form looks strong
The highlight of Wednesday has to have been Auguste Rodin’s victory in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes (G1).
Although he is a horse who has not always been the most consistent, he was a Derby and a Breeders’ Cup Turf winner as a three-year-old, so we knew that he had both stamina and speed in his repertoire.
He silenced any doubters with his performance at Ascot. Very strong fractions were set by Snobbish over the first half mile, hitting 41.85mph in the second furlong, and this worked out well for Ryan Moore who was happy to sit behind the leaders and then make use of Auguste Rodin’s stamina.
The final race time was particularly impressive. Using our RaceiQ Time Index, the race time scored a 9.7 out of ten, which backs up just how impressive a performance this was.
It also suggests that it’s probably worth keeping an eye on the placed horses behind him, too, since they managed to get within 2l of him.
Shareholder gives a fine return
On Thursday trainer Karl Burke’s terrific form continued with Shareholder giving owner Wathnan Racing a second win of the week in the Norfolk Stakes (G2).
Shareholder is one of only four runners by stallion Not This Time we have seen on these shores (Racing Post) and he looked mightily impressive.
He travelled powerfully through the race and benefitted from being drawn where the pace was stronger. This meant he was able to make the best use of his speed and stamina.
He was the fastest winner of the week posting the fastest furlong and Top Speed of any of the horses who came home in front.
He clocked a 10.78sec furlong in the second furlong and a Top Speed of 42.29mph in the third furlong.
His FSP of 99.31 per cent reflects how well he was able to maintain that speed to the line, just tying up in the closing stages. This wasn’t a problem, however, as his mid-race speed had put him out of reach of his rivals.
Porta fastest in the Coronation Stakes
Porta Fortuna, like Rosallion, just failed in the 1,000 Guineas, and was looking to turn the tables on Emalka in the Coronation Stakes (G1).
Going into the Ascot race she had posted the highest Top Speed of her rivals of 41.70mph when landing the Cheveley Park Stakes (G1) in September, suggesting her speed was not put to best use in the Guineas.
Jockey Tom Marquand kept things simple tracking Moore into the home straight and then quickening up with two furlongs to go.
The fractions were more even than their male equivalent, which meant that horses who sat off the pace had to use a lot of energy to make their move three furlongs from home.
Marquand was able to save her for another furlong, however, and as she then quickened up to an 11.83sec furlong, the fastest of the field, that effort put the race to bed.
Her sire Caravaggio was very effective over sprint distances and she showed this week that he has certainly passed on some of that speed to her.
Story’s turn of foot put the race to Bed
Bedtime Story’s performance in the Chesham Stakes (L) on Saturday means we have a lot to look forward to as she develops on the track.
Topping off a sensational week for both trainer Aidan O’Brien and Moore, the daughter of Frankel posted the largest winning margin of the week, powering home by nine and a half lengths.
Her impressive turn of foot saw her complete the final two furlongs 1.32sec quicker than the runner-up Pentle Bay, and she was the only horse to post a sub-12sec furlong in the second-last furlong.
