Ratings Update: Frankel's first group winner looks a star in the making

Unfortunately the highlight of last week, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the premier middle-distance race of the summer now worth nearly £700,000 to the winner, yielded a disappointing field and for the second successive year it was a substandard renewal on ratings.

Last year’s race did at least have an excuse for the poor turnout, with the ground on the day going against Derby and Eclipse winner Golden Horn, who was a late absentee, and it was perhaps more worrying for the race this time around that none of the first three home in the Derby or the dominant three-year-old filly Minding took their chances. The withdrawal of 132-rated Postponed in the week running up to this year’s race (below-par blood results) saw Highland Reel (127) backed into favouritism, and he didn’t have to improve to add a third Group 1 race to the Hong Kong Vase and Secretariat Stakes which he won last season under a fine front-running ride from Ryan Moore (though he might well have been good enough to win anyway had the race unfolded differently). Wings of Desire improved on his Derby fourth in second, just as his half-brother Eagle Top had done last year, and he is now rated 122 with the St Leger rather than the Arc perhaps a better option for him this season (lacked a turn of foot here in a tactical race). Dartmouth (125) was supplemented for this race but, having beaten the winner in the Hardwicke at Royal Ascot, was below that form here under a ride that showed him to much less advantage than the winner. It is doubtful whether Dartmouth will find a better opportunity for Group 1 success, on these shores at least.

With the feature race on the card a little underwhelming, the most exciting performance on the day arguably came from Fair Eva in the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes. Fair Eva, the first of Frankel’s offspring to run wearing the Juddmonte silks, also provided her sire with his first group-level winner, and she looked a star in the making on Saturday, following up her maiden win in most taking fashion. She is now Timeform rated 113p from 100P, and is likely to take all the beating wherever she goes, with the Moyglare Stud – over an extra furlong which she should relish – perhaps the best option for another step up in grade. If she did take that option, there is the potential that Fair Eva might come up against Aidan O’Brien’s Promise To Be True, a sister to Maybe who won the race herself in 2008. Promise To Be True also scored in Group 3 company last week, winning the Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown, and she is now rated 103P (from 93P).

The other Group 3 race on that Leopardstown card was the Tyros Stakes, won for the third year on the trot by Aidan O’Brien (won the last two runnings with Gleneagles and Deauville) with Churchill, who followed up his win in the Chesham at Royal Ascot to beat Alexios Komnenos by a neck. This was a gritty win from Churchill, a more professional display than Ascot, and he is likely to pull out more when required. He is now rated 108p and reportedly has next month’s Group 2 Futurity Stakes at the Curragh on his agenda.

Back at Ascot the other notable performance from a ratings perspective came in the International Stakes, with the winner Librisa Breeze looking ready for the step up to listed/group company after a remarkably easy win in such a high-end and competitive handicap. He is now rated 116 (from 114) and for all that this sort of well-run scenario is a rarer occurrence in higher grades, his high cruising speed and sharp turn of foot should stand him in good stead when he does make the switch.

After Fair Eva’s win a good weekend for Juddmonte was also added to by Time Test (127) who didn’t need to be at his best to win the Group 2 York Stakes, in which he stood out on ratings going into the race. He was made to work harder by Mondialiste (123 from 122) than the market beforehand suggested he would have to, but the pair pulled clear and it is likely that this race was part of Time Test’s preparation for the Juddmonte International Stakes over C&D next month (Roger Charlton suggested after the race that he might have left him a gallop short for this). Time Test will need to find improvement to make his third attempt at Group 1 level a successful one next month, and will likely only be able to do that granted firmish ground (both attempts to date have been on ground softer than good).

Convey (unchanged on 120) also carried the colours of Prince Khalid Abdullah to victory in Sunday’s listed Pomfret Stakes at Pontefract, gaining a deserved first win this season after his very smart second to Home of The Brave in the John of Gaunt Stakes at Haydock earlier in the season. He hasn’t always looked straightforward when forced to work really hard in more competitive races, but he is clearly a talented horse when circumstances allow.