Sectional Debrief: Betfair Chase day 2016

Whether it likes it or not, Haydock Park has become synonymous with watering in recent years, but the dousing the course received leading up to its big day on Saturday was not, in this instance, self-inflicted.

The Fixture Updates section of the BHA website reported 37 mm of rain between 7 am on Friday and the start of the card on Saturday, with 26 mm of it after racing on Friday, on which day runners had been splashing through standing water. It usually takes just a high single-figure sum over 24 hours to soften the surface noticeably.

It was something of a surprise, therefore, that racing went ahead. But it did, without even an inspection, and with complete justification as it transpires, for all that the surface was as testing as anywhere so far this jumps season.

Thank the sodden heavens it did! This year’s Betfair Chase drew another small but select field and provided the perfect stage for the admirable Cue Card to win the race for the third time, with one of his most authoritative performances yet.

He had last year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner 15 lengths in arrears, with the dual Betfair Chase winner Silviniaco Conti more than 40 lengths back in fourth.

It can be pointed out that Cue Card had a recent race under his belt, whereas Coneygree was running for the first time in over a year, and that Silviniaco Conti is not as good – or at least not as consistently good – as he once was. Was the effort all that it seemed?

This is where time analysis and sectional analysis can assist. The answer they provide is “to a large degree, yes”.

Firstly, we can look at the headline figures for that Haydock Saturday card.

Some of the earlier races were steadily-run, as shown by those finishing speeds (the speed at the end of the race compared to the average speed for the race overall) being above 100 %, and well above in two instances. But that did not apply to either the Betfair Chase or the useful handicap over the same course and distance which followed it, both of which tested stamina.

Remarkably, Cue Card managed to record a time 14.2s quicker than 140-rated Three Faces West did in winning that handicap 35 minutes later. That is equivalent to almost a furlong and to over 50 lb in ability terms: an astonishing amount!

More detailed by-obstacle analysis shows that the difference was “only” 4.8s at halfway, with Cue Card and co really piling it on between there and three out. From that point, Cue Card forged clear and his rivals wilted, as can be seen from the horses’ individual sectionals and finishing speed %s for the Betfair Chase.

The consequence was to exaggerate margins somewhat, over and above the increase that might be expected of a race run in heavy ground.

But, whether Cue Card was value for the full 15 lengths of his winning margin, or more like 11 as sectionals imply, he still dealt out a comprehensive beating to a Gold Cup winner and a thrashing to the rest (Vezelay started at 50/1 but had run to a rating of 150 at Auteuil in April and higher than that before then).

I also have Cue Card’s time about 46 lb quicker in relative terms than 128-rated Mysteree’s at about half a mile further earlier on the card, a race in which winner and second ran close to sectional par.

All the signs are that Cue Card put up a top-notch performance – yet again – and that not many excuses should be forwarded for the vanquished.

In this form, and with Vautour sadly no longer with us and Don Cossack sidelined, he must have an excellent chance of following up in the King George VI Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and going to Cheltenham with a £1m bonus in his sights again.

Times do not tell us much on the face of it about the merit of Ch’tibello’s win in the Betfair Price Rush Hurdle, a race (run on the Flat course) which turned into a sprint. But the winner was fastest where it mattered, and sectional upgrading has the order the same as the one in which the four runners passed the post.

For all the excuses of this being a messy race, both My Tent Or Yours and Old Guard could have been expected to run quite a bit better.

The Betfair Exchange “Fixed Brush” Handicap Hurdle, won by Kruzhlinin, was certainly attritional, with none of those who completed recording a finishing speed higher than the winner’s 96.5%. Kruzhlinin has two ways of running but certainly revelled in these conditions.

The racing over at Ascot took place on far less testing ground, but the “race” sectionals identify a couple of the contests as proper tests within that context.

Royal Regatta toughed it out for a somewhat unexpected win in the Stella Artois 1965 Chase, with God’s Own in third a non-stayer under these circumstances. The winner was fully 1.8s slower on the 200-yard run-in than Beware The Bear had been at a longer trip earlier on the card and only just held the sticking-on Kylemore Lough.

The handicap chase won by Sire de Grugy was run in similarly uncompromising fashion, which suited the grand old-stager down to the ground. A win off a BHA mark of 160 shows he is still a contender just below the very top level.

It is worth reflecting, that, while Sire de Grugy seems to have been around forever, Cue Card had won four races, including at a Cheltenham Festival, by the time Sire de Grugy won his first on New Year’s Day in 2011!

The Coral Hurdle won by Yanworth was a messier affair, as shown by that quick finishing speed % (implying a slower earlier pace). That gives his supporters something to hang onto, for the odds-on shot was not exactly impressive in getting up late on to beat Lil Rockerfeller, who was conceding him 4 lb.

Anyone doubting that this race was steadily-run (presumably including the Racing Post’s analyst) might wish to reflect on the fact that it was slightly slower through the early stages than the previous day’s maiden hurdle at the same distance but ended up nearly 20 lengths quicker.

The full sectional story, including finishing speed %s and upgrades, can be found in Timeform’s unique Sectional Archive, not just for racing at Haydock and Ascot at the weekend, but for almost every race, every day, in Britain and Ireland.

Click here to read the latest Ratings Update after the weekend's racing