Sectional Timing Debrief: Arc day 2017

They came, they saw, they conquered. Britain and Ireland completed a clean sweep of Group races on Arc Day at Chantilly on Sunday, most notably the five-million-Euro Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe itself with the short-priced favourite Enable.

There was not much doubt beforehand that Enable, in receipt of an age and sex allowance, was the best performer at the weights, but there was some doubt as to whether she would make her superiority tell in a packed field of 18 at the end of a long season.

No worries, none at all. Under a typically accomplished ride from Frankie Dettori, Enable avoided any trouble by being prominent from the off, burst to the front with 400 metres to go, and gave her rivals no chance of catching her. Her official margin over Cloth of Stars was two and a half lengths – the fourth-biggest this century – but it looked a bit more.

There is nothing holding the form down – which is not always the case where the Arc is concerned – and Enable deserves to be regarded as a good, but not quite great, winner of what is arguably the best race in the world.

That it was a largely fair contest is supported by the sectionals, which can usually be taken from those appearing on-screen, though those for both the Arc and the Abbaye malfunctioned late on and have been engineered from video footage.

Those all-important finishing speed %s (speed at finish as a % of average speed for race overall) are above the course-and-distance par of around 101% for the principals, but not by much. The first three get upgraded a few pounds, but the majority do not.

Cloth of Stars’ sectional rating comes out the same as Enable’s, but that is because of the aforementioned age and sex allowance: they finished in the correct order from a sectional point of view.

Interestingly, Enable’s sectional is almost identical to Found’s (35.88s, 100.1% finishing speed) when winning the race 12 months earlier, despite the conditions being more testing and the overall time being about 5.0s slower. The pace in Found’s Arc was notably strong and found out suspect stayers.

Ulysses may be a bit more effective at slightly shorter, and Order of St George at slightly longer, but Enable deserves to be considered their superior. Those in the pack with finishing speed %s of 104 and more arguably should have finished closer set less to do, but it is marginal.

Enable has never been anything less than emphatic in her wins, taking The Oaks, Irish Oaks, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and now the Arc, by clear margins each time.

Fast pace and steady pace, fast ground and slow ground: all have come alike to Enable. She is undeniably the star of the 2017 middle-distance season.

But she may not even have been the best horse on show at Chantilly on Sunday.

Battaash is at least a strong contender for that honour after winning the Prix de l’Abbaye in spectacular fashion and in a remarkably fast time of 57.59s for the conditions.

The gelding already had Timeform’s fastest timefigure of the year in Britain and Ireland courtesy of his easy win in Goodwood’s King George Stakes, and he beat the same placed horses by further here.

It is possible to question the form slightly due to the no-show of the enigmatic Signs of Blessing and the proximity of the smart-but-not-better pair of Duke of Firenze and Queen Kindly. But the last two were still beaten meaningful margins for a race at this trip. This is what the sectionals say.

They tell of a race in which no prisoners were taken. Those finishing speeds – even the winner’s – are slower than a par which is around 103% on account of a larger proportion of a 1000-metre race being taken up by initial acceleration than at longer trips.

The sectionals at the foot of the result show Battaash slowing somewhat late on after delivering blistering splits mid-race: he ran the race overall just 0.32s slower than did Marsha when winning on firmer ground 12 months earlier, but 0.27s of that shortfall came in the final 400m.

The pace probably helped Duke of Firenze and Queen Kindly to close a bit late on and run up to their very best: that is taken into account in the figures.

Battaash could have run a bit faster still, in theory, but he ran very fast indeed as it is. That sectional rating is the highest returned in recent times. There were definitely shades of the same owner’s Dayjur about this performance (ask your parents, kids).

When he does not boil over – as he did at York and as he threatened to do briefly here – Battaash is a full-on sprinter straight out of the top drawer. There have not been many of them in these parts in recent years.

Arc Day draws down the curtain on the season for some, though others will be showing up at British Champions Day and perhaps beyond. It also offers a tantalising glimpse of what may be in store next year, courtesy of the two Group 1 juvenile mile races which open the card. A comparison between the two is especially interesting this year.

The crucial thing here is not so much the sectionals but the overall times. The Boussac was 1.04s quicker than the Lagardere despite the cumulative race sectionals being very similar until 400 metres out.

The principals in the fillies’ race saw their races out to be close to the 102% course-and-distance par, but those in the Lagardere slowed late on, which helped Happily to run her rivals down (as did the 3 lb sex allowance she was receiving).

There had been little between Happily and Magical when the two had met head-to-head twice previously, but there was quite a bit more – in favour of Magical – in time terms on this occasion, and for no obvious reason.

A direct comparison between the Boussac and the Lagardere on times and sectionals favours the former in every way.

The Boussac form is unlikely to prove top-notch, or probably even as good as that shown the day before by Clemmie in winning the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, but it could easily be under-appreciated. Wild Illusion may have been a surprise winner, but she does look smart.

On a day when all of the races were close to well-run – a rarity in French racing even when a significant foreign contingent is involved – the Prix de la Foret went to Aclaim with a 35.62s closing sectional (103.2% finishing speed) and the Prix de l’Opera to Rhododendron with a 35.65s closing sectional (104.0%).

There was a time when many of us thought Rhododendron was a good thing for The Oaks at Epsom, where she went off odds on but unexpectedly got steamrollered by a filly called Enable. With the benefit of hindsight, that may have been Rhododendron’s finest hour!