Timefigure review: Royal Ascot 2018

Two-Year-Olds

Few two-year-olds in recent seasons have made such a striking first-time-out impression as Calyx did on the July course at Newmarket, and the son of Kingman proved he's the smart colt he looked then when beating a large field in the Coventry Stakes on Tuesday.

Calyx justifies the hype and wins the Coventry Stakes at @Ascot!

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— ITV Racing (@itvracing) 19 June 2018

His winning timefigure of 106 was the best of the week by a juvenile, but was compromised by a relatively steady first furlong and a hard middle section which still saw him finish six places and over six lengths clear of the next horse – the useful Blown By Wind – on his side.

Neither runner-up Advertise, who overcome a bad stand rail bias when winning at Newbury on his debut, nor third-place Sergei Prokofiev, who had the season-leading timefigure going into the Coventry, lost anything in defeat and seem sure to win pattern races this season. This was a very strong renewal.

The remainder of the week was a case of ‘After the Lord Mayor’s show’.

The Queen Mary fillies weren’t a great bunch on looks and with just over two lengths covering the first ten home and a winning timefigure of just 95, it looks a modest renewal. The Norfolk wasn’t much better and was won by a filly - the American Shang Shang Shang - with a timerating of just 91. Main Edition took the Albany with 97, just below her pre-race leading 99, before the final day saw Soldier’s Call take the Windsor Castle with 98 and Arthur Kitt the Chesham in 97.

It wouldn’t be wise to give up on Chesham flop Natalie’s Joy, whose 105 timefigure at Goodwood is still the best by a filly this season. She was never travelling fluently and wouldn’t be the first from her stable to bounce back strongly next time.  

Three-Year-Olds

If the best two-year-old performance came at the start of the week, the best by a three-year-old performance came towards the end, with Alpha Centauri recording an outstanding timefigure of 129 when breaking the course record with something to spare in the Coronation Stakes.

Alpha Centauri destroys her rivals in the Coronation Stakes - a first #RoyalAscot success for @Jessica_Racing

Colm O'Donoghue is beaming on the 11/4 favourite!

Watch LIVE on @ITV pic.twitter.com/uXw5QfUFWw

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) 22 June 2018

According to going stick readings averaged across the meeting, the round course had been running faster than normal relative to the straight course (the concluding Duke of Edinburgh Stakes on the same day was also run in the fastest time since the course was redeveloped prior to the 2006 meeting) and Alpha Centauri’s track record was founded not just on that but also a strong gallop set by eventual third, Veracious, who herself ran a highly promising race on her seasonal reappearance.

Alpha Centauri’s timefigure is the best by a filly of any age at the meeting since Australian mare Miss Andretti posted a 129 when breaking the track record in the 2007 King’s Stand Stakes, and 2lb better than the 127 posted by Lady Aurelia in the 2016 Queen Mary.

St James’s Palace winner Without Parole couldn’t match either Alpha Centauri’s timefigure or manner of success, but in posting a timefigure of 122 on the back of an unsustainable pace set by last year’s champion juvenile U S Navy Flag, he can fairly be regarded as the best miler of his age and sex in an admittedly substandard year for colts.

Without Parole escapes the clutches of Gustav Klimt to win the St James's Palace Stakes at @Ascot

Another win for @FrankieDettori

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— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 19, 2018

One-time Guineas favourite Expert Eye had been a disappointment since winning the Vintage Stakes as a two-year-old, but a strongly-run race (timefigure 120) and the drop to seven furlongs in the Jersey Stakes revitalised the keen-going sort, and he may well have been equally competitive in the Commonwealth Cup had he been allowed to take his chance. That race looked inferior to recent renewals, with the winner Eqtidaar all out to hold some below-top-class sprinters with a timefigure of 117.

Hunting Horn (114) and Kew Gardens (111) were other good winners in the Hampton Court Stakes and Queen’s Vase respectively, while the competitive straight-mile handicaps, the Britannia and the Sandringham, were won in contrasting fashion by progressive pair Ostilio (second behind Without Parole two starts earlier when the St James Palace winner had run a 117 on just his second start) and Agrotera in the manner of horses ready for rises in grade.

Older Horses

Arguably the most eagerly anticipated race of the week was the King’s Stand Stakes, in which the champion sprinter and 2017 Timeform Horse of the Year Battaash renewed rivalry with the reigning King’s Stand champion Lady Aurelia, who had beaten Battaash in the Nunthorpe when he had boiled over beforehand.

As things turned out, Lady Aurelia looked a shadow of her former self, while Battaash kept a lid on things beforehand but less so in the race when he tore off so fast he was unable to fend off Blue Point in the closing stages.

Blue Point, third in the Commonwealth Cup the year before, recorded a timefigure of 129, but Battaash has run faster before and we’d favour him in a rematch.

The Diamond Jubilee was a more international event, with Merchant Navy (trained in Ireland via Australia) landing the spoils in a timefigure of 123 from runners trained in France and America after an unfortunate stalls incident cost home-trained favourite Harry Angel his chance. The winning time wasn’t much faster than the Wokingham won by Bacchus in a timefigure of 118, but the latter featured a very short-priced favourite (Dreamfield) in second and is obviously good form. The Hunt Cup was won by Settle For Bay in a figure of 110.

Blue Point streaks past Battaash to win the King's Stand Stakes at @Ascot

Watch LIVE on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/SqFvJWFuME

— ITV Racing (@itvracing) 19 June 2018

The Gold Cup produced a corking finish with Stradivarius just edging out French challenger Vazirabad, with Torcedor keeping 2016 winner Order Of St George out of the places. Given his form on fast ground over shorter, the winner was well equipped for the relative speed test the race provided and the winning timefigure was an unexceptional 82.

One of the stories of the week was the resurgence of the Sir Michael Stoute yard and his Poet’s Word was responsible for one of the upsets of the week when getting the better of Cracksman in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Poet’s Word did it on merit on the day – his timefigure was 129 and the first two were eight lengths clear – and in contrast to the increasingly-laidback Cracksman (who had him seven lengths back in second when posting his best timefigure of 128 in the 2017 Champion Stakes) is clearly better than ever.

Stoute also won the Hardwicke with Crystal Ocean but promising though the 2017 St Leger runner-up remains, the proximity of 33-1 shot Red Verdon and Cliffs Of Moher (long way behind Poet’s Word in the Prince Of Wales’s) on top of a timefigure of just 119 suggests this isn’t a particularly good renewal.

Neither was the Queen Anne which went to the Lockinge fifth Accidental Agent in a blanket finish and a timefigure of 101 or the Duke of Cambridge in which Aljazzi went one better than last year but still only posted a 92 and she’ll need to raise her game significantly if she is to trouble Alpha Centauri if the pair clash in the near future.