Timefigure analysis of the Coral-Eclipse, Sandown and Haydock

‘A movement for the betterment of English racing, by the introduction of an enclosed meeting at Esher in Surrey, close by the Royal residence at Claremont, instituted in 1875, was the harbinger of racecourse reform; with the result that it has induced Society to bestow upon it its patronage, by burying the bad reputation of many of its predecessors’.

So came into being, on the Esher slopes, Sandown Park, the first enclosed racecourse in England where ‘a young man could take his girlfriend (suitably chaperoned), mother or maiden aunt without the slightest fear that they would run the risk of social shipwreck, or be exposed to a rough and tumble’ and where ‘paid admission ensured a certain degree of respectability, law and order which were woefully lacking at a number of older and unenclosed racecourses’.

So wrote John Rickman in his book ‘Homes Of Sport: Horse Racing’ I suspect few racecourses retain as strong links with the past as Sandown Park, where the race program both on the Flat (and over jumps where the Military meeting still endures) remains remarkably similar to those described by Rickman.

The Coral-Eclipse Stakes was ‘born’ in 1886 and was the first £10,000 race to be run in Britain. Rickman noted ‘the roll of Eclipse winners is impressive’ and ‘it is usually a fine race to watch, the good horse with stamina having frequently having to make his own running and then beat off attacks from the fast but doubtful stayers whose speed has been reserved for the uphill final furlong.’

I wonder what Rickman would make of the Eclipse these days? There have been bigger fields this century – a barely-believable 15 went to post in 2003 – and there have been smaller ones too– notably in 2021 and 2023 when only four ran – but no winning performance has been rated so low by Timeform as the 120 City Of Troy posted on Saturday in getting the better of the year-older Al Riffa by a length in a very ordinary 99 timefigure.

Rather predictably, ‘worst Eclipse winner’ appeared in several exaggerated headlines elsewhere but as always in these scenarios it’s important to separate horse and the performance.

Despite the presence of a ‘pacemaker’ in the shape of Hans Andersen, a horse who was probably there as a minder rather than anything else, the race was steadily run with Hans Andersen covering the first half a mile 1.6 seconds and 1.1 seconds slower than the leaders did in the other two handicaps on the card run over the same distance, though no doubt he could and would have gone faster had anything elected to take him on in front.

As it was nothing did and he increased the pace gradually at his leisure to the extent that he’d made up that lost time and more by the point he’d reached the three-furlong pole. From there on, City Of Troy ran a 38.67 final three furlongs (though Al Riffa ran it faster still in 38.4) compared to 39.73 and 38.86 for the winners of those other two handicaps.

One reason dismissed by the trade paper the Racing Post for City of Troy’s low level of performance was the state of the ground which was officially soft yet according to their speed ratings service Topspeed was little different to that City of Troy had encountered they had for last season’s Dewhurst.

They can believe that if they want, not that many others will, but Saturday was only the second time this century that Timeform have called the ground soft for the Eclipse and the race surface looked particularly holding by the time the last race came to be run.

Other than for a stride when Ghostwriter loomed up with what looked a decent handful if not a double one, it looked to me by the manner he was flicking his ears back and forwards that City of Troy was doing the least amount possible to keep his head in front in the conditions and had he needed to pull out more – Al Riffa earned a 2lb bigger upgrade from Timeform, suggesting he would have pushed City of Troy very close ridden from less far back – he would have done.

We know from his Derby win as well as several overall timeratings that he’s a top-class horse if not yet on the evidence available conclusively the outstanding one his trainer Aidan O’Brien believes him to be, but given a stronger pace on proper summer ground – if we ever get a summer – that latter observation might yet change.

It’s fair to say that there were some more notable time performances elsewhere across the rest of the two-day Sandown card, which was sponsored largely by Coral.

First of those came on the Friday in the listed Dragon Stakes, a two-year-old contest over five furlongs, where Norfolk Stakes fifth Aesterius advanced his form again at the expense of the Empress runner-up It Ain’t Two by posting a 105 on the clock.

He had the race won from some way out, looking to have learnt plenty from his Ascot run in much more choppy waters, and he looks tailor made for one of the Group races open to juveniles at the minimum trip given how strongly he travelled here.

Al Mubhir finally made the transition from top-end handicapper to Listed winner without pulling up any trees on the clock in the Gala Stakes but Trueshan wasn’t far off the 114 he ran to on performance ratings in the Coral Marathon, returning 112 on time, though this figure looks a maximum with his obvious dangers Quickthorn and Run For Oscar well below form.

The wind was blowing a bit harder on Saturday and bang in the faces of the runners, too, which is worth bearing in mind when analysing the form of the Group Three Coral Charge.

Live In The Dream has won on softer ground before than he encountered here, but he’s best on faster ground blazing the trail which he didn’t here and still looks some way off the form he was showing in the second half of last year. In his absence it was the 2023 winner Equality and recent fast-timing Hamilton handicap winner Desperate Hero who vied for the lead and while the latter came out of that battle the better with his reputation embellished even further, his effort only played into the hands of the 2023 runner-up Makarova (109 timefigure, career best by 4lb) who stayed on strongly with the even-later delivered Purosangue just pipping Desperate Hero for second.

The Listed Coral Distaff was a much more tactical event (winning timefigure just 67) with once again Richard Kingscote showing his riding skills on the front end off to great advantage on Spiritual. Given her previous second to Devoted Queen in the Sky Bet Fillies’ Stakes at York had been well advertised since by the fourth Bright Thunder who had gone on to a win a similar event in France, it was a bit odd to see her written off at 25/1 in a market headed by her stable-companion Regal Jubilee, but she never looked seriously troubled in the straight and kept on well to win by a length and a quarter from Indelible.

Royal Ascot winner Soprano didn’t get anything like the same strong pace she’d had in the 30-runner Sandringham, however, and never got seriously competitive but she emerged the clear winner by a length or so when sectional upgrades are taken into consideration and this effort suggest she can win one of these before too long given a better tow into the race.

Over at Haydock at least the Bet365 Lancashire Oaks was salvaged from a card whose last three races on the round course had to be abandoned because horses were slipping at various stages on the home bend.

Given the 25 minute long inspection that followed the second race, it’s no surprise that they went more steadily in the Oaks than they might have done otherwise, with the eventual winner Queen Of The Pride, who’d won the Group Three Pinnacle Stakes over course and distance just a month earlier, getting the better of Tiffany in a 99 timefigure.

The runner-up, who’d impressed me greatly in the Hoppings Stakes at Newcastle the week before, took another step forward in terms of form and might have done even better had she not taken the false step leaving the back straight that caused the remaining round-course races to be cancelled.

Regal Gem, who’d made the running when fourth to the subsequent Norfolk winner Shareholder at Beverley last month, won the first nursery of the season (timefigure 77) stepped back up to six furlongs.

Last week might have been a quiet one domestically on the Listed and Pattern race front and it wasn’t any different in Ireland where just two Listed races took place. La Isla Mujeres won the Lenebane Stakes at Roscommon but the time merit of that performance is unclear as it’s one of the Irish racecourses from which Timeform don’t return timefigures, while the other, the Ten Sovereigns Tipperary Stakes, looked a low-quality renewal with the winning rating just 89 and the timefigure even lower at 84. Hopefully, the quality picks up at Newmarket this week.

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