Graeme North reveals what the clock told us about the key action this weekend, including Alenquer's impressive success in the Winter Derby.
Apologies to any readers hoping for some timefigure analysis of the richest race in the world, the Group 1 Saudi Cup at King Abdulaziz, but I found it hard to drum up much enthusiasm for a desert showdown won by a local 50/1 rag, and judging by the miserable liquidity available for the race on the Betfair Exchange I wasn’t alone. Nice payday though it might have been for those involved, it shows you can’t generate interest among the wider punting public solely by throwing a load of money at a one-off race, particularly when those horses involves are hardly household names, so forgive me if I concentrate on some races over the weekend that have long had tradition and much bigger followings.
The Sunday before last the aftermath of Storm Francis meant I had to cancel an intended trip to the highly recommended Site Pizzeria in Todmorden, just along the Calder Valley from me, because several flood warnings were in place along the River Calder and some of the roads were already under water. You might be wondering what that has to do with the weekend’s racing just gone, but with Cheltenham on the horizon (next week’s column will preview from a timefigure perspective) it’s a timely reminder how quickly the ground can change at this time of year and nowhere was that more evident than at Newcastle on Saturday when one of their biggest jumping races, the Vertem Eider Chase, traditionally known as a deep-ground slog, was run on ground Timeform decided was ‘good’.
The distance of the Eider has altered several times over the years and the latest running was the second longest this century after the 2021 addition in which the runners had 30 yards of rail movements to contend with. Despite that, the winning time for Win My Wings was the fourth fastest this century and the fastest measured in yards per second since racecourses were forced to make additional yardage public. Quick times don’t necessarily translate into fast timefigures, of course, as regular readers of this column will be aware, and though a 129 figure for the winner is a career best it isn’t a significant one. The Eider has long been known as a Grand National trial (Comply Or Die won both races in 2008) but Win My Wings doesn’t have an entry at Aintree and in a rather atypical year is fittingly an uncharacteristic winner, too, having scored at the start of this season over hurdles at Compiegne.
The feature event at Kempton was the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase, a Grade 3 event that older followers of the sport will remember as the Racing Post Chase, since when it has undergone several name changes. The race no longer has the prestige it once had – Desert Orchid won the race in 1990, the year after he’d won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, while Rhyme ‘n’ Reason and Rough Quest (who both also took in the Gold Cup) won it before going on to Grand National success – and any Cheltenham aspirations for the latest winner Cap Du Nord will surely lie only in handicaps given his winning performance rating (135) was the third lowest this century after Walt in 2019 and Pilgrims Bay in 2017, while his 121 timefigure was also the lowest since Timeform started returning timefigures over jumps in 2016. Now a nine-year-old, Cap Du Nord was seemingly the beneficiary of the BHA’s recent drive to handicap older chasers more generously, as his winning effort with cheekpieces back on was no better than his fifth place in the bet365 Gold Cup last spring off a mark 13lb higher.
Earlier in the afternoon Pic d’Orhy had got back to winning ways in the Pendil Novices’ Chase, following in the footsteps of his stable-companions Frodon and Cyrname and adding to Paul Nicholls’ fine record in the race named in honour of the dual King George winner. Pic d’Orhy’s winning time compares favourably with the earlier handicap chase won by the progressive Flegmatik, but neither race was truly run as evidenced by finishing speeds higher than par (Flegmatik timefigure 128, Pic D’Orhy 139). That said, Pic D’Orhy fairly powered home from three out, raising his time rating to the mid-150s once sectional upgrades are involved, and if he continues to jump as well as he did here he’ll be a tough opponent in some of the bigger novice races post-Cheltenham.
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Last season’s Adonis Juvenile Hurdle won by Tritonic had a major impact on the market for the Triumph Hurdle, wrongly as things turned out, but the latest running passed without much incident with the 15/8 favourite Knight Salute grinding out a near four-length success in a career-best 130 timefigure (no upgrade) to land a third win at Grade 2 level while maintaining his unbeaten record.
The other two-mile race on the card, the Grade 2 Sky Bet Dovecote Hurdle, went to Aucunrisque in a slightly faster time and a 137 timefigure with a 1lb sectional upgrade. The Adonis and the Dovecote were run in contrasting fashion with the juveniles reaching the fourth hurdle around a second (five lengths on the ground) quicker than the older horses after which the pace-setting Aucunrisque lifted the pace significantly to the extent he reached two out around two and a half seconds faster, only for the juveniles to claw back most of that deficit after the last as the front two in the Dovecote slowed down. Aucunrisque looks at home out in front and the demands of Aintree in a small field will probably suit him better than the hurly burly of the County at Cheltenham.
Plenty of mention has been made already in this column of the Grand National, and the most significant trial yet for the 2022 edition, if the market is to be believed, was the Bobbyjo Chase at Fairyhouse won by the 2021 National third (and current ante-post favourite) Any Second Now. That win didn’t look likely for a long way in what was a well-run contest considering the small field (the race was run 16 seconds, or just over a furlong, faster than the following handicap over the same trip won by the Timeform 118-rated Regina Dracones and resulted in a 166 timefigure) but Any Second Now found plenty under pressure to get up on the line and deny Escaria Ten (who was receiving 8lb) by a nose.
I don’t dispute the obvious National claims of Any Second Now but the runner-up is a horse that has interested me for a long time and I’m sure he has a big handicap in him, whether that be at Aintree or elsewhere. He was a strong fancy of mine in last season’s National Hunt Chase only to receive a ride I wasn’t expecting, and it was no surprise he couldn’t out-speed Galvin or Next Destination at the end of a potter round when it had been clear long before stamina was his strong suit. Jack Kennedy might well be claimed for something else, but it would be good to see him back on board.
At Lingfield on the same afternoon the Winter Derby was a welcome reminder that top-class Flat action is just around the corner and the latest winner Alenquer promises to be its best yet. The 2021 King Edward VII winner had looked something of a budding stayer last year, a little below the best (he was ninth in the Arc on his final outing), but a clear-cut dismissal of dual Group 1 winner Lord North, who has an excellent record fresh, over this sharp mile and a quarter suggests he has returned a much-improved model. His winning time of 2.00.51 was the fastest in the race’s history and translates into a 122 timefigure on a day when the timefigures and upgrades synchronised very smoothly with Timeform performance ratings.
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Discover Sporting Life Plus BenefitsThe supporting Hever Sprint has been won by a ragbag of horses in recent years and One Night Stand, the latest, can’t be rated highly among them, well ridden from the front and probably fortunate to beat the runner-up Mondammej and arguably the third Strong Power, too, both of whom came from a less-than-ideal position as the race developed (timefigure just 97).
Sunday’s action was some way removed from top-class but Rachael Blackmore and Captain Guinness were a joy to watch at Naas up against Blackbow and Cash Back, the 2021 Arkle third jumping fluently under restraint then quickening up well on the grassless strip on the stand rail to win cosily. A 124 timefigure is testament to an ordinary pace, confirmed by a comparison with the following race, a handicap contested by lesser horses over half a mile further and won by Gabbys Cross, a stable-companion of Captain Guinness. They went a near identical gallop from the first fence jumped in the two-mile race to the second-last, at which point Captain Guinness upped the ante.
Over at Fontwell, Botox Has won the track's feature race of the season, the National Spirit Hurdle, in a tight finish with the 2021 winner Brewin’upastorm, putting up a career-best timefigure of 142. He pulled up in the Coral Cup last season but will go there in much better form this time around.
