Tony McFadden highlights four horses that significantly improved their Timeform rating at York's Sky Bet Ebor Festival
Continuous (Timeform rating: 121 from 113)
The Great Voltigeur Stakes was run at a good, even tempo, though not at such a strong pace to offer an excuse for the beaten odds-on favourite Gregory who simply seemed to lack the gears required back down in trip following his strong-staying performance in the Queen's Vase.
Continuous' only previous attempt at a mile and a half had been when runner-up in the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot, where King of Steel proved too quick at the end of a stop-start contest. A well-run race at the trip at York suited Continuous much better and he raised his game and delivered a decisive success, pulling three and three-quarter lengths clear of Bahrain Trophy winner Castle Way in second.
The strength Continuous showed at the finish bodes well for his St Leger prospects and he is now a leading player on form, with only stablemate Warm Heart, who is an unlikely runner, above him on Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings for the Doncaster Classic. Continuous' effort in the Voltigeur, which is considered a very smart performance on Timeform's scale, is around the ten-year average for the race.
Warm Heart (120 from 111)
The Yorkshire Oaks was also run at a good gallop and provided the platform for Warm Heart and Free Wind to show very smart form in fighting out a thrilling finish.
Warm Heart had made little impression when only fifth in the Irish Oaks, but she had been progressing well prior to that, landing the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot, and back on a sound surface she proved better than ever to prevail by a head.
She ran to a lower level than most winners of the Yorkshire Oaks in the last decade, but there are some very talented fillies on that roll of honour and she is now the highest-rated three-year-old of her sex in the middle-distance division, with this form looking better than Soul Sister's (117) Oaks win.
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Live In The Dream (124 from 114)
Live In The Dream looked to have plenty to find in the Nunthorpe after coming up short in the Palace House, Temple and a listed race at Deauville after progressing from handicaps, but he relished the sort of test a flat five furlongs on fast ground at York provided and he showed much-improved form to strike.
Live In The Dream broke well and showed blistering speed to lead the field, racing a couple of lengths clear of last year's winner and red-hot favourite Highfield Princess.
Highfield Princess, and her King's Stand conqueror Bradsell, tried hard to erode the deficit but could never get on terms with Live In The Dream who still had a length to spare at the line. He will probably need the emphasis being placed firmly on speed to repeat that sort of performance, but he proved he's a very smart sprinter when he has circumstances in his favour. His performance rating of 124 is around the standard for the race in the last decade.
Middle Earth (106p from 100)
The Sky Bet Melrose is always an informative affair - Hamish, Coltrane and Soulcombe feature on the recent roll of honour - and the latest edition was typically full of lightly-raced improvers which marks it out as another good renewal and one likely to produce plenty of winners.
It was won in decisive style, though, by a handicap debutant who proved well ahead of his opening mark and looks like another colt capable of developing into a pattern-race performer.
Middle Earth, a half-brother to the smart Listed winner Buckaroo, impressed with how quickly he put his stamp on the race, bursting to the front without his rider having to ask for anything like maximum effort, and this can be used as a springboard to bigger things.
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