Watch And Learn: Graeme North timefigure analysis of Constitution River's Coral-Eclipse win

"He's a very good horse and Ryan has said he is not sure he has ridden a better horse, which is unlike Ryan."

My word, 'that’s a big one’ as Miss Jones might have said to Rigsby in the long gone but not forgotten Rising Damp. Although he denies it, Aidan O’Brien is as masterful in the art of cheerleading as he is at training Group 1 winners and so he ought to be given he has had over 100 of the latter, and it’s as certain as things can be in horseracing that his quote will end up in the stallion’s promotional advertising blurb when Constitution River is eventually retired to stud.

Unsurprisingly, Ryan Moore, a man of few words in public at the best of times, didn’t go so far as repeating that praise when prodded for a quote himself.

After all, as he might well reflect, he rode Workforce in all his races, which included victories in the Derby (by seven lengths from At First Sight) and the Arc, narrowly from Japanese challenger Nakayama Festa, partnered O’Brien’s So You Think several times during 2011 and more recently has been aboard St Mark’s Basilica and City of Troy, both of whom, like Constitution River, won the Coral-Eclipse.

St Mark’s Basilica was rated 132 after his Eclipse win in 2021 which was the best performance of his career, marginally better than the 128 he subsequently posted when winning the Irish Champion Stakes.

In contrast, City of Troy ran only to an ‘ordinary’ level in his Eclipse win on very holding ground, earning a rating of 120, but achieved higher figures in the Derby (124) and Juddmonte International (130) either side of that run with the latter win coming on properly fast ground (his Derby win came on ground Timeform called good to soft).

What neither of those two horses achieved but which Workforce (134) and So You Think (130) did, was an outstanding performance on the clock, City of Troy managing his best 124 in the Derby while St Mark’s Basilica topped out at 113 (though no figure was returned for his French Derby win).

What timefigure did Constitution River record in the Coral-Eclipse?

Constitution River hasn’t yet recorded an outstanding timefigure either but he’s made a very good start, putting up the best performance in the Dee Stakes for many a year when winning it by seven lengths in a 124 timefigure, outstanding for the race, and a 117 timefigure in the Eclipse needs to be viewed in the context of a sectional upgrade at the end of a very attritional race coming in at 7lb, so making his overall timerating once again 124 (again no figure was returned for his French Derby win).

Indeed, the Eclipse was something of a re-run of the French Derby, with the horses that were second and fourth that day, Hawk Mountain and A Boy Named Susie both taking him on again but neither got any closer for all A Boy Named Susie finished in front of Hawk Mountain this time.

Whether he would another time is up for debate however, with the exceptionally slow finishing speed percentage - under 90% from the one-furlong pole – evidence that the leaders went overly hard at a gallop that Hawk Mountain raced much closer too than A Boy Named Susie with the former earning a 12lb upgrade and the latter 8lb, suggesting Hawk Mountain would have finished a clear second without beating Constitution River in a more evenly-run race.

Aidan O’Brien wasn’t drawn on where Constitution River sits among his century of Group 1 winners but at least on this occasion there’s no disputing his post-race assertion that the horse is the best of his three-year-olds this season.

The remainder of the Eclipse card produced some hefty timefigures, with the best of them coming from opening winner Rumstar who returned 105 in the opening Charge.

He, Shagran and Asfoora had easily the best form going into the race but with Shagraan still to fire for Clive Cox since leaving Mick Appleby and Asfoora always on the back foot after hitting the stalls when trying to anticipate the start, Rumstar was left with a fairly straightforward task to win the race for the second year running.

The Distaff was run at an ordinary pace and produced a lowly 81 timefigure for its winner Secret Of Life who was maintaining her unbeaten record, but the mile handicap was run at a strong pace and resulted in a 98 timefigure for the winner Indalo.

He’s Waliim posted an identical figure in the seven-furlong handicap for three-year-olds on the back of a four-and-half-length routing of the opposition in which he never saw another rival.

Sandown’s Eclipse card was the second of a two-day meeting that started on Friday with a fixture that hosted three Listed races.

The first of those was the Dragon Stakes, typically a contest targeted by horses who ran with varying degrees of success at Royal Ascot, and this year’s contest was no different with the winner Bint Archange arriving here from a last-place finish in the Queen Mary and the runner-up A Bear Affair having finished sixth in the Windsor Castle (third-place Miss Lizzy finished 11th in the Queen Mary).

The winner travelled well and was in command shortly after taking up the running two furlongs out, but a 91 timefigure with a minimal upgrade is a bit lower than the level usually required to make anything other than a minor impact in Group races.

The Gala Stakes over a mile-and-a-quarter attracted a horse, Salaal, whose handicap win at Epsom off a BHA mark of 107 in a 116 timefigure has rather slipped under the radar, that performance easily good enough to win at Group 2 level let alone in listed company as these opponents were, and he won readily by nearly two lengths from dual Group 3 winner Persica with more up his sleeve than the bare facts suggest for all both the merit of the winning performance and the timefigure fell some way short of Epsom.

The final Listed race went to another horse whose best previous performance had also been at Epsom, in this instance Lazy Griff. A Group winner as a juvenile, he didn’t win last year in an injury-curtailed campaign but did finish second in the Derby as well as third in the Irish Derby.

He’d always threatened to be effective at long distances and though he hasn’t advanced his three-year-old form so far in the two races he’s had this season, both have been slowly-run affairs which is the opposite of what might be expected to suit him now he’s racing at around two miles.

Whether he’ll get that scenario remains to be seen – after all, only around one in five races over ‘staying trips’ are truly run – but if he goes to Goodwood as is likely to be the case given his stable he’s the sort that will leave his two-mile form behind if a good pace shows up.

Best of the action from Newmarket

With Newmarket’s July meeting virtually upon us, the quality of racing overall dropped off a bit last week as expected, with the only other Group race contested in Britain or Ireland being the Betway Lancashire Oaks which had been rerouted from Haydock Park while that track solves its drainage issues.

The race went to Tattycoram who looked to have hit her ceiling last year in handicaps but has taken her form to another level this year, winning the Daisy Warwick at Goodwood before this which she took in a career-best 107 timefigure by four-and-a-half lengths after storming clear inside the last furlong, an effort that suggests something like the Yorkshire Oaks might not be too much of an overstretch.

The Old Newton Cup on the same card was a well-run race with the winner Sportingsilvermine returning a 96 compared to his 97 performance rating and runner-up Paddy The Squire topping his Copper Horse Handicap effort at Royal Ascot with a smart 111 timefigure.

Across at Naas the two Listed races for two-year-olds, the Tipperary Stakes and the Pat Smullen Stakes, went to Carry The Flag and Dancing Destiny respectively. The former had been well held in the Norfolk Stakes but had nothing of that calibre of opposition to deal with here and scored in workmanlike fashion in 88 while Dancing Destiny needed only to run to 74 to see off promising newcomer Sarah’s Choice.

How good was Calandagan in the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud?

There was a decent card at Deauville on Saturday without there being any standout performances and Sundays’ Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud card was rather diminished by an undercard consisting mostly of ordinary handicaps.

That said, the big race drew the best middle-distance horse in Europe at the current time, Calandagan, and now the rules have changed he will hopefully line up alongside his stablemate and reigning champion Daryz at Longchamp in the Arc in October.

Calandagan’s winning margin over the still-improving Cualificar and the filly Sunly wasn’t wide, but he spotted the runner-up five lengths turning into the straight and Sunly seven and he ran the last 600m in under 33 seconds, 0.54 seconds faster than Cualificar despite running the last 200m section a touch slower. He’s clearly put whatever ailed him at Epsom in the Coronation Cup behind him and hopefully he’ll turn up again at Ascot later this month in a bid to defend his King George crown.

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