Our timefigure expert Graeme North analyses the key action from Royal Ascot 2025, featuring Ombudsman, Field Of Gold and Charles Darwin.
Gold sparkles on opening afternoon
Often when I come to wite this column, a weekly round-up of the best performances on the clock from the preceding week, pickings tend to be on the thin side. After all, the object of race riding is not to get to the winning line as fast as possible only quicker than everyone else, no matter how fast or slow that may be. Not so last week. Large fields, contested paces and properly fast ground led to some very fast times and several performances were top notch on the clock.
Oddly enough, the one elite event that wasn’t run at an end-to-end gallop was the opening Group 1, the Queen Anne Stakes, which ended up being won by Docklands in the second slowest time this century and in the lowest timefigure to boot, 67, which is 19lb slower than the previous lowest in the same time frame.
For all the winner is an Ascot straight course specialist, that he could pounce from the rear of the field in such a steadily-run affair, passing all the protagonists in the Lockinge the previous month, who included Classic winners Rosallion and Notable Speech, doesn’t say a lot for the four-year-old milers not least given the five-year-old rag Cairo also sailed past them too in the closing stages.
Fortunately, the form of the Coventry, the first two-year-old race of the week, looks well up to par and better even, at this stage at least, than several recent runnings. Gstaad’s 109 timefigure is the tenth best this century, and though the sectionals provided by Total Performance Data suggest he was worthy of another 2lb of top of that, the most impressive aspect of his performance for me was that he did it on his own up the centre of the track in the last two furlongs.
Top-level handicapper American Affair proved too good for some less-than-stellar older five-furlong sprinters in the King Charles III Stakes. Those drawn high dominated, as they did for the first three days on the straight course, with only fourth-placed Starlust managing to run into the first four from off the pace, unsurprisingly given the first furlong was taken relatively steadily. A 106 timefigure is on a par with the best American Affair had achieved previously, comments which also apply to the 102 posted by the runner-up Frost At Dawn, and the result looks muddling with many of the runners below form.
The best performance of the day on the clock, and indeed the week, was the 127 timefigure Field Of Gold posted in the St James’s Palace Stakes. That’s the highest in the race this century and significantly in advance of the best he had achieved previously, though on a par with what sectional upgrades had considered him capable of once getting a properly strong pace to chase. French Guineas winner Henri Matisse also posted a career-best in second while Derby non-runner Ruling Court got far too worked up and couldn’t reproduce his Guineas form on what was a frustrating day for William Buick.
The marathon Ascot Stakes turned into something of a dash as well as an Irish benefit, with third-placed Comfort Zone emerging best on sectionals, though his compatriot Reaching High would surely have been involved with a clear run.
Haatem kicked off a final two-races double for Wathnan, making his first attempt at ten furlongs a winning one in the Wolferton in a 111 timefigure, though sectionals point to King’s Gambit being the one to take out of the race.
Recent purchase French Master, in first-time blinkers, landed the Copper Horse in tremendous fashion. A 107 timefigure is the best in the short history of the race by some way and sectional upgrades, particularly those derived from his final furlong, faster than the one posted by Haatem, point to him being not far off Gold Cup standard. He’s one to follow in the Cup races later this season.
Ombudsman displays rapid turn of foot
Wednesday kicked off with the Queen Mary Stakes which went very much to form with True Love, who had been second on her previous start at Navan behind Coventry winner Gstaad, proving too good for a monster field in a 102 timefigure that is below the race’s twenty-five year average after the pace was forced not untypically by the American raider, Flowerhead.
There weren’t any obvious hard-luck stories or upgrades for those in behind, comments that also apply to the Queen’s Vase which also went to an Irish raider, Carmers, in a what was the fastest time for the race since the race distance was reduced but still only returned a relatively ordinary 103 timefigure.
The Duke Of Cambridge looked a strong affair and was won in some style by the much-improved former Queen Mary winner Crimson Advocate who showed a sparkling turn of foot to run down the favourite Cinderella’s Dream with ease in a 100 timefigure that ends up looking more like 112 when her sectionals for the last two furlongs are factored in, and even allowing for the 3lb she received from the runner-up I’d wager she’d confirm placings should the pair meet again.
Timefigure performance of the day came from her stablemate Ombudsman in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes. Held up well off the strong pace set by the pacemaker Continuous, and chased too closely by Los Angeles and French raider Facteur Cheval, Ombudsman ended up quickening in very impressive fashion past a horse, Anmaat, who almost certainly ran somewhere near his best and had himself displayed a cracking turn of foot himself when winning last autumn’s Champion Stakes.
His winning timefigure was 122 could arguably be upgraded to anywhere between 13 and 128 using his times through the last two furlongs.
Another horse who final furlong sectional was just as impressive was My Cloud, who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the Hunt Cup after a troubled run. A 105.1% final furlong finishing speed was some 5% faster than runner-up Bullet Point’s and I suspect his overall 99 timefigure, testament to the slightly messy nature of the race, can be upgraded to as high as 116 after upgrades are applied, which would make him at least Group 3 class.
Miss Information won the KensingtonPalace in a 96 timefigure while Havana Hurricane won the last running of the Windsor Castle in its current guise in an even lower 94.
Trawler clocks tasty timefigure
All three horses who started odds-on at Ascot in the week won with the shortest-priced of them, and biggest certainty of the week by some accounts, Charles Darwin, making short work of the opposition in Thursday’s opener, the Norfolk Stakes. He scorched through the five furlongs in the fastest time for the race since his own sire No Nay Never and posting the joint-third best timefigure (108) for the race, too, this century.
Merchant’s 97 in the King George V Handicap was less impressive but his finishing sectionals, not least his final-furlong 11.68 which was faster than the French Derby fourth Trinity College managed later on in the card in a steadily-run Hampton Court at a time when the ground had quickened up noticeably too, suggests he’s at least Group 3 class too with the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood, a race his stable took with 2023 winner Desert Hero, an obvious target.
The Ribblesdale was a something of an underwhelming affair yet despite being run at a strong gallop in a historically quick time still only produced a timefigure of 100, suggesting once again the three-year-old middle-distance fillies are a mediocre bunch, acknowledging Garden Of Eden took this readily by over three lengths.
With no Kyprios around, the Gold Cup looked up for grabs but with French challenger Candelari never looking happy, proven stayer Trawlerman set and then maintained a strong gallop which proved too much for unproven stayer Illinois, winning in a 123 timefigure (the best in the race this century) which the runner-up hadn’t even managed to match in his races over shorter distances.
Arabian Story took the Hunt Cup in a modest 86 timefigure, comments which also apply to Trinity College’s 99 in the Hampton Court after being allowed to dictate his own pace, while Never So Brave looked another to follow even after he steps out of handicaps after showing much the best turn of foot in the Buckingham Palace, very quick ground by now contributing to his beating the previous race record by over a second but even so finishing sectionals suggesting he is worth a fair bit more, arguably as much as 7lb, than the smart 112 timefigure he was credited with.
Record times need further context
Fast times continued on the penultimate day with both the opening Albany Stakes and the concluding Palace Of Holyroodhouse Stakes being run in the fastest times this century with the latter breaking the previous record by around 1.3 seconds which, under the conditions, is getting on for eight lengths.
Whether record times translate into fast timefigures depends on plenty of other factors besides the time itself, of course, not least the abilities and weights carried by those that achieved them as well as the other winning times on the card, and Venetian Sun’s Albany timefigure translated into an ordinary 100, about average for the race, while Adrestria’s Holyrood 103 was historically good albeit a fair bit slower than Art Power’s 117 in 2020.
The Commonwealth Cup won by Time For Sandals resulted in an ordinary (for the race) 99 timefigure, albeit the winner and (not least) the third Rayevka are worth upgrading by a few pounds on account of their finishing speeds, while Ethical Diamond took the Duke Of Edinburgh in a relatively modest timefigure (84) but was really motoring at the end of a steadily-run race that saw several pulling hard including himself to the extent that he is arguably worth an 8lb higher upgrade than anything else in the race, a performance that would suggest that he is capable of running a 115 on the clock under different circumstances.
The feature Coronation Stakes went to Cercene though really ought to have gone to Zarigana who hit the front after being delivered from the rear but somehow then gave the race away after hitting the front. In her defence, she was asked a bit of a stiff question, though nothing like the one my fancy Kon Tiki (who I wouldn’t give up on in top company) was set, though the timefigure posted by the winner (113) would suggest she was close to the limit of her ability anyway.
Never Let Go took the Sandringham in 98 but was finishing so fast relative to her rivals that a figure of 106 might better represent her performance, while Amiloc retained his unbeaten record with a much more straightforward performance than at Goodwood last time, winning the King Edward VII in 106, though runner-up Zahrann once again went into the sectional notebook with his finishing flourish and is arguably the best prospect going forward.
Flora back to five furlongs?
Record times continued to fall on the final day with Lazzat, Get In and Quai De Bethune all getting under previous race bests in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, the Wokingham Handicap and the Golden Gates Handicap respectively, albeit the last-named race is younger in years than its more illustrious rivals.
Lazzat’s recent purchase by Wathnan paid dividends at the first time of asking as their crack four-year-old, who has been gradually reinvented as a sprinter and had the best pre-race claims anyway on his three-length win in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville last summer, running a 117 timefigure in a contest not disputed at the same frenzied early fractions as the Wokingham, which perhaps makes the Japanese-trained runner-up Satono Reve the more interesting of the pair going forward, though the third Flora Of Bermuda can surely land one of these too this season, perhaps back at five furlongs on easier ground.
Like Lazzat, Get In was always in the front rank in the Wokingham but runner-up More Thunder continued his progression and will surely win a Group race himself before long, earning himself a big upgrade for a final furlong that was much faster anything in the Golden Jubilee and, on sectionals, value for a two-length win while fourth home Holkham Bay also deserves credit for a strong finish into fourth on the ‘unfavoured’ stand rail.
Quai De Bethune’s rapid finish was a notable feature of a strong-looking Golden Gates won in a 104 timefigure, though another first-time Wathnan purchase Best Secret would have pushed him close or even won had he had the same room to manoeuvre in the straight, the pair shaping by far the best.
Earlier in the card, Humidity won a substandard-looking Chesham Stakes in a modest 87 timefigure with surprisingly little upgrade, while Noble Champion took a hard-to-unpick Jersey Stakes over the same distance in a respectable 105, though with most of the field a fair way below form it looks suspect form.
At least the day ended on a predictable note when odds-on Sober won the Queen Alexandra easily, showing easily the best turn of speed at the conclusion of a modestly-run race.
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