Speed figures
All the latest speedsters according to John Anthony’s stopwatch
Unfortunately, our speed figures guru going back to issue one of Racing Ahead, Mike Francis, has decided to hang up his stopwatch. After many years’ service he feels there is just too much racing to keep track of — and it’s hard to argue with that during the height of summer at least.
Speed figures have always been an important part of Racing Ahead and we will continue to provide one of the few independent sources of this important information.
So step forward another long-time Racing Ahead contributor John Anthony who will be providing his figures from now on.
They are not the same as Mike’s though and are compiled on a different scale that is not comparable to official ratings. They are not weight adjusted – the figures stand alone.
The numbers are based on the ideas of Nick Mordin who will be known to many followers of the stopwatch.
As the scale is different to Mike Francis, we are publishing John’s top clockers going back to the start of
June so you have most of the Flat season covered.
From next month, John will bring a monthly list of the best speed figures as Mike did and we will include National Hunt speed figures from the November issue onwards once the jumps season starts to pick up speed.
AUGUST SPEED FIGURES
The best performances of the month up to press time came from two horses that achieved the same figure of 72.
DOUBLE OR BUBBLE was impressive when winning a Pontefract Listed race over six furlongs on August 15.
She was in front a long way from home and kept pulling out more to score by two lengths. This distance suits but she looks capable of better when upped to seven furlongs. This is the sort of time you would expect to see in a Group 3 or even Group 2 contest.
Sharing top spot is MEGALLAN who took the Group 3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury on August 12. He battled back well once being headed and went strongly through the line. This was over a mile but an extra two furlongs would probably be fine on this evidence.
It’s not certain that JUSTANOTHERBOTTLE will be able to repeat his 71 rating for winning the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon. The first-time blinkers seemed to work wonders and he will have more weight to contend with next time. So this is likely to have been his cup final for the season.
SACRED was impressive when earning a figure of 70 in winning the Hungerford Stakes at Group 2 level. He didn’t get home over a mile in the 2,000 Guineas and this seven furlongs at Newbury proved ideal.
He can strike again in this class now we know his best trip and could even figure at the highest level, although there are not many opportunities there over this intermediate trip.