Sectional Debrief: Yorkshire Ebor Festival

York played host to some excellent racing during the Ebor meeting.

The sectionals from York's Ebor meeting come under the scrutiny of Timeform's Simon Rowlands...

A welcome feature of the QIPCO British Champion Series has been TurfTrax sectional timing for the major races, as well as for lesser ones that have taken place on the same cards.

There were considerable logistical problems with returning sectionals at Royal Ascot, but things have improved since. The latest occasion to be covered was this week's Yorkshire Ebor Festival at York.

Unfortunately, there is little historical data at York with which to compare times. My preferred method of establishing "optimum sectionals" is to get enough examples of horses recording good relative times in order to establish "how to run fast".

There is an alternative, however, and it is one I have written about for Betfair previously. I call it the "topographical" approach, whereby you apply your knowledge of how horses perform elsewhere to the specific terrain of the course in question.

The opening furlong is usually the slowest (by some way) as horses accelerate from a standing start, horses slow when going round bends (but not by as much as might be imagined), and they also begin to fatigue late in the race, chiefly in the final furlong. Uphill sections slow horses, while downhill sections speed them up, but not by so much.

Fortunately, York is a dead flat track, with just the one sweeping bend of any significance, and the topographical approach should be fairly easy to apply there. The following conclusions, preceded by some metrics from the bigger races, are based on sectional pars derived by this method.

You were unlikely to need sectional times to tell you that the opening day's Great Voltigeur Stakes was slowly-run, but they underline just how much that was the case, with all of the runners coming back much quicker than par. Thought Worthy, who made all, could well be beaten by Main Sequence, and even by Noble Mission (who ran especially fast from 4f out to 1f out), another day.

The beauty of Frankel's sectionals are more subtle. He did not even break 11.0 sec for an individual furlong this time, but that's because he was in a race run at a true pace from the off, one which tested stamina more than speed and resulted in the best Timeform timefigure of the 21st Century. His closing sectionals of 11.05 sec, 11.45 sec and 12.10 sec were most impressive in this context and imply he was better still than his nearest rivals by as much as three lengths more. It was not that they were slowing by much, but that he was powering away. Fifth-placed Bullet Train ran the race very close to par.

The last two winners on Wednesday, Olympiad and Danadana, also ran fast late in their races - indicative of a slower earlier pace - and can be marked up.

Rain on day two made overall time comparisons difficult but did not alter the ground enough to render sectional comparisons redundant. The runners finished quite slowly in Rosdhu Queen's Lowther, a similar pace profile to the opener won by Hototo in a good deal quicker time, and there was little to suggest that there was a good filly among the finishers.

This was in marked contrast to the pace in the Yorkshire Oaks, in which Shareta was always in the first two and well placed for the sprint that ensued. Second-placed The Fugue actually ran faster for four of the last five furlongs than the winner, but crucially not for the final one. The Fugue could yet have a big win in her at this twelve-furlong trip or a bit shorter.

Strong-finishing Indian Jack's sectionals in the mile handicap suggest his time may be near.

The rails on the round course were moved for day three - reducing distances by 27 yards in races at a mile and more - making sectional comparisons tricky. Both the Gimcrack Stakes won by Blaine and the Strensall Stakes won by Dubai Prince were run in quite efficient style, but only the latter resulted in a good overall time. The Gimcrack looks weak judged on form, time and sectionals, in other words.

The leaders in the Nunthorpe Stakes covered the first three furlongs nearly 3 sec quicker than those in the Gimcrack, and it set the race up perfectly for a closer. Ortensia came from 17th of 19 at that point to prevail but was running close to par in the last quarter of a mile (sectionals of 10.87 sec followed by 11.69 sec) as others flagged rather than delivering the phenomenal burst of speed that might have appeared to be the case.

Hamish McGonagall and Beyond Desire paid most among the principals for the cutthroat pace, in a race in which the draw might also have been a factor. By way of comparison, Frankel ran his final furlong faster than all but two of the Nunthorpe runners when tackling more than twice as far two days earlier.

Comments from some quarters to the effect that the ground on Friday was softer than good were a long way wide of the mark judged on times, such as the 71.10 sec posted in the strongly-run 6f nursery by Mary's Daughter (each furlong after her first was slower than her previous one).

The rain did look to have more of an effect on times on the Saturday, but so did some falsely-run races. Times Up ran three successive sub-12-second furlongs - not the sort of speed usually associated with stayers, even smart ones - on his way to winning the Lonsdale Stakes. Willing Foe went one better with four sub-12-second-furlongs in winning the Ebor Handicap.

The steady-or-slower nature of the early pace in both contests is implied by the winners' "finish speed" (expressed as a % of average race speed) in the accompanying table.

Sixth-placed Steps To Freedom should not go unremarked upon in the Ebor, having run 11.07 sec from 4f out to 3f out, though that was still slower than also-ran Hammerfest's 10.95 sec the furlong before.

Please post a comment below if you have a specific question about these, or any other, sectionals from York.