THE Ayr Gold Cup meeting was blighted by wet weather, causing attritional competition.

The data suggests that the ground was heavy on the first day of the meeting and got progressively worse leading to two inspections on the final day, which finally went ahead with every race producing times that were slower than heavy ground par times, by then ‘heavy’ was a completely inadequate description of conditions.

Data for the meeting is replete with slower than par finishes, even when races were run at moderate gallops. That said, there were two performances where the data produced defied the conditions. The Ladbrokes ‘Bet 5 Get 30 New Customer Offer’ Fillies’ Nursery on the Friday was just a Class 4 Nursery for horses rated (0-85), yet comparatively it produced the best time of the day.

Only horse

The William Haggas-trained Diplomata was the only horse on the day to run faster than the Race iQ soft ground par expectation, producing a time index that was easily the best of the day.

Her final time suggested that the ground was soft, but every other time on the card was what you would expect for heavy ground, suggesting she handled conditions incredibly well.

Race 1: Diplomata: Time Index 6.0 (- 0.48s vs Par)

Race 2: Turnstile: Time Index 3.6 (+ 1.75s vs Par)

Race 3: Mussab: Time Index 4.5 (+1.01s vs Par)

Race 4: Fluoresence: Time Index 3.7 (+1.74s vs Par)

Race 5: Eye Of Dubai: Time Index 3.6 (+ 1.71s vs Par)

Race 6: Empirestateofmind Time Index 4.6 (+1.34s vs Par)

Race 7: Stoic Poet Time Index 3.8 (+2.33s vs Par)

Race 8: Arch Enemy Time Index 4.4 (+4.55s vs Par)

(Meeting Average: 4.3)

We should temper our enthusiasm for this performance a little, given that it rained during the day and therefore Diplomata may marginally have had the best of conditions, but nonetheless there is no getting away from her outstanding final time.

Diplomata was held up and raced in rear, finding herself still in sixth place with two furlongs to run, she then produced a remarkable burst of speed given the conditions.

She quickened smartly through the fifth furlong with a par split of 11.88s and then produced a faster than par penultimate furlong of 11.76s to get to the front.

This turn of foot readily took her two and a quarter lengths clear of her nearest pursuer.

Turn of foot

In that penultimate furlong, she was the only horse in the race to breach 12.00s, and this turn of foot saw her make up 0.58s (three lengths) in the space of two furlongs. On heavy ground, this represented a smart turn of foot.

Her Finishing Speed Percentage (FSP) of 104.82% was the highest on the day and the only one to break par, giving us an indication of just how well she handled conditions.

Diplomata won this race off a mark of 78, defying a 10lb rise in the weights following a win at Haydock on her previous start.

These two wins represented an upturn in her form, presumably brought about by the soft conditions she encountered on both occasions.

She looks capable of overcoming another rise in the weights and could be a filly for a minor pattern race, given she gets similar conditions to race on. She is one for your tracker, notepad or very good memory.

THE other performance that I want to highlight from the western meeting is that of Fast Tracker in the Doonside Cup on Saturday.

This race took place on the final day of the meeting, when conditions were at their worst, but they were ideal for Fast Tracker given that all of his previous wins, which came in France, were on soft or heavy ground.

The ground was described as heavy, and the times were in accordance with this description. The Race iQ time index meeting average came in at 5.1, suggesting that the times on the day were within the data expectations for heavy ground - although if we had a description for swamp-like conditions that could have been used. Fast Tracker completed the 10-furlong trip in a winning time of 2m 17.59s, which was (+1.22s) above what is the par expectation for a 10-furlong listed race on heavy ground at Ayr.

Even gallop

Fast Tracker was held up off what was an even gallop for the conditions and then produced a relatively fast final three furlongs to pull two and a quarter lengths clear of the hard pulling Ice Max.

His final three-furlong split of 39.12s was 0.72s (3.6 lengths) quicker than the runner-up and he was the only horse in the race to break 13.00s in the penultimate furlong and 14.00s in the final furlong.

There is little doubt that he handled conditions a lot better than his rivals, but it must be noted that this is a career best from Fast Tracker, who is lightly raced and will be worth following under similarly attritional conditions this autumn.

CHARLIE Appleby has his team in tremendous form and, in Bin Jahwar, he has a very smart prospect for the future.

He is a big, strong-looking son of Ghaiyyath out of a Nayef mare, a pedigree that suggests he will want a mile and a half plus in time, but we should not pigeonhole him as just being a stayer, because the data he produced in winning at Newbury last week suggests he has plenty of speed.

The conditions at Newbury last Friday were on the quick side of good, with a meeting average Time Index of 7.2 out of 10 for conditions that were correctly described as good (good to firm in places).

Bin Jahwar won over the mile trip in the Haynes Hanson and Clark Conditions Stakes, a winning time of 1m 37.61s, which was (-0.94s) faster than the par expectation for this class of race on good ground over a mile at Newbury.

Faster than Par

Bin Jahwar travelled strongly in second place, where the pace slackened in the fourth and fifth furlongs, but he then showed a smart turn of foot to produce a faster than par final quarter-mile with his final two-furlong splits coming in at 11.25s and 11.98s.

He had shown similar speed on his debut at Newmarket, where he beat two other rivals by producing three faster than par final furlongs.

On both occasions, he produced an FSP that was faster than par and this is clearly telling us that he is not a slow horse, which augurs well for him next season when he steps up in trip, because what we will see then is a strong stayer who also possesses a smart turn of foot.

Remarkable stride

This impressive speed, highlighted by the numbers, is trumped by his most remarkable stride data. He has a massive stride, which at its maximum at Newbury was a staggering 8.37 metres and his average stride length was recorded at 8.25 metres.

This long raking stride suggests that he is a stayer in the making. Whilst he easily had the longest stride in the race, he had the lowest number of strides per second (cadence), which points to him being a horse who will always want decent ground.

In Bin Jahwar, Charlie Appleby has a smart stayer in the making, but we also know that he can quicken.

A stayer with an enormous stride, a smart pedigree and the ability to quicken will be a potent weapon for his team next season.