THE first day at Royal Ascot comes under the spotlight this week. A day that was headlined by the scintillating performance of Field Of Gold who destroyed the St James’s Palace Stakes field. This performance was a far cry from his defeat in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket where he failed to pick up when first asked. He was a lot sharper in winning the Irish 2000 Guineas under Colin Keane and was even better here, his response to his jockey’s urgings, instant and devastating. The ground on Tuesday was described as good to firm, good in places. The times were fast where an even pace prevailed, and it rode as described with horses prepared to let themselves down. The Race IQ Time Index scores for all races are set out below along with how they rank against the Race IQ par. The meeting average score of 6.1 out of 10 is lower than could have been expected but is skewed by the steadily run Queen Anne and Ascot Stakes which both produced poor figures.
Docklands: 3.1 (+1.92s vs Par)
Gstaad: 6.8 (-0.62s vs Par)
American Affair: 4.3 (+0.51s vs Par)
Field Of Gold: 8.4 (-1.80s vs Par)
Ascending: 5.2 (+0.91s vs Par)
Haatem: 6.9 (-1.00s vs Par)
French Master: 7.9 (-1.93s vs Par)
St James’s Palace Stakes (Group 1)
The pacemakers ensured that this was a well-run race allowing for an outstanding time performance from Field Of Gold, easily the best at the meeting and more importantly the best we have seen all season and one of the best achieved in this race.
Field Of Gold quickened sharply off the strong pace, the fastest horse through each of the final three furlongs as he dominated his rivals.
He recorded 36.49s for the final three furlongs which was 0.39s faster than Henri Matisse in second place. The most impressive part of those closing splits was the penultimate furlong where he quickened clear and was the only horse in the race to record a split under 12.00s with an 11.93s furlong.
He ran faster than this at Newmarket and the Curragh, but the difference here was the much stronger gallop and faster ground.
Whilst he was caught out when horses quickened in front of him at Newmarket, this time he was the only horse able to find the reserves to quicken off a fierce gallop.
He is following in the footsteps of his father Kingman and and at this stage of his career looks to be just as good.
Queen Anne Stakes (Group 1)
DOCKLANDS was second in this race last year and is an Ascot specialist with form figures at the track reading 1132221, the Britannia Stakes at Royal Ascot comprising one of those wins in 2023.
His hold-up style of racing is well suited to this straight stiff mile, yet he did well to win having been slowly away and racing in rear through a very slow first half-mile.
According to the Race IQ data Docklands was the slowest horse in the race to reach 20mph (2.43s) and was immediately at a positional disadvantage given the slow pace set by Quddwah.
The race turned into a sprint with the first three home recording very similar final two-furlong splits with Finishing Speed Percentages well above the Race IQ par of 103.31% as detailed below.
Final two furlongs and FSP:
Docklands: 22.87s FSP: 110.82%
Rosallion: 22.88s FSP: 110.80%
Cairo: 23.00s FSP: 110.51%
A very tight finish decided by very fine margins in a race that was little more than a three-furlong sprint.
King Charles III Stakes (Group 1)
AMERICAN Affair supplied a first Group 1 and Royal Ascot winner for Jim Goldie who has taken this horse from success in a Carlise handicap off a mark of 67 to Group 1 glory. It was an advantage to race in the larger group down the middle with the first four home drawn in stalls 16, 15, 17, 14 respectively.
American Affair is a strong travelling hold-up horse with a turn of foot and even if his final time of 59.64s is a slow time when assessed against the Race IQ par he still showed an impressive burst of speed to win.
He was the only horse to record a sub-par penultimate furlong with an 11.26s and his final two furlongs of 23.45s was 0.22s faster than the runner-up.
The sprinting division is not a strong one and American Affair may take advantage should he contest the Nunthorpe at York where his raw speed will be a major asset.
It should be noted that his top speed of 42.48mph in this race was the fastest achieved by any horse at any point of the contest.
A STRONGLY run Coventry Stakes with Gstaad rated evenly by Ryan Moore to record an FSP of 101.23% which is just above the Race IQ par of 99.99%. Gstaad and the runner-up Do Or Do Not raced in rear conserving energy before racing to the front as the pace collapsed.
Gstaad did not just pick up pieces as horses stopped in front of him, he quickened smartly recording 11.65s for the penultimate furlong and in so doing was the only horse in the race to record a furlong rated as fast against the Race IQ par.
He sustained that speed to also be the fastest horse in the final furlong with a par sectional of 12.53s. Gstaad is a fast horse with a speedy pedigree who was suited by being able to quicken smartly off a strong gallop to win decisively.
ASCENDING took his flat form to another level to give Henry de Bromhead his first Royal Ascot winner in the Ascot Stakes. There are very few races run at this two-and-a-half-mile trip at Ascot and thus data comparisons are scant. What we can discern from the analytics is that in steadily making his ground whilst racing wide, he ran four metres further than the runner-up and seven metres further than the third.
Nonetheless, his ability to quicken made up for this loss of ground. He struck the front with an 11.92s penultimate furlong with no other horse being able to dip under 12.00s. The fact that he was still in 10th place with three furlongs to go but was in front two furlongs later, highlights the surge he showed to get to the front. This contributed to him recording and FSP of 108.39%. He is better than the bare result here and is testament to the shrewd placing of his trainer who inherited a horse who had never run beyond 10 furlongs and is now a Royal Ascot winner at two and a half miles.