We were back at Newmarket this week, and it was a returning four-year-old who put in a particularly eye-catching performance, writes Page Fuller.

The Gosden team have always held Damysus in high regard, pitching him straight into group contests after his win on debut. He was an eye-catching second in the Dante before finding a mile and a half in the Epsom Derby too much, and his victory in the Earl Of Sefton Stakes highlights that his combination of speed and stamina is perfectly suited to the mile-and-one, mile and a quarter trips.

Boiling Point was quick into stride and adopted his usual front-running tactics. However, that was all that was quick about the early stages. The first three furlongs were rated as either ‘slow’ or ‘very slow’ by our par sectionals for almost all of the runners, and the turn of foot Damysus displayed in the closing stages was very taking.

Damysus quickened impressively in the dip in the penultimate furlong, hitting a top speed of 40.42 mph. This was more than half a mile an hour faster than every other horse in the race. This resulted in a finishing speed percentage of 105.12%, 3% faster than the par finishing speed percentage over a mile-and-one at Newmarket.

Despite the steady early fractions, he clocked a win time almost identical to our par time. It was also 0.87 seconds faster than the preceding Feilden Stakes. He has clearly developed for his winter break, and could have an exciting summer ahead.