THERE was a lot to talk about after the six Group 1 races across the Irish Champions Festival, but it was the winner of the Group 2 Champion Juvenile Stakes that I thought was particularly eye-catching.

Benvenuto Cellini sprinted clear in this two-year-old contest and, whilst some people may mark him down for doing so off a steady pace, his closing fractions suggest that this son of Frankel has a very promising future.

The pace slackened dramatically through furlongs four and five but that proved no problem for him. Our RaceiQ par sectionals rated Benvenuto Cellini’s sectional times of 13.41 and 13.65 seconds as ‘very slow’ and set him up perfectly to dominate in the closing stages.

His finishing speed percentage of 110.09% and final two furlong time of 23.24 seconds were the fastest clocked by any horse at Leopardstown on Saturday, illustrating how effective his turn of foot was.

In comparison to Leopardstown as a whole, his final two furlongs also look very impressive.

Of the 250 winning horses we have in the database at Leopardstown, his final two furlongs rank the ninth quickest. Even more impressive, given he was running over a mile and the ground was only good to yielding.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that it means he is more of a speed horse, as it was speed that caught him out in defeat to Dorset on debut over seven fulongs at the Curragh back on June 28th: he could only manage a top speed of 41.46 mph that day compared to Dorset’s 41.79 mph. He looks like the type who will appreciate the opportunity to quicken off a steady pace over further.

He is well able to relax in a race, and recorded the fifth lowest minimum stride frequency at Leopardstown on Saturday.

This means that, despite holding an entry in seven-furlong Dewhurst Stakes, a crack at the Group 1 Futurity Stakes at Doncaster over a mile could be a very interesting assignment for him.