EPSOM provided another day of Class 1 action on the flat, but while the bookies were pricing up the Blue Riband Derby trial winner, it was a debutant later on the card that caught the eye, writes Page Fuller.

The Varian team were patient with Jackknife, son of Guineas winner Kameko, waiting until he was a three-year-old for his racecourse debut. He certainly looked worth the wait when winning the one mile novice stakes on Tuesday. They went fairly steadily in the first part of the race, with the race sectionals from furlongs two through to five all clocked at around 12 and a half seconds and above. Normally, this means that the horses in front have an advantage, but Jackknife’s electric turn of foot up the home straight was too much for his rivals.

Only four of the nine runners in the race managed to quicken up enough to clock sub-11 second furlongs in the home straight. Jackknife was the only horse in the race to be able to clock two in a row.

His final two-furlong time of 21.89 seconds was also the quickest final two-furlong time of the whole meeting. It was even faster than the five-furlong sprint that opened the card. Just to top it off, his win time was very respectable too. Normally, when races are run with steady early fractions, the time a race is won in is compromised, and we see race times far slower than our RaceiQ par time.

However, on this occasion, Jackknife still managed to record a win time one second quicker than our Par Time, which is quite impressive from a debutant.

He doesn’t currently hold an entry in the Guineas next week, but it’s safe to say he should be competitive in Class 1 company over a mile based on that performance, and is one to keep an eye on through the summer.