THERE were just three group races in Ireland and Britain in the period under review, and all of those were Group 3s. Nonetheless, the performance of Actress in winning the TRM Ballyogan Stakes at the Curragh on Friday ticked plenty of the right boxes in terms of time.

While it was the only race over six furlongs on the card, it compares well in average speeds with other races at less than a mile and results in a 110 timefigure for the Aidan O’Brien-trained winner. That is a rung or two below the best sprinters around, but that gap would be closed in part by the sex allowance to which Actress is entitled.

The other group races were those won by God Given and by D’bai at Haydock, neither of which was truly-run. God Given landed the Pinnacle Stakes in a dash to the line by half a length from Crimson Rosette, recording just a 79 timefigure in the process. D’bai was best equipped in a John of Gaunt Stakes which resembled a sprint more than the extended seven-furlong race it actually was, posting a 94 timefigure: he had managed a 116 behind The Tin Man in a well-run six-furlong listed race the time before.

There was also a listed race success for Muthmir (113 timefigure) elsewhere on the Haydock card, and at the same level earlier in the week by Zorion (85 timefigure) and Giuseppe Garibaldi (105) at Leopardstown.

The weekend victories of I’m So Fancy (103 timefigure) at the Curragh and Mia Tesoro (mere 53 timefigure in what was a falsely-run race) at Nottingham were at the same listed level, the former stepping up a bit on the form she had shown behind Bye Bye Baby and then behind Turret Rocks on her two most recent appearances.

All those timefigures paled in comparison to the one achieved by the redoubtable Caspian Prince, who smashed the five-furlong course record at Musselburgh by 0.33s in carting 9-10 to victory in the valuable Scottish Sprint Cup Handicap by two and three quarter lengths from Major Jumbo. That translates into a 120 timefigure on my scale, from a gelding who has long been about as fast as it gets for the majority of a five-furlong race run on top of the ground. Not exactly what you would expect of a son of Dylan Thomas and a Rainbow Quest mare!