LAST week’s Time Will Tell dealt with the opening day of York’s Ebor Meeting, on which there were leading time performances from the winners Ulysses (127 timefigure) and Cracksman (121), the former the best older-horse rating of the season so far in Ireland and Britain, the latter up from my original assessment at 119 and achieved with some impressive closing sectionals.

There was little let-up in the high standard on subsequent days, though only one other race – the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes on Friday – exceeded the 120 marker.

The ground was back to “good” by this stage but conditions were not so fast as in some previous years and breaking 58.0s for the five furlongs of the Nunthorpe was anything but a formality.

In the end, two horses managed that, one of them not the horse most had anticipated.

After second-favourite Battaash boiled over before the start, it was the third in, Marsha, who came out on top by a nose from Lady Aurelia, resulting in an excellent winning timefigure of 125. But many onlookers thought Lady Aurelia should have won, and at least one very close to the action thought she indeed had!

Sectional-timing analysis supports the idea that Lady Aurelia was the superior filly, though it is a matter of fine margins and no-one should suggest that Marsha is anything other than a high-class filly in her own right.

VIDEO ANALYSIS

Given the overall time of 57.97s, recorded by both the first two, they “should” have run the opening two furlongs in about 24.0s and managed it in around 23.7s. But the damage was done mid-race as Lady Aurelia put in a 10.55s furlong (according to sophisticated video analysis) and Marsha a fast but more sustainable 10.8s.

Lady Aurelia forged on before slowing in the final furlong, which she ran in 12.4s compared to Marsha’s 12.2s.

The latter’s stamina – by sprinting standards – and determination got her the verdict on the nod.

If both fillies had run at optimal efficiency then Lady Aurelia would have edged it, or that is what the theory suggests, and she has been given a 126 timefigure compared to her lifetime best of 127 achieved in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot at two years.

Lady Aurelia is now a short-priced favourite for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint back in her native USA, and with justification.

Crucially, that race will take place at the bare five furlongs having been run at six and a half in most recent years. With her in it, it should be some spectacle!