AFTER all the excitement of last week’s Irish Champions Weekend, the St Leger at Doncaster and Arc Trials Day at Chantilly, the period under review in this edition of Time Will Tell seems rather mundane.

Best timefigure of the week in Britain and Ireland came in a handicap, if not any old handicap or any old effort. Brando won the £200,000-added William Hill Ayr Gold Cup with one of the handicap performances of the modern era, defying a BHA mark of 110, the highest by any winner of any race in over two years.

The time was quicker than either of the other six furlong races on the card, despite Brando’s shouldering 9st 10lb, and translates into a timefigure of 116. That is a smart rating, if outside the top 25 this season, and a personal best for the upwardly-mobile sprinter. Brando, a Group 3 winner, is well worth another go at the top level, though it is difficult to forget what Mecca’s Angel did to him in both the Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh and the Nunthorpe Stakes.

One horse Brando could meet again along the way is Cotai Glory, who left behind a poor run at the Curragh six days earlier when landing the World Trophy Stakes at Newbury by a short-head from Alpha Delphini, with both horses returning 112 timefigures.

Cotai Glory, an out-and-out five-furlong performer, ran to 116 when fourth in the Nunthorpe Stakes two starts back, and is another to pay a compliment to Mecca’s Angel.