IT could be argued that the British and Irish classic schedule kept the best for last, with last Saturday’s William Hill-sponsored St Leger at Doncaster a cracking good renewal on paper and a barnstormer in actuality.

Two Group-1-winning colts, Capri and Stradivarius, fought out the finish of a demanding contest, along with one who is surely destined to win at that level as a four-year-old, Crystal Ocean.

It was Capri who emerged victorious, showing a perfect blend of speed and stamina, and there is every reason to regard him as a superior St Leger winner, not least on account of what the clock says.

Capri’s winning time of 3m 04.04s is one of the fastest in the race’s long history at Doncaster and stacks up very well compared to other races on the card. Incidentally, those times in general show that it was no softer than “good” by this stage, having started the week slower.

Timeform has given Capri a 123 timefigure, which is their joint-highest figure in the race this century (along with 2010 winner Arctic Cosmos), 11th-fastest among three-year-olds in Britain and Ireland in what has been an above-average season, and only 1lb behind Churchill (Irish 2000 Guineas) among this year’s classic winners.

HONEST PACE

It was achieved as a result of an honest pace for the main field but an overly-strong one by clear leader The Anvil, who Total Performance Data (an official supplier of sectionals at some British courses) has running sub-12.0s furlongs early in the race. The Anvil was, unsurprisingly, done with a long way out as a result.

Capri still needed to show some speed of his own late, with his last three furlongs going by in 36.6s (103.9% finishing speed) according to TPD.

Crystal Ocean put in a 11.8s penultimate furlong in coming from a few lengths back but could not quite sustain it and only just held the rallying Stradivarius for second, both running 122 timefigures. Crystal Ocean could easily be top-class at around 12 furlongs next year.

Capri himself may need canny placing and/or good fortune to win at the top level at that distance in 2018, but the ability is there to capitalise if that occurs.