ORDER Of St George’s excellent timefigure was bettered in the period under review by Harry Angel, who was simply brilliant in landing the Sprint Cup at Haydock by four lengths and one and a half from the Diamond Jubilee second and first, Tasleet and The Tin Man.

He did it by going from the front then quickening clear after halfway – I have him breaking 23.0s for three furlongs out to one furlong out despite the ground being soft – and nothing could live with him. Timeform has a timefigure of 125, and it could easily have been higher.

We have the unexpected situation whereby six of the seven best timefigures in Ireland and Britain this year have come at sprint distances, two each from Lady Aurelia and Harry Angel and one apiece from Battaash and Marsha (Ulysses is the sole from longer distances).

Harry Angel might have got the run of things when winning Newmarket’s July Cup but he was far too good here for his rivals, who also included a desperately disappointing Brando.

If Harry Angel has a score to settle, it is with Caravaggio, who ran him down late on in a Commonwealth Cup in which a stablemate of the latter had ensured Harry Angel did plenty in the early stages.

Caravaggio was back with a bang at the Curragh, when he came late and fast to take the Derrinstown Stud Flying Five by a length. This is not form from out of the top drawer, and the time was nothing to write home about either, with Caravaggio credited with just a 102 timefigure.

But he has figures of 118 and 119 from earlier in the campaign and won despite the drop to five furlongs. It should be another intriguing match-up between him and Harry Angel on British Champions Day at Ascot next month.