GOODWOOD on Wednesday was the scene for the best two-year-old timefigure in the period under review, with Havana Grey skipping through the mud to take the Molecomb Stakes in 1m 00.89s, equivalent to a timefigure of 107.

That is still below Expert Eye’s age-group-leading 114 in the Vintage Stakes the day before, but Havana Grey is top dog of his age at the minimum trip and clearly highly versatile regarding ground as well. The placed horses, Invincible Army and To Wafij, recorded useful 100 figures in a race in which many failed to run to their best.

The following day’s Richmond Stakes went the way of Barraquero, who had been a fast-time minor-race winner at Chepstow on his previous start. A timefigure of 103 for this is another step forward, without suggesting that the sprint-bred colt will end up taking top rank among juveniles. Runner-up Nebo edged up fractionally to 99 and seemed to confirm further that Gustav Klimt did well rather than beat very much when accounting for him by a neck in the Superlative Stakes at Newmarket the time before.

Goodwood is as much about the future as the present where juveniles are concerned, and one juvenile above all others impressed as having a particularly bright one. That is Dee Ex Bee, the Mark Johnston-trained son of Farhh who made a winning debut in the maiden on Saturday by clear margins in an 11-runner field.

The colt’s time for the seven-furlong race was only 0.42s slower than that recorded by the useful three-year-old handicapper Battered 35 minutes later, despite carrying more weight, and comes out at a 99 timefigure. That is the third-best in a two-year-old maiden in Ireland and Britain this year, behind The Pentagon (109) and Verbal Dexterity (102).

It is no surprise that some firms have introduced Dee Ex Bee into the ante-post betting for next year’s 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. The last three winners of this maiden have all ended up being rated 110 or higher and include future Lennox Stakes winner Dutch Connection.