THE Arlington Million was one of the first truly international races, inaugurated in 1981 and won by the likes of Tolomeo and Teleprompter in its early days, back when a million dollars was something to make a fuss about. It has continued to be a good hunting ground for Irish and British raiders but they drew a blank this year, in both the main event and the supporting races.

Century Dream (demoted a place from third) came closest in the Million and the Dermot Weld-trained Bandua (also third) in the Secretariat Stakes, without either running better than they had previously. The time of the Secretariat was pretty good, the Arlington Million less so, but neither winner looks especially likely to prevail against a much stronger European contingent come Breeders’ Cup time.

VERY FAST

The same does not necessarily apply to a two-year-old colt called Instagrand, who backed up his 10-length winning debut at Los Alamitos in June by winning the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes over six furlongs at Del Mar on Saturday by a quarter of a length further.

Timeform has the son of Into Mischief (a Grade 1 winner at eight and a half furlongs at two who showed smart form at seven furlongs thereafter) rated at 119, which makes him their most highly-rated juvenile in the world.

Instagrand looks very fast – each of his quarters came in under 24.0s – but his 85-rated dam ran to form at eight and a half furlongs also, so there is encouragement that he will prove to be not just an out-and-out sprinter. Some competition to Instagrand as top dog among two-year-olds materialised the following day, when Call Paul won the six and a half-furlong Grade 2 Saratoga Special by a length from Tight Ten, a performance worth a 117 figure with Timeform.