THE sixth All-Weather Finals Day at Lingfield on Good Friday was the best yet, with a couple of outstanding winners and plenty of other excitement and drama for the large holiday crowd to enjoy.

The meeting was covered by Total Performance Data, also, as have been numerous other all-weather meetings and an increasing number of turf meetings of late, meaning that we have a full sectional and striding breakdown of how the performances came about.

These confirm that the surface was rather slower than for past Finals, which is the primary reason why Kachy did not get especially near to his own six-furlong course record despite trouncing his rivals in the Sprint Championship.

It is also true that he went pretty fast for the conditions – his opening 13.3s furlong was the fastest at course and distance in over two years – resulting in a 99.9% finishing speed where 103% is par.

Nonetheless, after sectionals have been factored in, Kachy gets a 121 figure which would make him highly competitive in the best sprints, remembering that he was once second in a Group 1 at Royal Ascot. Blue Point, on 127, is currently the leader in this division.

Even better was to come from Matterhorn in the Easter Classic, which he won by seven lengths from the much-vaunted Wissahickon in the fastest time at the course and distance in over two years.

Matterhorn’s finishing speed was a bit quicker than par at 105% and combined with that overall time points to his being a 125 horse: this is about as good a performance on the surface as there has been in its 30 years of existence.

SUITABILITY

There is greater doubt about Matterhorn’s suitability for turf than Kachy’s, given that he has not run on it since his debut, but in terms of ability he is a Group 2 performer and nudging Group 1 standard already.

There were useful performances on times/sectionals from the other Finals Day winners Goring (107), Watersmeet (in the Marathon, 102), Pizzicato (3YO Sprint, 106) and Oh This Is Us (Mile, 110).

Perhaps the most intriguing race of all, however, was the Fillies’ and Mares’ Championship, won by Heavenly Holly (97) in a time 1.01s slower overall than that achieved by the handicapper Goring a bit earlier on. Sectionals allow us to break things down and see that the winner, on whom Ryan Moore rode an outstanding race from stall 12 of 12, was significantly closer to par than the four who followed her home most closely.

In particular, the placed fillies Island Of Life (22.5s for the last two-furlongs) and Silvery Mist (22.1s, the fastest on the entire card) absolutely flew home against the pace bias and can be rated respectively at least a length and about three lengths ahead of the winner according to sectional-upgrading methodology.

Irish-trained horses were able to qualify to contest the valuable prizes on offer, but only one – Alfredo Arcano, fourth to Kachy in the Sprint – turned up, whereas seven French-trained horses did, four of them being placed and Pizzicato winning. That seems like a missed opportunity to me.