THERE were mixed fortunes for the European raiding party at Arlington on Saturday night, with no winners but places for four, including the Aidan O’Brien-trained Taj Mahal (second in the Secretariat Stakes) and Deauville (third in the Arlington Million).

The Secretariat also sadly saw the fatal injury of the Mark Johnston-trained Permian.

While Taj Mahal misses out on being high-class, any horse that can concede him 7lb and beat him by two and a quarter lengths on a day on which he ran his race, as Oscar Performance did in the Secretariat, deserves to be considered as such.

The Secretariat was run in an overall time that was 0.60s quicker than the Million later on, and sectionals show there was never more than 0.89s between the two races. I gave Oscar Performance a timefigure of 123 for this, with the winner of the Million, Beach Patrol, down on just 109.

Oscar Performance had beaten the smart French-trained Called To The Bar in the Belmont Derby the time before and looks the best of the home defence for the Turf race at the Breeders’ Cup (at which meeting he beat Lancaster Bomber last year) providing he can stay the 12-furlong trip.

RELATIVELY MODEST

That relatively modest time for the Million reflects that this was arguably one of the weaker editions recently. Runner-up Fanciful Angel, trained by Marco Botti, had not won above listed and handicap level previously.

Rain Goddess failed to give her running in eighth behind Dacita in the Beverly D. Stakes, with the winner returning a 116 timefigure by my reckoning.

My knowledge of times at Hoppegarten, one of Germany’s premier racecourses, is admittedly limited, though it is possible to apply “universal standards” there which suggest that Sunday’s Grosser Preis Von Berlin, won by Dschingis Secret from the very smart British-trained pair Hawkbill and Racing History was nothing out of the ordinary on the clock. I would go with a 116 timefigure on the winner.