QUIET Reflection’s timefigure was far and away the best winning one of the week in Britain and Ireland. Arab Spring’s for landing the Group 3 September Stakes might have been expected to run it fairly close, but that race turned into a burn up from the home turn and the overall time suffered accordingly.

Arab Spring’s timefigure comes out at just 84, but against that his last-three-furlong time of 33.48s (according to Timeform’s Sectional Archive) is the fastest at the course at any distance since 2014.

Arab Spring does not look quite up to winning at the top level, but what he does possess quite clearly is an extremely smart turn of foot for a middle distance performer.

Robin Of Navan in second was not much slower from the turn, but that seemed to underline that he may not have the stamina for the St Leger trip, and he was withdrawn from that race soon after.

STAYING POWER

That is not to say that the world’s oldest classic will necessarily go to a horse with more staying power than Brian Kavanagh, however, especially as the Aidan O’Brien team may look to pave the way for its star turn, Idaho.

Having been a fan of Idaho for most of the year - he did a lot of running early in the Derby at Epsom and plenty late in the Irish Derby at the Curragh - I have deserted him for today’s big race due to his prohibitive odds.

John Gosden arguably should have run Wings Of Desire in this, but his Muntahaa is a good deputy, judged on his strong-finishing third at Royal Ascot and win at Chester, and is more attractively priced at the time of writing.

The other Group 3 on the Kempton all-weather card - the Sirenia Stakes for two-year-olds - was another falsely-run race, which went to the tough and useful The Last Lionby a clear margin but with a timefigure of just 90.

Nonetheless, the Mark Johnston-trained youngster paid no small compliment in the process to Blue Point, who had beaten The Last Lion as easily in the Gimcrack Stakes at York the time before as The Last Lion beat his rivals here.