TIMING comparisons between the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and Wokingham Handicap on the Saturday of Royal Ascot have often been revealing.

Run within three-quarters of an hour of each other, the former has the better horses but the latter has often been more truly-run. The average winning times for the two races had been almost identical from 2006 to 2014 inclusive.

This year, Undrafted’s win in the Diamond Jubilee rates quite a bit higher than Interception’s in the Wokingham, with both horses of the same age, and carrying the same weight but the former completing in a time 0.51s quicker.

Sectionals show that the Wokingham was marginally quicker in the first half-mile, with the result that the handicappers who raced up with that pace paid for it and Interception came from a few lengths back.

They also show that Brazen Beau, second to Undrafted, ran very close to sectional par, whatever the whys and wherefores of his racing alone for much of the Diamond Jubilee.

Undrafted ran the second-fastest timefigure of the week, and is clearly close to top-class, but both Goldream and Muhaarar boast higher ratings (121) elsewhere while connections of Brazen Beau are entitled to fancy their chances of reversing places with Undrafted at Newmarket.

It is also worth mentioning in passing Mecca’s Angel, who missed Royal Ascot but whose form was boosted in the Wokingham by runner-up Robert Le Diable.

The Michael Dods-trained filly beat the latter decisively at Longchamp the time before and could be about as good a five-furlong performer as there is around now when receiving her sex allowance.

HARDWICKE

That timefigure for Snow Sky in winning the Hardwicke Stakes tells you plenty about what sort of a test that race represented. All of the principals broke 36.0s for the last three furlongs (pretty swift for mile and a half horses) but it was not simply a question of the winner stealing the race from the front and hanging on, as his was the fastest sectional of all.

If anything, Mahsoob might have been flattered more in winning the Wolferton Handicap earlier on the card, close to the modest pace and slightly slower from the home turn than a number of his less well-placed rivals. This was a listed contest, with Mahsoob running off a BHA mark of 106: he may be able to win a Group 3, but beyond that looks more doubtful.

The Chesham Stakes is usually one of the weaker juvenile races at the Royal Meeting, but it had a good winner this year in Suits You, whose 109 timefigure is joint-fourth-fastest by a juvenile so far. Runner-up Ballydoyle (103 timefigure) could still be one of the better two-year-old fillies around.