IF the response to Cliffs Of Moher’s win was lukewarm, the same could be said of the response to the success of his stable companion Venice Beach in the Group 3 Chester Vase the day before. With little more than a length covering the first four – each of whom had won nothing more than a maiden previously – that would be understandable.

The stopwatch was more encouraging, however, with Venice Beach’s time equivalent to a timefigure of 111. The highest figure by a three-year-old in Britain and Ireland so far this year is 119 (Barney Roy in the Greenham and Winter in the 1000 Guineas).

They couldn’t all be good in the Chester Vase, having finished on top of each other, it seemed. But they could all be up to scratch for a Group 3: Wings Of Eagles and The Anvil get a figure of 109, while Tamleek gets one of 107. It’s possible this race will have at least as much bearing on the St Leger as on the Derby in the long run.

LINGFIELD DERBY TRIAL

If there was a credible Derby candidate in the Listed Lingfield Derby Trial on Saturday, it was presumably the ready winner Best Solution and not one of those he beat, who included the most disappointing Sir John Lavery. Best Solution’s time was faster than Hertford Dancer’s in the Listed Oaks Trial 35 minutes earlier, but not by much, and neither horse ran especially fast.

Timeform has a figure of 91 for Best Solution and 84 for Hertford Dancer. I would have made a bigger distinction between races starting on the round course – which seemed softer – and the straight course and have gone 109 and 102 respectively.

CHESHIRE OAKS

While Hertford Dancer’s win made no impact in the betting on the Oaks – she is not entered and reportedly will not be supplemented – that of her John Gosden-trained stable companion Enable in the Listed Cheshire Oaks on Wednesday did.

Enable beat the Aidan O’Brien-trained Tipperary maiden winner Alluringly by a length and three quarters, running just an 88 timefigure but with the pair putting in some pretty fast closing sectionals (under 23.5s for the last two furlongs).

Rhododendron still looks much the best Oaks candidate at the time of writing (before the Musidora), but there are at least some promising types among those at bigger prices.