AS August turns into September things really begin to heat up in North America in the lead-up to the Breeders’ Cup, which will take place at Del Mar for the first time this year on the 3rd and 4th of November.

The Saratoga meeting last Saturday was chock-full of clues for the big occasion, not all of them positive.

Adjusting Timeform US figures to the level in Europe with which readers will be more familiar gives winning timefigures of 124 for West Coast in the Travers Stakes and 122 for Drefong in the Forego Stakes.

West Coast, who had previously not won above Grade 3 level, is now one of the more-fancied runners for the Classic, though he would be unlikely to get things so much his way up front in that, with the splits here showing that from halfway to two furlongs out was pretty easy for him (99.0% finishing speed last four furlongs).

The Forego was run in more conventional dirt style, with Drefong setting solid early fractions before going comfortably clear despite slowing late (97.8% finishing speed last three furlongs).

He looks to have a major chance of back-to-back Sprint titles but that is reflected in the betting.

They actually went faster early – too fast, indeed – in the preceding H. Allen Jerkens Stakes, also at seven furlongs, and Practical Joke gets just a 113 timefigure for winning it (95.2% finishing speed last three furlongs). Runner-up Takaful deserves extra credit for setting the early fractions.

Forever Unbridled (113 timefigure for winning Personal Ensign Stakes), Sadler’s Joy (119 for landing the Sword Dancer Stakes) and Lady Eli (119 in victory in the Ballston Spa Stakes) were other notable big-race winners, the last two on turf.

The Sword Dancer saw a disappointing effort from the Aidan O’Brien-trained Idaho, who went off a short price but beat only one home. Although he raced close up and the winner came from out the back, the race was not run at an overly-strong pace, as a last four furlongs finishing speed of 104.6% shows (turf races tend to finish more quickly than dirt races in relative terms).