THERE was no stopping Hurricane Lane (121) as he enhanced his reputation still further with a display of stamina and speed in equal measure to land the final British classic of the season, the Cazoo St Leger.
Interpretation (108) was the surprise early leader from the Ballydoyle quartet as The Mediterranean (112), who had led in the Great Voltigeur, declined the early exchanges to take a position in midfield alongside the winner.
As it materialised, Hollie Doyle set a pace strong enough for Hurricane Lane to produce a career best, equalling the time figure achieved by his stablemate Adayar in the Derby.
The defeat at Epsom remains the only imperfection on the son of Frankel’s profile but from that day in June he has improved markedly and confirmed the thoughts of jockey William Buick that he is getting faster with each run.
That trait was again evident here as he registered a closing three-furlong sectional of 36.00 seconds that included an individual furlong of 11.61 seconds, figures that would have seen him hold a position against Glorious Journey who won the Group 2 over seven furlongs.
Mojo Star (116) confirmed his Derby running was a true measure of his ability as Rossa Ryan took no chances with getting a clear run on this occasion, positioning the son of Sea The Stars on the heels of the leader. A closing sectional of 37.07 seconds ensured he was a comfortable second without being a match for the winner.
The Mediterranean stayed on best of the rest stopping the clock at 37.36 seconds (in the last three furlongs) in narrowing the gap between himself and Hurricane Lane in comparison to ParisLongchamp and looks a stayer of potential for the future.
Boy looks bright
Earlier, Bayside Boy (112) made his first foray into pattern company a successful one in the Group 2 Champagne Stakes, giving notice he is to be taken seriously if taking up one of his entries in either the Royal Lodge, the Dewhurst or Futurity Stakes before the end of the season.
The overall race time may have been inferior to the Group 2 won by Glorious Journey (112), but that time was lost in the opening three furlongs before Roger Varian’s colt posted a closing three-furlong sectional of 35.06 seconds to narrow the deficit. In comparison, Glorious Journey took 36.61 seconds to cover the same ground.
To further support the credibility of the finishing split, Hurricane Ivor (107) closed off in 35.47 seconds when winning the Portland Handicap over the extended five furlongs.
THE John & Thady Gosden-trained fillies Inspiral (110) and Free Wind (113) grabbed the limelight at Doncaster on Thursday with performances that marked them down as future Group 1 winners, Free Wind proving particularly impressive on the clock.
Inspiral was the first to take to the track with Frankie Dettori not required to get too serious to encourage his mount to assume the lead, a closing sectional of 34.81 seconds could have been faster had it been required. Call Me Ginger (85) took the gold medal where the sectionals were concerned, finishing off in 34.77 seconds when impressing in the opening six-furlong handicap.
Free Wind then turned around form with her Newmarket conqueror Golden Pass (102) to the tune of seven lengths in the Park Hill Fillies’ Stakes over the St Leger distance. A closing sectional of 35.12 seconds saw the Galileo filly home with plenty still in hand as she saw the extended trip out strongly. Harrovian (100; 34.10 seconds) was quicker in the concluding race, but the overall race time was not on the same page as Free Wind.
Friday’s feature race was won by the winning machine that is Stradivarius (110+) who was registering a 19th career victory on his way to a tilt at either the Prix Du Cadran at ParisLongchamp or the Long Distance Cup at Ascot, his participation being ground dependent.
However, the final race on the card produced the most noteworthy performance on the clock as Sea La Rosa (95+) benefitted from the return to a mile and a half when narrowly holding off the challenge of Viola (95+), who is also most effective at the trip having finished no worse than second from four starts at the distance.
A closing three-furlong sectional of 36.40 seconds just about saw the daughter of Sea The Stars home as Viola closed off faster in 36.29 seconds after the pair had quickened passing the four-furlong marker to establish their superiority over the field.
TO complete the high-quality racing over the weekend, ParisLongchamp staged Arc trials day on Sunday, with Snowfall suffering a shock defeat at the hands of Teona, who had previously impressed on the clock at Windsor, while Deep Bond added his considerable frame to the picture.
Discounting the Prix Niel, as it was the slowest of the races that were all slowly run affairs, there was nothing to split the overall time for the Vermeille for the fillies and the Foy for the colts.
However, the sectionals highlight the chances of Deep Bond being competitive in the main event as he posted the fastest sectional from just before the turn for the false straight. The Japanese stayer covered the ground in 51.78 seconds compared to Teona 53.02 seconds and Snowfall 52.60 seconds.
There was little to separate the trio from the 400m marker with Teona edging that split with a time of 22.40 seconds against Snowfall’s 22.42 and Deep Bond’s 22.50 seconds.
The Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe will be a fitting climax to the season if the leading players are all in attendance.