WITH the Yorkshire Ebor Festival getting under way as this column was being written, the opening day will be tackled here and the remainder in next week’s column.

Those mourning the death of ‘proper, fast, summer ground’ in these days of knee-jerk watering discovered that there was some life in the corpse yet. Times on Wednesday at York were fast, despite a small amount of artificial irrigation, and arguably nudging ‘firm’ on the straight course.

The winning time of the opening race – at what is admittedly a little-used distance – was just 0.05s outside the course-and-distance record, and the time of the Juddmonte International Stakes was second only to Sea The Stars’ track record of 2009 in the big race this century.

Postponed was triumphant in the latter – as his form entitled him to be but as various pre-race doubts and rumours called into question – in 2m 06.58s, one-hundredth of a second quicker than the time recorded by Frankel in 2012. The opening couple of furlongs of this year’s International were quite fast, with Postponed’s pacemaker King Bolete about four lengths ahead of where Frankel had been four years before. That set the tone, with Postponed and Highland Reel tracking the pace and their other rivals strung out behind. But, when the pace up front steadied somewhat, the order and margins further back scarcely changed.

King Bolete was able to wind things up from halfway with a succession of sub-12.0s sectionals, and then Postponed took over at the 3f pole to put in another couple of quick furlongs. That took Postponed a length or two clear of Highland Reel, and he briefly looked like coming home clear: but he began to drift right while the latter stuck to his task, and it was only close home that the deal was definitely clinched.

Postponed’s timefigure for this effort is 128, which is the fastest of the year in Britain and Ireland, ousting Limato (126) among older horses.

Highland Reel and Mutakayyef ran personal bests of 126 and 124 respectively to be placed, the latter worth a bit of extra credit for coming from behind and being short of room late on. Postponed has everything you would look for in an Arc winner in a year when there is no out-and-out superstar around.

ENCOURAGING PERFORMANCE

Idaho shortened to under 2/1 in most places ante-post for the St Leger at Doncaster after a ready success in the Great Voltigeur Stakes on the same card, and some aspects of his performance were certainly encouraging with that race in mind.

In particular, the son of Galileo saw his race out well, having had to come under pressure, dispelling notions that he might not be a battler while shaping like he will get an extra two-and-a-bit furlongs in a few weeks’ time.

However, this was not a strong renewal, and a defeat of Housesofparliament by a length and three-quarters reads only respectably in the wider scheme of things. What’s more, the winning time equates to a fairly underwhelming 100. There is no compulsion to get involved at such a short price just yet.

Most of the other races on Wednesday at York were notably truly-run, with the exception of the Acomb Stakes, won unexpectedly by Syphax. This looks rather weak form for a juvenile Group 3 – with a timefigure of just 97 – but the winner did well to come from behind, running the last 3f in around 33.6s, and should continue to go the right way.