TIGGY Wiggy (39) was allowed to set a remarkably ordinary pace until halfway in the Cheveley Park Stakes.
As a result she was able to accelerate to cover the final three furlongs in just 33.42 seconds.
The standing start seems to add exactly three seconds to an electrically timed race in Europe. That means Tiggy Wiggy effectively ran 34.98 seconds for the first three furlongs when you deduct the three seconds.
She then did the 33.42 seconds for the final three furlongs even though it rises by about four yards, which adds about 0.6 of a second to the time.
In other words her first three furlongs was the equivalent of about 2.2 seconds slower than her final three furlongs.
It’s obvious that Tiggy Wiggy is an exceptionally fast two-year-old.
It’s probably just as well that she misses the Prix de l’Abbaye tomorrow. Two-year-olds don’t have as good a record in the Abbaye as many seem to think.
A two-year-old, especially a natural front runner like Tiggy Wiggy, will normally have a tough time competing with older horses in a big field because they’ll get taken along at a pace they cannot sustain.
I don’t think it would be fair to blame Pat Smullen on runner-up Anthem Alexander (38) for not pressing Tiggy Wiggy into running faster early on.
His mounts two wins to date have both come over five furlongs. If he’d asked Anthem Alexander to duel with the winner they might well both have tired, setting the race up for third placed High Celebrity who clearly has more stamina.
Riding her the way he did enabled her to produce her best ever performance on my ratings.
Third placed High Celebrity (37) is a tall, rather long striding sort who looks built for middle distances. Indeed her only sibling so far won a mile and a half race just a few days earlier.
She dropped back from third last to last as the pace quickened at halfway and had no realistic prospect of making much ground on a winner who flew the last three furlongs in 33 and change. Nonetheless she picked up nicely to pass half a dozen horses from hallway.
physique
Given her physique and pedigree, plus the fact she started off her career by winning over seven furlongs, it’s pretty remarkable how well High Celebrity has done over five and a half and six furlongs since.
The thing to bear in mind is that quite a lot of top French juveniles have been kept to short sprints in their first season. I guess the theory behind this is that it ensures a horse doesn’t have a taxing time at a young age.
High Celebrity is surely the best long term prospect from this race. The first two are sprinters pure and simple but High Celebrity has the potential to become a classic candidate over a mile and middle distances next year. Indeed she’s now twice earned Group 1 class ratings from me, despite running over clearly inadequate trips.