THERE was as much flair as there was flare about Poetic Flare’s performance in the St James’s Palace Stakes as Jim Bolger’s Newmarket 2000 Guineas hero confirmed himself the best miler of his generation with a scintillating victory.

In doing so, the industrious son of Dawn Approach set up a potentially mouth-watering clash at Goodwood with the equally impressive Palace Pier who ran away with the Queen Anne Stakes on the opening day of a Royal meeting which delivered many high-quality performances.

Kevin Manning was keen to tap the brake pedal aboard Poetic Flare (122) after exiting the stalls smartly and his partner immediately got the message and relaxed in behind the front-running duo Ontario and Namoos.

The ability to settle is a welcome addition to Poetic Flare’s armoury as he has shown a tendency to be keen through the early stages, a trait which was particularly prevalent at Newmarket and his more relaxed nature combined with faster ground meant his potent change of gear increased his margin of superiority over old foe Lucky Vega (116).

All over

Passing the two-furlong pole there looked to be a race in the offing, but a dozen strides later it was all over as Jim Bolger’s classy colt produced a sharper turn of foot than previously demonstrated enabling him to clock the fastest time recorded in the race’s history.

The better ground is clearly particularly important and his record on good ground or better is unblemished while his septuagenarian trainer still believes his colt is improving and has labelled him the most complete horse he has ever trained.

The closing sectional of 36.36 seconds was also the fastest of the day on the round course with Juan Elcano (36.69 seconds) finishing off slightly slower, but that was achieved against a much slower overall race time.

Highland Avenue (114) and Chindit (114) were the deep closers and came from a similar position at the back of the field so may be capable of slightly better.

Highland Avenue was impacted by the draw and it may be that Chindit could have got closer had he enjoyed a clearer passage. It was also a career best by Maximal (115) who looked to benefit from the drop in trip as well as the better ground.

Palace Pier (118) is the model racehorse, the ultimate professional. He settles without cover when required and answers every instruction of his pilot, displayed on this occasion by the fact he cruised to the heels of the leaders for a change of hands before sealing the race quickly when asked by Frankie Dettori.

The closing sectional of 35.43 seconds was only marginally faster than Coventry Stakes winner Berkshire Shadow (103) (35.45 seconds) but it was achieved without being fully exerted.

Lope Y Fernandez (116) returned to form on better ground and Sir Busker (113) confirmed that he is up to winning in pattern company, especially if given the opportunity over the same course and distance that has seen the William Knight-trained gelding at his best.