THERE were some interesting performances last week at Newmarket with one standout performance, and an Aidan O’Brien-trained eye-catcher for the notebook. The ground on all three days was closer to good than good to firm according to the Race IQ data. The average Time Index on day one was recorded as being 5.6 out of 10, which was in accordance with the official going description of good (good to firm in places). On day two, the ground was optimistically described as being good to firm, but with an average Race IQ Time Index of 4.5, it was good at best and the same can be said for the final day, where the average index was 4.2.

The two Group 1 races on Saturday over six furlongs produced similar performances in terms of merit. True Love won the Cheveley Park in a time of 1m 11.00s, with Wise Approach clocking 1m 11.56s in the Middle Park. Those times were achieved in contrasting ways, with Wise Approach unable to run his race as evenly as True Love, courtesy of the interference that he suffered at the start. True Love impressed with the sustained speed that she showed, whereas Wise Approach impressed with a sharp change of pace.