EVEN more exciting than the win of Seventh Heaven from a timing point of view was Mecca’s Angel’s in the Kilfrush Stud Sapphire Stakes earlier on the Irish Oaks card.

The overall time was not out of the ordinary (Timeform went a 110 timefigure: I would have gone three higher), but the way it was achieved certainly was. The race was steadily-run for a sprint early, but Mecca’s Angel thereafter ran the last three furlongs in about 32.6s, which is far and away the fastest closing sectional by a winner at the Curragh this year.