It’s been a difficult week for Racing with lots of meetings lost around the world for different reasons. However, the TPD data has produced some interesting angles from the Racing that has been on, so here is a look at some of those angles from across the globe, starting in Dubai.
Jebel Ali
Umm Suqeim Cup
Gaassid. He was rated 10 points superior to everything else in the field, but this was still an impressive display from Gaassid who paid a huge compliment to the form of Killer Collect and Mendelssohn Bay with this easy 5-length victory. The race was won at the start, as Gaassid leapt out of the gates with opening furlongs of 11.74 and 10.53s, the fastest in the field. Once in front, he was able to control the pace and readily saw off the tiring Bad Desire by injecting pace at the top of the home straight with an 11.46s 6th furlong at which point he was soon clear. A high cruising speed is one of his best attributes and the 43.22 mph top speed that he recorded made him the fastest horse on the speedometer on the entire card. Early speed is another crucial attribute on the dirt, especially on the round course at Jebel Ali and if Michael Costa decides to keep him at this track for the remainder of the season, Gaassid should be able to use that speed to earn further rewards on this evidence.
Meydan
The Godolphin team has arrived in Dubai. The Royal Blue colours of the Godolphin team have dominated the Meydan Carnival for over 20-years and they appear to have hit their top stride in the first couple of meetings of 2025. Creative Story, Symbol of Honour and First Conquest all delivered on Friday evening, but what did they achieve?
I’ll begin with Creative Story. He was well found in the International markets for this 70-90 handicap (SP 7/4) and duly delivered with a victory that was all about speed. Despite a wide draw in stall 13, he settled nicely and ran a 10.87s 2nd furlong to get himself in behind his pacemaker (Emperor’s Star). From there he conserved energy around the turn, ranking 11th and 9th for the 4th and 5th furlongs respectively before using his electric turn-of-foot once in the clear in the home straight to run down The Camden Colt in the final furlong. In the final 4-furlongs, he was the only horse to drop below 11-seconds when he ran 10.85s for the penultimate furlong in the home straight. He is going to get a rise from his current mark of 87 and that will mean that he is going to need to step up in class next time, but he is very lightly raced and his dam reached a peak of 111 in her racing career, so there is plenty of reasons to be optimistic that he will be able to cope with that, especially given the turn-of-foot that he possesses.
Symbol of Honour made it a double on the day for Charlie Appleby when he landed the Al Wasl Stakes under William Buick. This was a more “gutsy” display as he broke smartly to race in the vanguard, with middle furlongs of 10.33, 10.54 and 10.62s to see him in front with 2-furlongs to run. He knuckled down well to hold on in the closing stages, but I can’t help but feel sorry for the runner-up, West Acre. He ran the middle section of the race in 31.49s (10.34, 10.52 and 10.63s), the same time as Symbol of Honour for that section of the race, but in the closing stages he was the fastest horse over each of the last 2-furlongs, 0.21s quicker than the winner and if he hadn’t been forced wider on the track, he may well have reversed this defeat by a head. The pair have come 5-lengths clear of the race fit Dark Saffron in 3rd and on his first run since October, I think it is fair to say that West Acre may well improve for his first start at the track. Symbol of Honour had the longer stride at a peak of 26.9 ft (West Acre 26.25 ft), but the runner-up showed a lot of speed from a less than ideal racing position on the wing of the field and he should win races in Dubai on this evidence.
First Conquest completed a hat-trick for Charlie Appleby in the Lord North Handicap, but it wasn’t a 3-timer for William Buick as his mount, Arabian Light, could only manage 3rd. Instead, it was down to Mickael Barzalona to deliver a superb ride around the outside of the field to win by 3-lengths. Once switched for a run with 2-furlongs to run, he made superb progress down the outside, running a 10.87s penultimate furlong, the only horse in the race to drop below 11s in the race. His stride length is the key to this. With a peak average stride length of 26.97 ft, he had the longest stride in the field and that enabled him to stretch clear in the closing stages. His stablemate was sent off at 4/7 in the International markets, but whilst he was a little unlucky to be squeezed for room in the straight, I don’t think that he was ever going well enough to match his stablemate and even when he did have a clear run, his stride frequency (2.24 per second) and stride length (7.94 m) did not increase significantly enough to make me think he was an unlucky loser.
Ffos Las
DragonBet Towton Novices’ Chase (Grade 2)
In a week where the National Hunt calendar has been decimated, it was good to see some quick thinking from the BHA to get this card on at Ffos Las. Handstands was a warm order to win this contest and he duly delivered, but with only 1 other horse completing the course, what did we really learn? Well, firstly the TPD Data tells us that he lost an average of 11.6% of his speed over his obstacles. That figure actually increased to 16.1% in the latter stages, but that is perhaps not surprising given the fact that he was in control of the race and allowed time at his fences by Ben Jones to avoid any unnecessary mishaps. Earlier in the race, his speed lost had been better, 7.3% for the midsection and that compares well with the runners in the class 3 handicap chase at the end of the card, with only the winner of that contest, Keep Running, reporting a more efficient midsection with just 6.4% speed lost. A topspeed of 32.73 mph was the fastest of any horse to complete the Chase course on Saturday too, but given the nature of this contest and the way it panned out, it would be hard to put a figure higher than around 140-145 for this performance.
Tampa Bay Downs
Pasco Stakes
This is a data driven column and as such I am not going to add any comments to the debate regarding the riding by Irad Ortiz jr and the subsequent disqualification of his mount, Owen Almighty. However, the headlines regarding the jockey and his “tactics” will mask what was an impressive performance by Brian Lynch’s 3-year-old and the TPD data would suggest that he deserves more credit. Having broken smartly in 11.50s, he was the fastest horse into stride and raced prominently throughout in a race run with a finishing speed of just 91.65%. Despite being joined by the runner-up Naughty Rascal around the home turn, he pulled out more to run home in 12.50 and 13.22s to win by a length. Given the fact that he was 1.08s faster than the 3rd placed Very Bold over the opening 1,000 metres, I think we can upgrade his performance despite the fact that the sectionals show the 3rd placed horse to have finished best in 12.82s with a higher run-out speed (33.96 mph). Ignore all the social media commentary about his rider and what we have is a horse who has passed the post in front in 3 of his 4 starts, with his only defeat coming in a Grade 3 at Churchill Downs in September when the winner was able to dominate in front. This is a graded performer who should come on for this run and he should prove it in the near future.