Angus McNae's The Verdict: Raadobarg rates a big eye-catcher

This week The Verdict column concentrates almost entirely on the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby weekend at The Curragh.

For some selected races at the Curragh, we can access Coursetrack sectionals which are available on the Racing TV website and give an insight as to what happened out there, as opposed to what we think happened.

I will start with the Irish Derby itself, a race that needs to be understood in the context of what was a very windy day and one in which making ground from off the pace was difficult.

Westover was very impressive in victory, galloping his rivals to submission to win by seven lengths in a final time of 2m 34.80sec on ground described as Good (Good to yielding in places).

Last year, on good ground, Hurricane Lane won in a time under a second quicker at 2m33.85s. A direct comparison does not stand up to scrutiny because of the slight difference in the going and the weather conditions but gives us a rough idea of what kind of performance we are dealing with.

The race was steadily run in the early stages with the first three home occupying the first three places throughout. The finishing speed percentage of 106.94 tells the tale of a steady early gallop and a strong finish.

French Claim took them through sedate fractions early on and the pace did not pick up until the last half-mile when Westover was allowed to stride on. Here are the fifth sixth and seventh and eighth furlongs as dictated by French Claim : F5 : 12.67sec. F6 : 12.97sec. F7 : 12.39sec.

There was an injection of pace from Westover four furlongs out and he was relentless all the way to the line. Once Colin Keane asked him to stretch, he stormed through four consecutive furlongs in under 12.00sec. His sectional were F8 : 11.97sec. F9 : 11.26sec. F10 : 11.81sec. F11 : 11.70sec.

This gave him a final three furlong split of 36.19sec, the next best in the race belonging to the fourth-placed Tuesday who posted 36.78sec.

Although there was a modest early pace, this did become a stamina test simply because the pace was wound up a long way out. Westover marked himself down as being a very strong stayer at a mile and a half, certain to stay further. His final furlong of 12.68sec was 0.42sec quicker than his nearest pursuer and he was the only horse to dip under 13 seconds for the final furlong.

While Westover was impressive, I am not giving up on Tuesday who according to the Coursetrack sectionals showed herself to be in–form and ran a much better race than many felt at the time.

She was dropped out early on, which given the pace put her at a positional disadvantage, and then as they turned for home Lionel came under pressure and dropped back into her lap causing her to lose momentum and position.

As a result, she had to switch and then as she did, she was bumped by Hannibal Barca. Even without the interference she suffered she would not have beaten Westover, as she effectively gave him a five or six lengths head start, but it certainly did not help her chance.

The Coursetrack sectionals tell us that she was second best in the race. Her last three furlong better than all bar the winner (36.78sec). Indeed, when she went in vain pursuit of Westover she quickened well and a comparison of Furlong 8 to furlong 11 shows that she ran faster than Westover, but she was doing so having ceded him a massive positional advantage. Final four furlongs: Westover : 46.74sec. Tuesday : 46.64sec.

She paid for her effort in the final furlong coming home in 13.10sec compared to Westover 12.68s re-enforcing my belief that Westover is a stout stayer.

A brilliant winner of the Irish Derby, but Tuesday ran well given the vagaries of pace, position, and interference. She should not be written off.

On Friday night, we saw a very good two-year-old from the Ger Lyons yard. Slan Abhaile is a must for your RTV tracker as I think she showed she’s a pattern performer despite this being her debut. What marked this performance out was the tremendous turn of foot that she showed.

She was a little keen early on and was switched across the track, presumably in search of cover. That eagerness probably courtesy of the steady early gallop did not prevent her from storming home.

Her FSP of 107.31s indicates that the pace was steady early but also that she flashed through the final three furlongs 7.31% quicker than she ran the rest of the race.

If you boil her numbers down to individual furlongs, then the penultimate furlong of 11.06sec stands out, especially as she had to be switched yet again from her rails position to get a run out wide. It would be fair to say that she won despite plotting a zigzag of a course through the race. She might well have been more impressive if she had been able to race in a straight line.

I would put Yosemite Valley from the same race in your RTV tracker. He was consistently short of room towards the stands’ side and was not given a hard time when extracted to finish fourth. His final furlong of 12.07sec was only beaten by the winner’s 12.02sec. He is entered in the Group One Phoenix Stakes.

The Group Two GAIN Railway Stakes was won by the Johnny Murtagh-trained Shartash, who was winning for the second time in just three starts.

I think we need to be a little guarded about the form given how the race was run. It essentially turned into a two-furlong sprint after a dawdling early gallop. The FSP was recorded as being 109.15% telling us that they went so steadily that the winner was able to come home 9.15% quicker than his rivals. The sectionals neatly define where the sprint for home started. The penultimate furlong F5 proving significant.

F1 :13.95sec. F2 : 12.06sec. F3 : 11.79sec. F4 : 11.75sec. Then the sprint began: F5 : 10.61ssec. F6 : 11.70s.

Blackbeard made the running under an excellent ride from Ryan Moore and only failed narrowly, rallying having been headed but he could not match the burst of speed shown by Shartash and is perhaps ready for 7f.

While it will be best to be cautious about the form because of the pace of the race, Shartash can be marked up for running down the well-ridden runner–up from a poor position.

Wexford Native bounced back to form in winning the Group Three International Stakes.

On his previous start he had failed to settle and ran away with Kevin Manning in the St James’s Palace Stakes and only beat one horse home. Here, in a steadily-run race, he behaved himself and returned to the sort of form that saw him finish fourth here at the Curragh in the Irish 2000 Guineas.

This was very steadily run. The FSP being recorded as 109.11%. Wexford Native got a clear run down the middle of the track finishing the final three furlongs in 34.77sec as compared to the Acropolis in second who finished off in 34.95sec. The runner–up was a bit unlucky having to wait for a gap just as the winner was gathering momentum.

Individual splits tell us that Wexford Native is a fast horse. His seventh furlong of 11.12sec inform us as much and therefore I am not sure that he wants to go further than a mile given not only his speed, but his keen-going nature. That said, his trainer would seem keen to try further and he has entries in the 9F Meld Stakes, the 12F King George and the 10F Irish Champion Stakes.

My biggest sectional upgrade of the week comes from this race and indeed Raadobarg can be described as the eyecatcher of the week.

Running on ground that may have been too quick for him he finished a good fourth, staying on strongly from off the pace in a race where you had to be prominent.

Not only that, he fired the fastest individual furlong of the race in furlong seven when he clocked 10.77sec and he is also credited with running the fastest final three furlongs of the race, completing them in 34.46sec. Below is final 3F split comparisons.

Wexford Native : 34.77sec. The Acropolis : 34.95sec. Emphatic Answer 35.45sec. Raadobarg : 34.46sec.

This was a fine effort from Raadobarg, who inconvenienced by position, pace and ground is a must for your RTV tracker. He is entered in the Group Three Meld Stakes at Leopardstown on July 14. Soft ground will bring the best out of him.

Finally, another horse to keep onside going forward. The Cumberland Plate at Carlisle was strongly run, yet it paid to race handily a few lengths behind the furious earlier pace.

With that in mind, the winner Commensensical was ridden perfectly by Ben Cutis who raced him evenly recording an FSP of 100.89%. Those dropped out near the back of the field had no chance and they included El Picador and Highwaygrey, who are both horses to put in your RTV tracker.

El Picador finished fourth and Highwaygrey was tenth. Yet from their poor positions they were the fastest and third-fastest through the final three furlongs. They simply had no chance given where they were positioned early on. Here are the final three-furlong splits of the first four home plus Highwaygrey.

Commonsensical : 37.79sec – Perfectly ridden close to strong pace. Mylittle Queens : 37.17sec – Tracked leaders Innse Gall : 37.97sec – Tracked leaders. El Picador : 36.94sec – Held Up. Highwaygrey : 37.27sec – Held Up last

Neither El Picador or Highwaygrey hold any near to hand entries.

Next week, I’ll put what promises to be a cracking Coral Eclipse under the Sectional spotlight.