Six horses to follow from the Craven Meeting

Archers Bay produced a late rattle to take the closing ten-furlong handicap on Wednesday.

His final furlong of 12.35sec dropped into RaceiQ’s “very fast” category and enabled him to edge out Waterford Castle and Ranga Tanga, who themselves were not stopping. The overall time was fair, too, being 0.29sec quicker than Par, so it’s not as if they were dawdling.

To put that final furlong in perspective, Morshdi clocked 12.75sec for the final furlong of the Feilden on the same day, while Damysus registered 12.19sec in the Earl Of Sefton. And those feature races were over a furlong less.

Archers Bay is worthy of a sectional upgrade given the way he pulled this out of the fire. He was 0.39sec quicker than the runner-up in the last 220 yards, enabling him to win by 0.07sec.

He was running off a mark of 88 and the handicapper cannot be too harsh, with little more than half a length separating the first three.

The Wootton Bassett colt had begun life with Aidan O’Brien but changed hands for 30,000gns in late October. This was only his fifth run, and second for the Marco Botti yard, and there could be more to come.

Arisaig is a smashing mare who invariably gives her running, and this was a highly encouraging return. She was unable to land a blow on the well-backed winner, Mister Winston, although time may well tell she faced an unenviable task trying to concede him 9lb.

Moreover, Arisaig gave him quite a head start as she was last of the ten runners with three furlongs to run, whereas he was dictating even fractions on the favoured far side. 

She was second fastest of the whole field in furlong six, and fastest of all in furlongs seven and eight. That enabled her to pass seven rivals in the closing stages, but the winner had gone beyond recall. 

I’d imagine we will see her next in the £70,000 Conqueror Fillies' Stakes at Goodwood on May 2. She has some unfinished business in that contest, having not get the rub of the green when a close fifth in it last year. She’s clearly going to line up in good fettle. 

The four-year-old was backed off the boards for what was his first run for Andrew Balding and routed the opposition, making most of the running in this 13-runner handicap for a near five-length success.

They went relatively steady for the first half of the contest, but Double Rush surged clear courtesy of his final splits of 11.18sec, 11.17 sec and 11.95sec despite not being extended. 

That final furlong was 0.39sec quicker than anything else and it could have been more if Oisin Murphy had pushed a few more buttons. Overall, the win time was 0.42sec quicker than the RaceiQ Par, making it the best Time Index on the card. 

More Thunder won this contest last year before going on to better things (he did not impress so much on the clock) and it will be a surprise if Double Rush, who was running off a mark of 90, does not emulate him. He picks up a 5lb penalty for the £100,000 Betfred Handicap (Heritage Handicap) back at Headquarters on May 2 and will be extremely hard to beat if in anything like this form. 

And if that goes to plan, then the Wokingham at Royal Ascot would be an obvious next step, albeit his mark will be revised by then. 

Of the opposition, Rousing Encore probably deserves some extra credit for keeping on from an unpromising position. He was second fastest through the final furlong, which moved him up to be a never nearer fifth. 

This 5f sprint was over before it started for Rosario. He was poorly drawn in stall 9 and he was slow to get going, already being 0.54sec behind the winner, Jakajaro, after the first furlong. 

By the finish, that had widened to 0.67sec, but there were mitigating factors. He looked uncomfortable on the track, had to switch to get a run and Tom Marquand accepted it was not going to be his day in the final furlong. 

Rosario’s New Year Resolutions clearly did not include ditching his usual habit of fluffing the start – his 0-20mph speeds for a sprinter are a red flag – but he will drop again in the weights (already lower than when scoring at Goodwood last summer) and hinted several times last term he can land a decent handicap when everything clicks. 

Rosario should be sharper for this run and will be worth keeping in mind if returning to Goodwood early next month.

Silver Lake has only recouped  £302 of the £440,000 she cost at Book 1 in 2024, but is one to keep an eye on. 

This mile maiden was run at a crawl and it was perhaps no surprise that the first three were always prominent. 

The race developed into a three-furlong dash and So Regal won in a time almost 3sec slower than the RaceiQ Par. The Time Index was just 2.6, when the meeting average was 5.2, and was lowest of the whole meeting. 

Silver Lake wanted to go quicker early on, but James Doyle got her anchored in rear after a brief wrestling match. 

She had no chance from there the way things unfolded but, on the plus side, kept on without being given anything like a hard time. The grey daughter of Night Of Thunder completed the last three furlongs in 34.8sec and only the winner was quicker. 

Silver Lake had also been given a considerate time on her debut at Newmarket in early November. She’s likely to be under the radar wherever she appears next and needs one more run for a handicap mark.

The ground at Newmarket on Friday had tightened up and, with a wind behind their backs, the times were swifter than on the first two days.

That was certainly the case in the opening 6f handicap, where they went hard early on and were able to sustain it to the line. Things again unfolded on the far side with Sovereign Spell never far away and winning in a time 0.45sec quicker than the Abernant later on the card. 

The one to take out of the race looks Song Of The Clyde, who was unfavourably drawn in 15 and was trying to concede between 10lb and 17lb to the trio who finished in front of him. 

He was still in with a shout when third entering the final furlong but then he wilted, with his final furlong being 12.82sec. By comparison, none of the first three were slower than 12.46sec. 

It may have been his first race in 194 days was needed, although only the first three in the Abernant ran quicker than him. 

Song Of The Clyde took a big jump forward for his first start as a two-year-old and, if the pattern is repeated, he will take some beating wherever he turns up next granted a more favourable draw.