With a multitude of big races in the offing at the York Ebor meeting and the Travers Stakes card at Saratoga, watch some of last week’s most relevant performances from a rankings perspective in our big-race recap
Diego Velazquez
Prix Jacques le Marois G1, Deauville (1m, turf, 3yo+), August 17
Now that’s what you call a bargain. Only days after a deal to brokered by Sam Sangster to buy Diego Velazquez (#41 from #156, +214pt ) with the aim of standing at the National Stud in the UK, the four-year-old scored the first G1 success of his career.
In a finished dominated by visitors, the powerful son of world #1 stallion Frankel did the Sangster family’s iconic emerald green and blue silks proud as he just about held the late thrust of Notable Speech (#74 from #216, +170pt). The Breeders’ Cup Mile is the winner’s principal target, perhaps via the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.
By the way, the first home-trained finisher was Zabiari, seventh of ten.
Nitrogen
Alabama Stakes G1, Saratoga (1m2f, dirt, 3yo fillies), August 16
A first G1 win for Nitrogen (#14 from #33, +129pt) who jumps up the rankings after beating Godolphin’s star filly Good Cheer by a length and a half in Saratoga’s senior race for three-year-old fillies.
Trainer Mark Casse (stays at #11, +26pt) had long wanted to win the $600,000 contest. “I’ve been coming here since I was 10 years old and the Alabama has always been huge,” Casse said. “I can't even explain it. This is all I've ever wanted to do since I was a little boy.”
On the dirt sires’ list, Medaglia D’Oro (#9 from #12, +62pt) makes the Top Ten. The winner will now target the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
She Feels Pretty
EP Taylor Stakes G1, Woodbine (1m2f, turf, 3yo+ f/m), August 16
An anomaly in Canada as She Feels Pretty (#22 from #21, -1pt) lands her fourth G1 success, thereby regaining the winning thread after a surprise Saratoga defeat – yet loses a rankings point.
However, if the form of a head victory over Godolphin visitor Diamond Rain doesn’t look entirely top drawer, the runner-up had won her previous two in lesser company in Britain and the odds-on favorite was in front too long and wandered about a bit after looking sure to register a comfortable victory.
What is more, she was banged into. “You can see she got cut through the bandages,” said She Feels Pretty’s jockey John Velazquez. “She got hit pretty good, but then she got pretty keen.
“The last sixteenth of a mile, I don’t know what she saw, but she got lost. I thought, ‘Come on, don’t do this to me now. We’re almost there,’ but she got it done.”
Zahrann
Royal Whip Stakes G3, The Curragh (1m2f, turf, 3yo+), August 16
Zahrann (#127 from #840, +331pt) looked a three-year-old of some potential here as odds-on favourite Los Angeles (#26 from #23, -18pt) flopped.
Trainer Johnny Murtagh, whose 300-1 pacemaker Tangapour completed a stable one-two, is eyeing the Irish Champion Stakes. “He’s a typical Aga Khan horse and reminds me a bit of Sinndar that when he clicks into gear some day, he might realise how good he is,” he said. “He’s still underdeveloped, and he could be a really nice four-year-old.”
First Look
Prix Gontaut-Biron G2, Deauville (1m2f, turf, 4yo+), August 16
Another defeat for last year’s King George winner Goliath (#51 from #41, -9pt) – no disgrace going down by a head to First Look after a bit of a break, but he simply isn’t living up to high hopes.
The winner, who has won both starts since being gelded, was largely responsible for positive rankings moves for legendary trainer Andre Fabre (#12 from #17, +92pt) and owners Wathnan Racing (#12 from #15, +36pt).
• View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires
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• Unlike traditional methods of racehorse rankings, TRC Global Rankings are a measure of an individual’s level of achievement over a rolling three-year period, providing a principled hierarchy of the leading horses, jockeys, trainers, owners and sires using statistical learning techniques. Racehorse rankings can be compared to similar exercises in other sports, like the golf’s world rankings or the ATP rankings in tennis.
They are formulated from the last three years of races we consider Group or Graded class all over the world and update automatically each week according to the quality of a horse’s performances and their recency, taking into account how races work out.