TPD Race Data Review - Race Week 1 - Great Yarmouth
- Total Performance Data
- Jul 25
- 5 min read
We have had an incredibly dry, hot Summer and so the sudden arrival of the rain and the soft ground that it brings can sometimes throw the form book a curve ball. To a certain degree that’s true when looking at the data for the opening meeting of the 2025 Racing League. It certainly appeared to have an effect on the draw and track bias, with each of the 4 winners on the straight course coming from stalls 2-6 as the jockeys tended to gravitate towards the middle to far side of the course.
However, an examination of the times would suggest that the conditions weren’t as slow as might be suggested by the “Soft” going description. The winning time set by Tuco Salamanca in the 6-furlong handicap at 6:10 was 2.92s faster than the TPD expected time for a Class 4 handicap on soft ground. Jimmy Speaking won the mile handicap 30 minutes later in a time of 1:37.31, which is 5.63s faster than our expected time figure.
Clearly, the competitive nature of the Racing League races and the early scramble for track position had a significant impact on the pace set, but these times would suggest that we were dealing with conditions that were closer to good to soft. That’s a slightly technical start to this review, but now that we have that out of the way we can move on to talk about some of the stars of the opening week.
The London and the South team were off to a flyer when Fantasy World landed the opening race under a well judged ride from David Probert. A top speed of 39.53 mph saw Andrew Balding’s charge ranked 6th, but at an average of 24.64 ft, he had the longest stride in the field and used that to good effect as he made persistent late ground to win by a neck. That long stride was the key and his race peak average of 26.71 ft was over a foot longer than the next best (Secret Beach) and over 2 feet longer than the runner-up Sportingsilvermine. When driven to get on terms, Probert’s mount responded and the front pair eventually pulled clear of the rest by over 2-lengths. This form has a very solid look to it given that the runner-up was 4th in the Old Newton Cup at Haydock a couple of weeks ago and after just 5 starts, there is surely more improvement to come from Fantasy World, who looked to be one of the most progressive winners on the night.
It turned into a very good evening for Matt Chapman and his London and the South team as they added to their tally with victories for Jimmy Speaking and Andaleep. Both hit the line strongly with the fastest run-out speeds in their respective races at 34.47 and 33.78 mph, the latter winning for the 14th time in his career. Having hit the frame on each of his last 3 starts, Andaleep certainly wasn’t winning out of turn and having finished a close 2nd in this race 12-months ago, he made no mistake this time when sent for home with 2-furlongs to run. At an average of 2.35 strides per second, he had the highest stride frequency figure in the field and was able to use that turn-of-foot to get himself to the front, eventually holding on to win by three-quarters of a length from the staying on Qitaal and Wave Rider.
In most weeks, a hat-trick of wins for the London and the South team would be enough to grab the headlines, but they were upstaged by Team Scotland at Yarmouth on Thursday. Scotland haven’t had a night like this since Dalgleish was in the side. It was a superb debut from the new Scotland Team manager Alex Steedman as they completed a hat-trick of their own with wins from Mister Bluebird, Solar Aclaim and Pole Star.
Mister Bluebird received a superb ride from Mason Paetel, who broke well from the stalls, taking 6.8s to reach 30 mph, running the fastest opening furlong to get to the front. Getting to the front was the key as both he and the runner-up, El Bodon, controlled the pace on the far side of the track. A winning time of 1:25.31 was 2.72s faster than the TPD expected time figure, but the tacky conditions underfoot made it harder for the rest of the field to make up ground in the closing stages and in the end this was a relatively comfortable success for Heather Main’s 7-year-old.
Solar Aclaim followed up 30 minutes later in the 5-furlong sprint handicap, getting a very similar ride to Mister Bluebird by racing prominently on the far side under Kevin Stott, getting into stride quickly by taking just 6s to reach 30 mph. A top speed figure of 42.66 mph ranked only 5th, but the prominent position was the key and he had enough left in the closing stages to hold on, winning by three-quarters of a length from Tan Rapido.
Steedman would probably have been delighted to leave Yarmouth with 2 winners on the board, but the best was yet to come as Pole Star delivered the performance of the night to win the stayers event over 1-mile and 6-furlongs at 8:10. This was a 3rd success in 6 starts for Charlie Johnston’s 3-year-old who looks to be one of the most progressive stayers in training this season.
He ranked 2nd for both average stride length and top speed, but he is a relentless galloping type who sees out this trip incredibly well and he ultimately had too much in hand for his rivals. The only point in the race at which he ran the fastest individual split was in the final furlong as he loomed alongside Caprelo (3rd). This race fitted nicely into his schedule and it will be interesting to see if the Johnston team decide to take up his entry at Goodwood next week under a penalty. Either way, he is probably considerably better than a mark of 87 and the fact that the runner-up, Miller Spirit, has confirmed 90+ form in softer conditions only adds to the strong look this form has.
Gary and Josh Moore’s charge has been struggling for form so far this season, but 5 of his 6 victories on the Flat have come when the word “Soft” has appeared in the going description and if the rain continues to fall, he will be horse to note after he recorded the fastest run-out speed in the field at 32.77 mph. Pole Star was always holding him and there is every chance that he may develop into a Pattern class performer by the end of the year, which makes this the most interesting result of the opening night.
You can find sectional times, stride data, speed statistics and jumping performance metrics on the At The Races RESULTS page.
The global database of sectional times, stride data and performance metrics is available through Total Performance Data.
