Handicappers' Corner: No move up from Frankel on the Downs

In this special handicappers' piece on Glorious Goodwood, we'll be discussing sprinters and stayers, juveniles and hard-bitten veterans, but there is a running theme- that of the muddling pace, which ultimately means we've not got as much as we might have hoped in the way of scale-breaking ratings from the last week.

When we talk about scale-breaking ratings, Frankel is of course never far away as the highest-rated in all of Timeform's experience. He was, in truth, never likely to challenge his 147 master rating in the four-runner Sussex Stakes, and so it proved with the gallop less than satisfactory and jockey Tom Queally bothering to ride for less than a furlong as his mount drew an easy six lengths clear of Farhh.

We've gone with a figure of 136 on Frankel's bare form, which has Farhh (who was eased by Frankie Dettori once held) running 10 lbs below his own master rating of 130, with stragglers Gabrial (111) and Bullet Train (110) running about as well as their previous form would have suggested.

Numbers were more generous in the week's other Group 1, Saturday's Nassau Stakes, but the pace was not. Still, that's reason only to be more taken by the winning performance of The Fugue, who sprinted past the enterprisingly-ridden Timepiece to win by an easy length, advancing her figure from 117 to 119p in the process.

The re-addition of a 'p' is something of a rarity at this level, but we've always thought The Fugue capable of taking on the best of the girls and there now seems all the more reason to hold that view, her somewhat underwhelming reverse at Royal Ascot the only blemish on a career that's been all about progress in just six starts to date. She certainly wouldn't need to find a whole lot of further improvement to follow up in the Yorkshire Oaks later this month.

The sprinters and stayers have to make do with a Group 2 at Goodwood, but there's no doubting that Ortensia and Saddler's Rock- winners of the King George Stakes and Goodwood Cup respectively- are up to competing at the highest level. Historical standards and the timefigure for the former race suggest that Ortensia (122) needed only to match rather than build on her previous form, though now she's up to speed she has the form to compete with the best European sprinters for the rest of the season.

Largely similar conclusions can be drawn for Saddler's Rock, whose master figure (126) puts him among the best stayers around, though he ran to only 118 in justifying favouritism for the Goodwood Cup. The pace perhaps wasn't as steady as at Ascot last time, but there's still reason to mark up Saddler's Rock, who idled upon hitting the front just inside the final two furlongs.

As far as the two-year-olds were concerned, fears that the Molecomb Stakes would work out a substandard renewal proved only half-true, as Bungle Inthejungle and Morawij both ran to 110 (a figure largely in line with historical standards) in finishing a head apart and almost four lengths ahead of the rest, who could manage only fairly useful form at best.

The winner caused something of a shock (Betfair SP was 19.91), but it's clear that he was well suited by the test of speed, the fact he led the Windsor Castle Stakes for so long a retrospective endorsement of such a view.

It was Olympic Glory who landed Wednesday's Vintage Stakes and, although he too recorded a figure just below what standards would have predicted, there's no doubting that he's an up-to-scratch winner of the race, now rated 111+.

Putting the debate over the merit of Richard Hughes' ride to one side for a moment (for the record, we think it is horse rather than jockey that deserves the credit), there's no denying that the fast-finishing Olympic Glory deserves marking up for his performance, one which suggests that he is indeed full value- and then some- for his second-placed finish in the Coventry Stakes.

We'll end with a round-up of some of the week's big handicap performances. On Friday, Fulbright brought up his fourth success of the year, and third in a row, in the valuable mile handicap, proving once and for all his effectiveness at the trip. He's ready for a higher grade now, but in truth he already looked well handicapped ahead of last week's race and his figure of 116 (the same as his pre-race figure) probably wouldn't be good enough for the Group 2 contests he's currently entered in.

We may well have seen the most significant pointer to the Ebor yet in the form of Motivado, who dotted up in the fourteen-furlong handicap on Saturday. He'd been on the up at the end of 2011 and, following a couple of runs for which he had plausible excuses, got back on track in no uncertain terms. Motivado's figure now sits at 112, and with a 4 lb penalty for the Ebor in effect taking his BHA mark to just 97 he'll obviously appeal from a handicapping standpoint should he go to York next.

A quick word on the Stewards' Cup, which often points to future Group events but probably won't this year, with many of the principals, including winner Hawkeyethenoo, old favourites rather than future stars. Indeed, the winner improved by only 1lb to 116, his previous best having come when he landed last year's Victoria Cup at Ascot, but there's no questioning that he's a likeable type who can make a continued impact in high-end handicaps and lower Pattern races.