Sectional Debrief: York, August 21

Day one of the York Ebor Meeting in 2013 could not hope to match the same day 12 months earlier, when the peerless Frankel won the Juddmonte International in scintillating style, but it still provided quality fare. The official going on both occasions was predominantly "good to firm", but there was a big difference in the precise speed of the surface. Every race this year was run quicker than the equivalent race in 2012. Whereas the ground was good to firm but tending towards good a year ago, it was at least 20 lb faster than that this time round, and probably faster still in the straight. 

The time recorded by Declaration of War in winning this year's International needs to be viewed in that context. It was a fast one in absolute terms, but not exceptional compared to what could be expected given the conditions, despite what some implied. It does not even come near to Frankel's time (resulted in timefigure of 136) in relative terms, despite being 0.85s quicker. 

The sectional times used are those published on behalf of TurfTrax after the event, though it should be noted that they differ somewhat from what appeared on-screen at the time and from what can be established manually from television pictures. Nonetheless, there seems to be little dispute that this year's International was a truly-run affair, an important factor in achieving a "good" time. 

Declaration of War seemed to come home slightly quicker than par, which might encourage connections to consider an even longer distance another day, for it was less a case of his rivals stopping than of him finding plenty. Those rivals did not provide as severe a test for him as anticipated, however, with Toronado running no sort of a race and Al Kazeem a bit below his best. 

Other sectionals on the day showed a greater variance from par. The two-straight course races were run at strong paces, resulting in finishing speed %s some way below 100, but that did not stop the winners coming from on or close to the pace. It could be wrong to assume that those racing prominently were suited, though conditions were so fast that speed was tested more than usual.

In contrast, races two, three and five were slowly-run to various degrees. The overall time of Telescope's Great Voltigeur win was respectable given that the race turned into something of a sprint from the home turn (something to remember when considering the winner's likely stamina). Runner-up Foundry, having just his second race, actually finished a bit faster than Telescope, who was eased a bit near the line, and there may not be much at all between them another day. 

Similar remarks apply to Treaty of Paris and The Grey Gatsby, the one-two in the Acomb Stakes, with the latter finishing best. But the overall time of this race was nothing to get excited about even after the sectionals are taken into account. 

Readers looking for a horse to take out of the day's action from a sectional point of view are steered in the direction of Mawaqeet, second to Broxbourne in the staying handicap. Both those horses did well to close into a quickening pace, but Mawaqeet especially so. He ran the last 3f in 34.28s, according to TurfTrax figures, which was 0.84s quicker than Declaration of War had earlier. Mawaqeet is added to the sectional "to follow" list. 

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