Royal Ascot 2016

When dealing with such fine margins, even small inefficiencies matter. Those sectional upgrades suggest that Magical Memory might well have won, narrowly, had he done a fraction more running early and a fraction less late.

It will be interesting to put that to the test in the future, in any case.
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SR could hardly be more wrong!
Magical Memory had been up with the pace in both his previous triumphs this season, but was deliberately held up (check the replay) yesterday in deference to doubts about his lasting home over this stiff 6. Those doubts were certainly realised when, rather than "finishing quickest of all" he was actually losing ground in the dying strides of the race. Not for nothing did Frankie advise Henry Candy (after the DOY) that the horse was "made for the Breeders Cup sprint" around the sharp Santa Anita 6.
MM may well reverse the result on the easier tracks of Newmarket or Haydock later this season, but - despite SR's faux air of omnipotence - it will have shag all to do with reading sectionals.
 
Not at all, DO. He was a length behind Holler (by design, if you watch Frankie's hands) and - despite the pedestrian early pace - made no attempt to make up ground, and held firmly on MM's head until moving into contention around 1.5f down.
 
I don't have the C4 recording (I looked online for it) but I recall swearing as the stalls opened and thinking that Frankie might have lost the race there and then. It might not have been as much as three lengths but it couldn't have been far off it.

(He also made his ground as the pace was quickening which was why he was flattening out close home.)

Edit: looking at the sectionals again, he ran the last 2f 2.5 lengths faster than Twilight Son, despite losing half a length on him in the final few strides. That and the ground lost at the start tells me he emerges from the race as the best horse.

But who can begrudge a smashing bloke like Henry Candy his win?
 
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It's all quite plain to see on the SL website. Your reply begs the following questions:

A/ Why was he held up at all, when he'd been up with the pace in both victories this season?
B/ Why, when he clearly showed he had the speed when needed, did Frankie not attempt to make up the slightest bit of ground until the final quarter?
C/ Why was he losing ground at the finish in a race run at only an ordinary pace?
D/ Why did Frankie ring up the trainer (a week before the DOY, apparently) and say "the race this horse is tailor-made for is the sprint at Santa Anita" around one of the sharpest gd1 6f in racing?
E/ Why did he similarly lose ground - off a strong pace, at a sharper Haydock - at the end of his previous attempt at a gp1 6f race?

Now, I don't expect you to answer the above; indeed I suspect you are only posting in defence of sectional timing. I don't have a problem with them, in fact regard them a great asset to the serious punter, but I'll always rail against slavish adherence - when the form, and the horse's profile, paint a totally different picture.

(btw, your stance is somewhat at odds with the person who said 'this jockey rides Ascot better than anyone' :)).
 
A. He missed the break so Dettori appears to have decided to let him find his stride rather than rush him and use up too much energy too soon.
B. Good question and one I keep asking myself.
C. Because he expended so much energy quickening against a quickening pace at that stage of the race.
D. Ask Frankie.
E. I'll need to see that race again to answer.

I don't consider myself a sectionalista but it does fascinate me. I harbour a certain degree of skepticism about sectional timing but am open-minded enough to read what those closely associated with them say. I agree with your next bit. I once argued with my boss about slavish adherence to systems within the organisation. My question - "Are we masters of our systems or slaves to them?" - did not endear me to him...

I do think Frankie got this one wrong but he doesn't get many wrong here. That's like saying Cristiano Ronaldo is a world class player who could never miss a penalty :lol:

I'm open to the possibility that I'm calling this one wrong. It may be that Magical Memory just isn't a G1 6f horse. I suppose time will tell but I'm almost certain to back him in the July Cup.

(Is there a jackass emoticon anywhere?)
 
Magical Memory is definitely a Group One horse over six furlongs. He was only narrowly beaten at Haydock last autumn and he's hardly gone backwards since. He appears to be an uncomplicated horse who for some unaccountable reason was ridden yesterday like he's not. You don't need sectionals to tell you the early pace wasn't that strong as several horses were pulling. Why he was held up a long way (in relative terms) off the pace is inexplicable.

He'll be ridden more prominently at Newmarket where he has strong C&D form and he'll win or go very close.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I'm open to the possibility that I'm calling this one wrong. It may be that Magical Memory just isn't a G1 6f horse. I suppose time will tell but I'm almost certain to back him in the July Cup.
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He's a Group 1 animal imo, the race just didn't go his way. Partly like you theorised because he had to use up vital energy reserved to get on terms, partly because the ground was more suitable for TS.

If the ground comes up fast on the July course Twilight Son probably won't run so it might be worth an AP bet, but then again I might prefer Limato under those conditions and he's a bigger price at present.
 
Good to hear you opinions, Gus and Euro.

I backed MM yesterday in the belief that he was the only genuine G1 horse in the field.

The double whammy was that I also believed Exosphere was the only G1 horse in the Hardwicke and backed the double as well :mad:

I expect time will prove I was right about that and things went down the toilet on the day.

Such is the nature of punting.
 
Oh, he's definitely a gp1 horse, and he quickens better than most of his contemporaries. Like most every other horse with a gearchange, he has an optimum set of circumstances though, and yesterday's race - despite the steady pace - proved just beyond his ideal. Given quick ground over a sharpish 6 like Haydock, and he'll win no matter how he's ridden.
I'd bet now he won't be showing up for the end of season bash at Ascot though, whatever the sectionalists say about him.
 
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