A winning time of 4:15.02 makes Trawlerman the fastest Gold Cup winner in the last 20 years and given that he made the running and ran the fastest individual furlong in 9 of the 20 furlongs, this performance can only be described as superb. We could, and will, discuss the fact that the horses who chased him home didn’t see out the trip, but that would be an unfair start to the review of this race. Trawlerman’s performance was nothing short of spectacular as he kicked for home, dropping below 13-seconds for each of the last 7-furlongs. That pace quickly found out the likes of Sweet William and Illinois, who were 3.02s and 0.73s slower than Trawlerman over the last half a mile. He wasn’t able to get past Kyprios in this race last season, but although the ground conditions cannot be directly compared, he has run a time 3.21s faster than he managed 12-months ago and with his old rival now retired, there was no other horse able to live with him in this kind of form.
Whilst the sectional times above do show that Dubai Future was the fastest horse in furlongs 17 and 18, it is important to remember that he was ridden very patiently and as such had more left in the tank than most as they crossed the 2-mile point. That point can be backed up by the stride data, which shows that he was the only horse in the field to increase his average stride length (6.91m) and average stride frequency (2.42 per second) into the 17th furlong. He has been a real credit to his connections and this was his first start in the UK since 2022, so we can perhaps give some praise to the 9-year-old for a solid run, but it’s important to add the context that he was ridden to finish his race. I wanted to discuss Dubai Future before Illinois because I felt that it was important to add some context to the visual impression. Watching the closing stages, it could lead to the conclusion that Dubai Future was the unlucky loser in the race given the progress that he made in the final 4-furlongs. However, he took 1.19s longer than Illinois to reach the 2-mile point and as a result, he had far more in reserve.
Aidan O’Briens post-race comments that Illinois had been trained for the Coronation Cup at Epsom rather than this race are certainly interesting. It’s pleasing to hear that they will be having another go at Goodwood. However, whilst he may get closer, there is a lot of work to do to overhaul a winner who recorded such an impressive performance on the clock. Trawlerman was faster than Illinois in 13 of the 20 furlongs of the Gold Cup and recorded higher top speed (38.68 mph) and run-out speed (33.53 mph) figures. With an average stride length of 24.15 ft, Trawlerman recorded an average stride that was 0.3 ft longer than Illinois, a gap that increased to 0.75 ft when we compare their peak average stride lengths. A faster horse with a longer stride will be a very significant obstacle for Aidan O’Brien and his team to overcome. If anyone can do it, the team at Ballydoyle are the ones, but the data would suggest that Trawlerman reached his career peak on Thursday and if he goes to Goodwood in the same form, there is no obvious reason from the data to think that this form will be reversed.