The warmer weather in the Summer can definitely have an effect on the Tapeta surface as the wax based surface slows down. The winners of this week’s 7-races can be ranked 1, 2, 8, 9, 6, 1 and 1 for the time that it took them to reach 30 mph and those that were slower from the stalls appeared to benefit from a pace collapse in front of them. As a result, getting out of the stalls and into a prominent position was very important and that was definitely the key to the victory of Intervention in the opening 6-furlong handicap for Team North. Sent forwards by Alistair Rawlinson from stall 2, he took just 5.2s to reach 30 mph from the stalls to get to the front. An average stride frequency of 2.4 per second ranked 2nd in the field and that turn-of-foot allowed him to dictate matters and hold the inside rail around the turn. Briefly headed by Supreme King, Intervention had enough in reserve to hold his ground into the straight where he then kicked clear under Rawlinson. Whilst both the 2nd and 3rd have closed all the way to the line and recorded the fastest run-out speeds in the field, the early speed and the track advantage that it brought were enough to see Mick Appleby’s charge home for a 12th success on the All-Weather and his 6th win at Wolverhampton. The placed horses are clearly in form and have worked hard to chase home the winner, but if there is a horse to take from the data for next time, that is surely Supreme King. Drawn wide in stall 11, he was forced to use a lot of energy in the early stages to get himself to the front. That effort, with 10-0 on his back, proved too much and with a record of 4 wins from 40 starts, he doesn’t have any secrets from the handicapper at this stage. However, he ranked 1st for Top Speed with a peak figure of 42.57 mph and his average stride frequency of 2.52 per second was a race best figure. His best form has come on the polytrack, but the handicapper is beginning to relent and he is getting close to his last winning mark with another couple of lbs surely due back to him after this 6th placed effort. The need to get to the front forced his connections hand, but the wide draw made things very difficult for David Evans charge. However, he showed plenty of speed and with a better draw next time, he should run a better race than the form book might suggest.

Jack Mitchell attempted similar front running tactics in the 2nd race at 6:15, but the weight appeared to tell aboard Miraculous. He also took just 5.2 s to reach 30 mph, but his run-out speed of 32.35 mph, ranked 5th, confirmed the impression of a tired horse that was given from the replay. The winner, Sudden Flight, also carried 10-0, but Richard Hughes’ 3-year-old looks very progressive and having got the perfect tow into the race under Finley Marsh, he finished with the fastest 4th and 5th furlongs to win going away with a run-out speed of 33.69 mph. He had been running consistently on the turf, but both career wins have come on the All-Weather and he seems particularly suited to the tapeta surface. The fact that the winning time of 1:12.64 was only 0.23s quicker than the TPD expected time for the grade does mean that we can upgrade this performance from Sudden Flight given that he had to overcome the track bias to make up ground from the middle of the pack. Having swung wide into the straight, Sudden Flight made rapid headway and then appeared to idle in front under Warren Fentiman, shortening his average stride length in the final furlong despite maintaining the highest stride frequency figure in the field at that point of the race. Taking all of that into account, there is surely more to come from Richard Hughes’ charge and if you add just one horse from this week’s Racing League to your tracker, it should be him.

Sudden Flight wasn’t the only impressive 3-year-old winner on the card as both Stormy Impact and Hyperchromatic managed to get their heads in front later on the card. The latter was a very impressive winner under Joanna Mason for Team Yorkshire, overcoming a difficult draw in stall 11 to eventually win by over 2-lengths. He has won both starts on the All-Weather for Marco Botti and seemed to relish these conditions as he quickened into the closing stages with the fastest 7th and 8th furlongs of the contest.  He exceeded both his expected stride frequency and stride length figures, finding a top speed of 38.77 mph after coming from behind the pace. The runner-up (Love is the Law) has struggled to get her head in front, but the 3rd placed Double Parked came into this race on the back of a win at Redcar and Hyperchromatic has easily dispatched him in the final 3-furlongs. It will be interesting to see whether his connections now choose to campaign him as an all-weather horse, but he has the early speed needed to get into a prominent position and should be capable of winning again even after he is reassessed.