Whilst an initial look at the data above might suggest that she was slightly fortunate to win, I would instead point to some key early data. Pietro Moran had a very simple “point and shoot” approach to the start as his mount flew out of the stalls to run a race best 11.94s for the opening furlong. That got her to the front and allowed Miss Vyvyanne to control the early fractions and then to hold the rail around the turn. The 2nd furlong was fast, with the entire field clocking times under 10.6s, but Miss Vyvyanne’s early speed meant that she was able to hold the lead and most of the other riders were already working away as they straightened for home. The winner saved as much ground as possible and the 11.0s she clocked for furlong 3, the best figure in the field, came at a time when she was controlling the race in front whilst others were being asked for more effort to get on terms. This was an efficient ride from Pietro Moran, but Miss Vyvyanne showed plenty of speed, clocking a top speed figure above 43 mph and running sectional times that always ranked in the top 2 in the field. The race was essentially won at the start, but despite having one of the shorter peak average stride figures at 24.9ft, the winner was able to use her agility and higher stride frequency figures in the early stages to be able to run the race on her terms. Being drawn in gate 1 may well have helped, but she actually came off the rail slightly in the early stages and the likelihood is that she would have been in front after the opening furlong in any case. I think that everyone likes horses who know how to win and Miss Vyvyanne certainly does. However, it would be a mistake to assume that she is simply an “all out” speed horse who needs to be driven from the gate in the hope of holding on at the finish. Despite the fact that she set fair fractions and recorded a finishing speed of 98.7%, she was able to control the race and only the more patiently ridden Outlaw Kid was able to record a better late speed figure. George Weaver’s gelding was given a lot to do from the rear and was the best part of three-quarters of a second behind at halfway, but the expectation that he would reverse this form in the future would be far from certain based on my interpretation of the data. Although he was the faster closer, the difference between the late speed figures recorded by the pair was just 0.43 mph, less than 2% and having been given a more patient ride, Outlaw Kid may well have been expected to have more left in the tank in the final 100 yards. He is a multiple stakes race winner at Woodbine and this was his first start of the year at the track after earlier runs at Laurel Park, but the gap was nearly half a second between the pair at the line and the percentage call would have to be that Miss Vyvyanne would lead them home if they met again.