Englishman
Englishman – 3-year-old colt
Maxfield x In It For The Gold (Speightstown)
“I looked back through the Total Performance Data archives at the races run over 7 furlongs at Saratoga in the last 5 years. From a sample of over 200 races, the 2 fastest times were both run by Cherie DeVaux’s colt and over this 7 furlong trip, he seems almost flawless”.
It’s been an incredible 2026 for Cherie DeVaux and her team. Golden Tempo has delivered some incredible success and he didn’t lose a great deal in defeat after a difficult trip in the Travers Stakes on Saturday evening. However, he now has to compete for the limelight with one of his own stablemates after Englishman produced another top class performance to win the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes earlier on the card. A winner of 4 of his 5 starts, he has been quietly going about his business whilst his more famous stablemate has been dominating the Triple Crown races, but after Saturday’s victory I think that I would have to argue that he has now matched, if not slightly surpassed Golden Tempo as the most exciting 3-year-old in the stable.
The form of his victory in the Woody Stephens in June hadn’t been working out particularly well, although the 6th placed Stradale had at least won the G3 Mahony Stakes in mid-August to give a small boost to the form. Englishman had won that race by over 5 lengths and had buried the short-priced favourite Crude Velocity with a late burst of speed that saw him close with splits of 11.86 and 12.54s. We haven’t seen Crude velocity since, so it was hard to weigh up that form before Saturday’s race, although both his overall time and late speed figures were above our expected averages. However, any doubts that we may have had were quickly dispelled on Saturday evening as he made every yard of the running under Jose Ortiz. It took Englishman just 22.94s to cover the opening quarter of a mile and after being given a mid-race breather by Ortiz, he was able to quicken again at the top of the home straight to pull away from the runner-up with relative ease.
The 2nd placed Deep Flame had won his last 2 starts, including the G3 Maxfield Stakes at Churchill Downs in June and the 3rd placed Local Knowledge won the G2 Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga at the end of July. Both of them are confirmed stakes level performers and yet neither of them were able to lay a glove on Englishman. A winning time of 1:20.71 was the fastest in this race since Runhappy’s victory in 2015 and the 2nd fastest time since the race was upgraded to Grade 1 status in 1999. It’s a big set of numbers, especially from a horse who made every yard of the running and having increased his average stride frequency figure across the final 2 furlongs, there is at least a suggestion from the data that Englishman could have found more had it been required. As our data summary above shows, after a fast start he still had enough left to record the best late speed figure in the field (37.5 mph). I looked back through the TPD archives at the races run over 7 furlongs at Saratoga in the last 5 years. From a sample of over 200 races, the 2 fastest times were both run by Cherie DeVaux’s colt and over this 7 furlong trip, he seems almost flawless. He was beaten by Crude Velocity in the G2 Pat Day Mile Stakes at Churchill Downs in May, but that defeat came over a mile and this shorter trip seems much more suitable for Englishman, who recorded an average stride frequency of 2.40 strides per second in the Allen Jerkens. A long striding colt who reached a peak average of 25.32 ft on Saturday, all of his stride data was well above the expected average figures for a winner at this level and his ability to quicken from the gate is likely to stretch all of his rivals over this trip.
A $400,000 purchase at Keeneland in 2024, this son of Maxfield has already repaid that investment and looks destined for a shot at the Breeders’ Cup after this success, with his trainer stating after the race that he could take in another run before that meeting if it is felt that he needs it. Having gotten very close to the track record that he equalled in June, he has confirmed himself to be one of the fastest horses on the dirt and any doubts about whether his Woody Stephens performance was a “one-off” are now consigned to history. If he lines up at the Breeders’ Cup in 8 weeks time, he is likely to prove to be far too fast for the rest of this division and after Saturday’s performance, there is definitely a case to be made for him being the best of this year’s 3-year-old crop.