The 54th Running of the Philip Feanny O.D. Gold Cup
Caymanas Park - 5th September 2026
“Having given weight and a head start to his rivals, he dispatched them with ease on Saturday afternoon and our data would suggest that he is likely to be a very short price to do the same thing next time he enters the starting stalls”.
If you took the relatively cramped odds about Rideallday to win the Philip Feanny Gold Cup at Caymanas Park on Saturday, then there were certainly times when it must have looked like Ian Spence had got the fractions wrong. In a field of 5 runners, he certainly gave the early leaders a considerable head start and the 2/5 SP favourite was over half a second behind the leaders by the time that they reached the far turn. However much like his mount, Spence seemed relatively unconcerned by the gap and although he did have to start nudging his mount to get closer with more than 3 furlongs to run, Rideallday always seemed likely to get himself on terms. As the field came around the far turn, the gap had begun to close and when the Prince’s Spur drifted to his right into the middle of the track, the decision to switch Rideallday down to the inside rail helped to ensure that the favourite’s backers went home happy.
At an average of 25.52 ft, Rideallday has an enormous stride which reached a peak of 27.54 ft. That peak was more than 1.5 ft longer than any of his rivals and his average was as much as 4 ft longer than some of his other opposition. He has quite a wide gait with his front legs, but the relatively small variance between his minimum and maximum stride frequency figures (2.20 – 2.31 per second) shows how this long striding colt is able to gallop his rivals into submission. Even allowing for the fact that he had a relatively trouble free passage, as you can see from our data infographic above, his late speed figure of 35.8 mph was a clear best. That figure is taken as an average speed over the final 2 furlongs of the contest. To add some context to the winner’s late speed figure, it was 0.87 mph faster than the runner-up, more than 2 mph faster than any of the other 3 runners and the fastest by any horse that ran over 6 furlongs or beyond on Saturday’s card. His finishing speed was enough to run down the tiring The Prince’s Spur and the pair were 14 lengths and over 2s clear of the rest of the field. Although Rideallday is quite a big horse, he has a surprising turn-of-foot and once into top gear, he is able use his long stride to maintain that speed for far longer than any of the opposition that he has faced.
A son of Vekoma, he is part of the first crop of the multiple US Grade 1 winner who stands at Spendthrift Farms for $100,000. Sold for $57,000 as a foal, a price that rose to $70,000 when he went through the Keeneland Sales ring as a yearling in 2023, he comes from the family of John Gosden’s Winter Derby winner Wissahickon amongst others. He is clearly well suited to the dirt in Jamaica and with such a long stride, he should continue to win at the highest level on the island. As long as the pace is at least fair in the early stages, it’s hard to imagine that there will be too many horses capable of repelling his sustained gallop in the closing stages. Having given weight and a head start to his rivals, he dispatched them with ease on Saturday afternoon and our data would suggest that he is likely to be a very short price to do the same thing next time he enters the starting stalls.