“The gelding operation has made a man of him”. That phrase is used a lot and certainly formed part of the Racing TV coverage when the review of the Temple Stakes came along, but whilst it’s a slightly odd phrase it also seems to perfectly sum up the performance of NIGHT RAIDER this season. A year ago it would impossible to imagine Night Raider travelling within himself behind the pace in a race like this and before winning the Palace House Stakes at Newmarket at the start of the month, he was 0-10 on the turf. All of that has changed this season and after making all of the running at Newmarket, he confirmed that form with a far more polished display to win the Temple Stakes at Haydock Park on Saturday. A very straight forward ride for Clifford Lee, he raced towards the centre of the course before being driven through the gaps with a couple of reminders as they entered the final furlong, ultimately winning by a length as he galloped through the line with a race best run-out speed of 31.92 mph. With all the drama on the course at Haydock on Saturday and the fact that they were racing on the inner track which had already been used for the previous 2 days of racing, it is very hard to form a hard and fast opinion on the going and subsequently the time. However, I don’t think the level of Night Raider’s performance should be underestimated.

Night Raider relaxed in the Temple Stakes. Whether it’s a result of the gelding operation or just the fact that as a 5-year-old he is now starting to be more mature in his races, the stride frequency data we have available does confirm the theory that he is now settling far better than he did as a younger horse. An average stride frequency figure of 2.34 strides per second ranked the lowest of the 12 runners, as did his minimum figure of 2.21 per second. Given that he had the longest average stride length (24.66 ft) that ranking is not entirely surprising, but these figures are lower than he was recording in some of his races last season and yet Night Raider seemed to take that in his stride (excuse the pun). It would have been very easy for him to pull too hard when he wasn’t able to assume his usual front running position, but instead he dropped his head for Clifford Lee and waited for the race to develop. Speed is an important asset in this division and Night Raider has it in abundance, clocking a top speed of 40.83 mph as he won on Saturday. However, he has now added the ability to travel into the latter stages of his races to his repertoire. On both starts this season, his late speed figure (38.96 mph in the Temple Stakes ) has ranked in the top 2. Compare that to last season, where his late speed figures were never better than 4th (Clipper Stakes) and mostly 7th or below and it shows the transformation that he has gone through as a 5-year-old. He now heads to the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot as one of the best chances for the UK based runners. How does that compare to the International contenders in the market? We’re working on that answer.

However, what we can say with a fair degree of confidence is that this new and improved version of Night Raider has a much better chance of being involved in the finish at Royal Ascot than he did this time last year.