TwinSpires.com Blog

Coronation Stakes Sectional Times

From a pace perspective, the Coronation Stakes was run in interesting fashion. It was a FAST pace overall, but the opening quarter seemed to suggest we might be looking at a crawl: the race as a whole went at 12.9 seconds per furlong on average and the opening quarter went in 16 seconds with no accounting for a run up. But then things changed fast as the pace quickened mightily, especially given the condition of the ground. Furlongs 2-5 went in 48:2 on the soft going and broke down as follows. . .the second furlong was 12 flat. The third was 12.1. From 3-5, they went in just 24:1. From the fifth furlong to the 6th they went in 13.1 as the front of the pack was tiring and the closers were launching their bids. This is where Immortal Verse was really kicking into high gear. When interviewed after the race Mosse said, “When I took my time to wait to pull her out, actually she reacted quicker than I was expecting.” Sure enough, from 2 furlongs out to 1 furlong out, Immortal Verse ran 11.7 going to the front and blowing the race up. Seemingly everyone was tired up the hill as Immortal Verse clocked the final furlong in 12.7. Overall, the data says it was a slow first eighth, fast middle six furlongs, slow last eighth. But there are possible explanations for the slow last eighth: she won geared down and even at that was still drawing away. Also, Mosse said that he thought he got to the front too soon, indicating that maybe she may have been idling in front as well. If she’d kept up her turn of foot she might have won by double digits.

Technically, you’d have to call IMMORTAL VERSE a slight flow downgrade as things really set up well for her, though I certainly wouldn’t be keen to oppose her in any race with either soft ground or an expected hot pace. The final time was fast, only 2.75 over standard despite ground that seemed to generally be costing the other winners more time per mile than that.

Many kudos to Rob Dove for noticing the sectionals for her previous race in France, identifying that she came home in :22 flat there in soft, and making her a bet today.