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When Tim Clark said he would go faster over the 1400m on Golden Rose winner In The Congo than he did on Vangelic in the Golden Pendant he wasn’t kidding.

Firstly, from an overall time perspective, In The Congo ran 1:21.46 compared to Vangelic who stopped the clock at 1:22.58 – or about seven lengths faster.

Breaking down the races with Punter’s Intelligence, Vangelic ran the first 800m of the Golden Pendant in a leisurely 49.36 while In The Congo was a full two seconds (or 12 lengths) faster at 47.32.

It’s fair to say everything had their chance to run In The Congo down in the Group 1, his sectionals were consistently fast.

After establishing his lead, Clark kept them running with two 11.52 splits to the 600m then stepped it up.

He ran 11.42 from the 600m-400m then 11.14 from the 400m-200m and his last 200m of 11.54, while only sixth fastest, show he wasn’t slowing significantly. So all honours to the colt and to Clark.

It was hard to miss the closers and their sectionals look very good. The fastest last 600m was clocked by fourth placed Artorius who ran 32.96 and his last 200m was a sizzling 10.93, the only horse to break 11 seconds in the race.

The Queensland filly Startantes ran 33.14 for her last 600m, her 400m-200m of 10.80 was the race’s fastest, while runner-up Anamoe was next best at 33.18 (11.13 last 200m).

In the Golden Pendant, it’s fair to say Clark got away with a picnic in front on Vangelic. Compared to In The Congo her first 400m was some five lengths slower and she was able to run 12.19 and 12.07 in the middle stages.

Vangelic’s last 600m was a slick 33.20 and this forced her opposition to do plenty of chasing.

So there was a heap of merit in the run of beaten favourite Entriviere who clocked the meeting’s fastest last 600m of 32.50, including a ripping 10.55 from the 400m-200m, closely followed by fourth placed Icebath (32.54) with the latter running the race’s fastest last 200m of 10.76.

Home Affairs went out quite fast early in the Listed Heritage Stakes (1100m) and was able to put the anchor down between the 800m-600m, steadying up again in the next sectional before Nash Rawiller pushed the accelerator.

Again he ran 33.11 for his last 600m so that’s always going to make a leader hard to run down on a fast track and that’s how it proved.

Runner-up Paulele clocked 32.78 for his last 600m, 10.97 for his last 200m, but couldn’t get within a length and a half of the winner, while King Of Sparta ran the fastest last 600m of 32.68 and tracked wide for much of the event.

A couple in behind them worth keeping an eye on are A Very Fine Red (33.02 in fifth) and first-upper Overpass (33.11 in eighth).

Another horse in the Coolmore colours to salute was Head Of State in the Gloaming Stakes (1800m) and his win was very strong sectionally.

He posted the fastest last 600m of 33.27, over two lengths faster than the next best, was the only horse to break 11 seconds from the 400m-200m (10.89) and was again clearly quickest over the last 200m (11.14).

What improvement the placegetters have going into the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes is the X-Factor heading into that race in a couple of weeks. Profondo was very green when the pressure went on late and he ran 33.96 (last 200m 11.28) while third placed Benaud clocked 33.73 (11.31).

Fastest last 600m: Entriviere 32.50.

Watch Punter’s Intelligence with Ben Way, Brad Davidson and Brad Gray at 7pm on Tuesday on Sky Thoroughbred Central.

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