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“I trotted down the outside fence going to the barriers on one of them earlier in the day and thought ‘I’ll keep this up my sleeve for later”.

Those were the words used by Nash Rawiller after a daring but tactically brilliant ride to find the superior ground and win the $4m Group 1 Queen Elizabeth (2000m) aboard Think It Over.

With continued rainfall throughout the week, it was again extremely testing conditions, making it hard for horses to make up ground settling midfield or worse.

Zaaki led the star-studded field up in an even tempo, and Punter’s Intelligence recorded he ran the first 1400m in 1:32.72.

After stacking up the field throughout, Jamie Kah broke the field up when Zaaki accelerated and sprinted the race’s fastest 400m-200m split in 12.37. He was brave in defeat and beat the rest easily.

Think It Over was building momentum throughout and, once Rawiller navigated his way to the outside, he excelled in hitting the line hard and ran the race quickest last 200m split in 13.38.

Further, that last 200m was approximately 2.5 lengths quicker than the next best Mount Popa in 13.80.

I’m Thunderstruck, who can continue to be followed next prep, ran the race's fastest 800m-400m split in 23.40 but the 2000m on a heavy track only saw him battle on ok late.

The other fancied runners Verry Elleegant, Anamoe and Duais all struggled to get into the race under the circumstances.

The Group 1 Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) was run at a solid tempo even after adjusting for age, class and additional factors, with the first 1000m being run in 1:02.54, which was approximately 5.5-6 lengths faster than the Fernhill Mile (1600m) in 1:03.44.

Nimalee had every chance but maintained a strong finishing speed to win by 2.33 lengths. She sprinted her final 400m in 25.34.

Icebath was terrific in defeat after getting too far back and she ran sustained sizzling sectionals. She ran her final 400m in 25.09, which was one of the quickest splits of the entire meeting.

Her last few bounds and strength past the winning post suggest she is one to keep following, and may back up in the Group 3 Sharp Extensive IT JRA Plate this Saturday at Royal Randwick.

We can bring strong comparisons between the three feature 1200m races that all came out of the back chute.

The Group 2 Percy Sykes Stakes (1200m) had the first use of the chute and ran the fastest overall time in 1:14.44, a tick quicker than the Group 2 Arrowfield 3YO Sprint (1200m) in 1:14.49 and the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes (1200m) had the last use of the track running 1:14.55.

Paris Dior defied a significant betting drift to win and post a clear career peak figure. The classy two-year-old filly was challenged over the final furlong, but she pulled away and ran the sixth-fastest last 200m split of the entire meeting in 12.95 and she can be followed.

Willinga Beast was game in defeat after looming to win but just missed over the concluding stages with a considerable margin to third. She is another lightly raced improver and ran her final 600m in 36.79, the fifth quickest of the meeting.

The Arrowfield was run at a farcical tempo, but there was plenty of merit in the closing sections. They ran the first 600m in 38.56, which was approximately 10 lengths slower than the Percy Sykes and 11 lengths slower than the Sapphire Stakes.

In The Congo gave his rivals a fitness advantage and tried very hard running the second-fastest 600m/400m/200m sectionals of the entire meeting in 36.15/24.41/12.69. The Group 1 winning colt will only improve from this effort and can be followed.

Mazu has now taken his winning streak to four from four this preparation since his gelding operation. The Peter & Paul Snowden gelding sat outside the leader and looked the winner a long way out after travelling so well throughout.

To put his sectionals into perspective against In The Congo, he unleashed the quickest final 600m/400m/200m splits of the entire meeting in 35.80/24.08/12.54. If he gets a chance to compete in an Everest he will need to step again but beware of the unbeaten horse since the key gear change.

A quick mention of some other sectional performers included Tricky Gal who had last use of the track, pace/bias against her, and she ran the fourth-fastest final 600m split of the entire meeting in 36.69 when contesting the Sapphire Stakes.

Bend the Knee and Cotehele, who come out of the Listed South Pacific Classic (1400m), are ticking over well and are both screaming out for a drier track where they produce their peak figures.

The pace negated the bias for Kinloch when winning the Polytrack Provincial-Midway (1400m), but he raced wide and ran his 400m-200m split in 12.04 to salute in fast overall time.

Fastest last 600m: Mazu 35.80.

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