Shaquille: The improving sprinter's achievements
Shaquille may have earned a Timeform performance rating (125) similar to the median for a July Cup winner in the last decade, but that was just about the only thing that was standard about a display that was remarkable on the eye.
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Shaquille won the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot in extraordinary style on his first crack at Group 1 level last month, overcoming a slow start that cost him at least five lengths. He may not have been so slowly away on Saturday, though he still forfeited some ground – something that tends to be especially disadvantageous in sprints given the lack of time to recover and the added significance of any trouble in running – and it prompted Timeform's reporter to assign him the ‘s’ in-play symbol once again.
Only ten Group 1s in Britain or Ireland in the last five seasons have been won by horses given an 's', denoting a slow start, and Shaquille is now responsible for two of those victories after the Commonwealth Cup and July Cup.
However, whereas at Royal Ascot the stunning aspect was how Shaquille managed to overcome a terrible start, at Newmarket the more remarkable factor was how his exuberance in the race didn't stop him from winning.
As explained by Graeme North in his latest Watch And Learn column, the sectionals published by Course Track show that "despite a slow first furlong, the second slowest in the race, Shaquille ran the second and third furlongs easily fastest of all as he took a fierce grip yet despite that exuberance still ran the second-fastest fourth furlong as well as the joint-second fastest fifth and sixth furlongs."
That performance suggests that Shaquille is capable of raising his game and clocking a higher Timeform rating if channelling his energy correctly, but despite racing so inefficiently he has still earned a high-class figure and established himself as the one to beat in the six-furlong division after achieving the relatively rare feat among sprinters of landing consecutive Group 1s.
When Lethal Force won the 2013 July Cup he became the first European sprinter since Starspangledbanner in 2010 to gain back-to-back Group 1 victories (outside of two-year-old company).
Shaquille on Saturday became just the seventh European sprinter since Lethal Force a decade ago to register consecutive wins in Group 1s (though Battaash, Timeform's highest-rated sprinter in recent times with a peak of 136, won two Group 1s either side of landing a Group 2 at Goodwood so can effectively be added to the list).
In addition to his uneven sectionals, another factor which suggests Shaquille could still improve his Timeform rating of 125+ is that he keeps on winning.
A horse that finishes second will be asked to show their all, whereas that is not necessarily true of a winner who could still have more to offer if seriously pushed. Winning margins of at least a length and a quarter this season raise the prospect that Shaquille may have had something in reserve.
Shaquille failed to beat a rival on his second start in the Acomb Stakes last season, when he was far too keen to last home over seven furlongs, but he has won his six subsequent starts and has rapidly climbed the ladder.
It is rare to see sprinters prove so prolific and suffer so few reversals on their way to the top, even if starting from relatively humble beginnings and progressing through handicaps and conditions races.
Highfield Princess, a three-time Group 1 winner last season, was beaten off a mark of 57 on her handicap debut in 2020 and suffered further reversals off marks of 70 and 77 (albeit over seven furlongs), while Slade Power and Sole Power, two others who won back-to-back Group 1s, were both beaten in an all-weather conditions race at Dundalk early in their career.
A seventh win in a row would see Shaquille achieve something no British or Irish sprinter has this century - assuming Quinault who has also racked up six wins in a row doesn't beat him to the punch! - but it's probably the number of Group 1 wins that will be interesting connections now.
Marchand d’Or, Blue Point and Highfield Princess have all won three Group 1s in a row, while Muharaar stands alone among European-trained sprinters this century with four consecutive victories at the highest level. Whether or not Shaquille joins their ranks remains to be seen, but he has already achieved remarkable things.
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