The 12-length Ripon winner who recorded the highest Racing Post Rating for a juvenile debutant in 16 years

The George Boughey-trained Asadna burst towards the top of the Coventry Stakes betting after a wide-margin debut win at Ripon on Sunday – an effort that particularly impressed our Racing Post Ratings team. Here we look back on the newcomer's success . . .

The race

Sunday’s feature races involved Grade 1 action at Auteuil and Group 3 and Listed events at Naas but it transpired there was a not to be missed at Ripon.

Brocklesby runner-up Valadero was trying to win at the third attempt in a six-runner race that looked nothing out of the ordinary.

Karl Burke saddled debutant Strong Request, a 130,000gns yearling purchase, while a similarly six-figure buy made his debut for George Boughey. Despite being partnered by William Buick, he was sent off the 4-1 third favourite.

How it panned out

Debutant Fifty Grand Slater set the pace near the stands’ side rail and he was in a line of three with 11-10 favourite Valadero and 12-1 newcomer Jesmond Dawn at the three-furlong marker.

It was at this point the eye was drawn to Asadna, who was a tad unbalanced early on but travelled really well in behind the short-price market leader. Approaching the two-furlong pole, Buick made his move, pulling Asadna into daylight. The response was impressive.

Buick resorted to the whip just once as Asadna scorched away for a 12-length win over Fifty Grand Slater. The winning time was 0.97sec slower than standard but 0.72sec quicker than last year’s scorer Shouldvebeenaring, who was successful on quicker ground and has gone on to land a valuable sales race and two Listed events.

Asadna was awarded a Racing Post Rating of 106 by our team – the highest figure for a winning newcomer in Britain or Ireland since 2007 and the joint-third highest since 2000. Galileo recorded an RPR high of 113 when a 14-length debut winner of a Leopardstown maiden in October 2000, while Great Barrier Reef, similarly trained by Aidan O'Brien, ran to an RPR of 109 when second in the Gimcrack at York on his first start.

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The analysis

Asadna, who cost 160,000gns at the Craven breeze-ups, is a brother to a 5f two-year-old winner and a half-brother to a 6f winner. He impressed in drawing right away inside the final 2f, being kept up to his work most of the way in an attempt to teach him plenty ahead of his Royal Ascot engagement.
Steffan Edwards

What they said

George Boughey

"He's a lovely horse with a super mind and he was very well prepared at the breeze-ups. I didn't expect him to win as well as he did but we thought he'd run very well.

"He'll go straight to the Coventry, that's the obvious race for him, and it's good to have another nice horse for owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah, who is a big supporter of the yard."

William Buick

"He couldn't have done any more than he did. It's a tough track for a two-year-old, it's very undulating. It caught him out early on but he managed to get himself as balanced as he could. It was first time out so there's improvement there and he did it very well."

What the Racing Post handicapper said

Asadna could hardly have created a better impression in winning by 12 lengths on debut. Performances like that, with little evidence to go on, can be difficult to quantify but an excellent time supports a high view of the form. Asadna achieved a Racing Post Rating of 106, which ranks very highly among ratings achieved by two-year-old debutants. Since 2000, only Galileo, who won by 14 lengths, and Great Barrier Reef, who had greater opportunity having made his debut in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes, have run to higher figures.
Matt Gardner

Ante-post market

Asadna was introduced into the Coventry Stakes betting at 16-1 immediately after his wide-margin success but those odds did not last long.

By Sunday night, Asadna was no bigger than 9-1 for the 6f juvenile event at the royal meeting and the support only continued on Monday.

Asadna is now the general 4-1 second favourite behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained River Tiber, who is a best-priced 3-1 market leader with Coral on the back of wins on his first two starts. He recorded an RPR of 104 on his Navan debut – 2lb shy of Asadna's effort – and ran to an RPR of 107 at Naas on Sunday.