Running Notes
Raced towards the inside, 6-8 lengths off the pace for the majority of the first circuit. Jumped slightly high but without fault on the first circuit. Slightly short of room before 10th, hampered again before 11th, short of room and stewards report states that Wendigo clipped heels with The Big Westerner causing him to stumble and lose balance. Issue relates to Wingmen making a mistake and shifting left which hampered the mare and caused her to move across the line of Wendigo. Considered entirely accidental by the Stewards. Driven to recover and made some headway on the inside, met last with short stride, but kept on to finish 5th, beaten 8-lengths.
Data Summary
Summary
Would Wendigo have won the Albert Bartlett if he had not been hampered? Probably not, but he would almost certainly have finished 3rd. Wendigo ran 14.36s for the 21st furlong (the point at which he stumbled) which was the slowest time of the first 7 horses to cross the line and which cost him 0.94s when compared to the winner. His top speed was slower than Jasmin de Vaux, but he recovered to run 13.28 and 14.04s for the next 2-furlongs, sectional splits that are only bettered by the winner and runner-up. Understandably tires in the final furlong after such an effort, especially when considering that he has lost so much momentum earlier in the race and met the last on a short stride.
His performance can also be upgraded when we consider that he has raced in the centre of the track in the closing stages. There were 7 races run on the New Course over hurdles and each of the winners raced within 3-widths of the stands side rail after the final flight. He lost an average of 6.4% of his speed over his hurdles at Newbury, almost double the 3.5% averaged by The New Lion, but his jumping was much slicker here and although slightly high at some of his hurdles, he landed with momentum consistently. In hindsight, trying to beat The New Lion at Newbury was a very difficult task, but both the Challow hurdle (104.19% Finishing Speed) and the Albert Bartlett (103.55% Finishing Speed) have been run at a decent pace and that clearly suits his stamina.
The horse that benefited most from the conditions on Friday was clearly Jasmin de Vaux. He isn’t a sound jumper and made a mistake at the 3rd last, but with only 2 flights to take in the final 6-furlongs of the race, he was able to use his experience from the Champion Bumper in 2024 to quicken on the best part of the track and the 37.42 mph that he clocked was the fastest in the field. Given everything that went wrong for Wendigo, he has run a remarkable race and I would estimate that he would have finished 3-4 lengths closer had he been able to have a clear run from the top of the hill to the line.
You can find sectional times, stride data, speed statistics and jumping performance metrics on the At The Races RESULTS page.
The global database of sectional times, stride data and performance metrics is available through Total Performance Data.
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