Kay Cee’s career-best Timeform performance continues three-year-olds success in Kingston Town Classic
The Neville Parnham-trained filly Kay Cee (Playing God) [113] staged a career-best Timeform performance when taking out Saturday’s Kingston Town Classic (Gr 1, 1800m) at Ascot, continuing the dominance of three-year-olds in the race of recent years.
After being handily placed on the rails, Kay Cee finished gamely under her light weight (50kg) to defeat the bold front-runner Gailo Chop (Deportivo) [117] by a half-length with Best Of Days (Azamour) [116] a further half-length away third.
Timeform awarded Kay Cee a 113 rating for the victory, her new career peak being a jump of nine pounds on her 104 previous best when runner-up in the WA Guineas (Gr 2, 1600m) at Ascot a fortnight earlier.
The 113 rating, however, did not compare favourably to the standard of recent winners of the race being six pounds below the 119 winners’ average rating over the past five years.
The victory was Kay Cee’s fourth win in eight starts in what proved a triumph for the father and son training and riding combination of Neville and Steve Parnham who took out the race with Kay Cee’s sire Playing God (Blackfriars) in 2010 and 2011.
It also maintained the success of three-year-olds in the Group 1 feature where horses of that age have now won five times over the past nine years.
The other three-year-old winners being the fillies Arcadia Queen (Pierro) in 2018, Perfect Reflection (More Than Ready) in 2015, the gelding Ihtsahymn (Ihtiram) in 2013 and Kay Cee’s sire Playing God, who took out the Group 1 in 2010.
The AJ Scahill Stakes (Gr 3, 1400m) also saw a new career-best performance achieved when the Anne King-trained gelding The Celt (Planet Five) [111] came with a late run to defeat Valour Road (Frost Giant) [109] by a long neck.
Timeform awarded The Celt a 111 rating for the victory, an improvement of four pounds on his 106 previous best – his Group 3 success being his eighth win (12 placings) from 39 starts.
The Celt’s 110 figure also matched the 110 winners’ average rating for the Scahill Stakes over the past five years, highest in that period being Vega Magic (Lope de Vega) [116] in 2016.
Meanwhile at Saturday’s Doomben meeting the David Vandyke-trained mare Frangipani Moon (Spirit Of Boom) [93] made a significant move in her ratings profile by recording her first stakes success in taking out the Just Now Stakes (Listed, 1350m) for fillies and mares.
After enjoying a good trip in seventh place on the rails, Frangipani Moon ran on resolutely along the inner in the straight to overhaul the leader Shalwa (O’Reilly) [91] and score by a half-length.
Frangipani Moon now takes a career-best Timeform rating of 93, a leap of 13 pounds on her 80 previous best when third in a Restricted 70 Handicap (1200m) at her prior start at Eagle Farm on October 26.