Royal Ascot 2025 - Rayevka

Commonwealth Cup - Rayevka

This was a career best performance from this daughter of Blue Point. Drawn in stall 10, Mickael Barzalona had decided to shift across towards the stands side group and although Rayevka was last after a couple of furlongs, she finished her race extremely well. Her earlier form had taken a few knocks, but she seemed much better suited to the stronger early pace at Ascot and it’s important to remember that she was thought good enough to run in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket last September. She was no match for Lake Victoria on that occasion, but she has improved as a 3-year-old and whatever conclusions we draw from what looked like a below par running of the Commonwealth Cup, she has proven herself to be one of the best 3-year-old sprinters in France. An initial look at her finishing effort, which included the fastest penultimate furlong in the field in 11.49s, might lead to the conclusion that she needs to go up in trip to 7-furlongs. I think she will stay that far, but she recorded a top speed of 42.03 mph at Ascot and it may be that a strongly run 6-furlongs (this race had a finishing speed of 99%) was the key. At 24.35 ft, her peak average stride length was ranked 8th of 20 and she wasn’t short of speed, but much like her earlier form in France, the start of the race is the area that she needs to improve. At 15.26s, she ran the slowest opening furlong in the race. She did something similar in the Prix Marchand D’Or at Chantilly on her penultimate start, where her opening furlong split of 13.27s was ranked 9th of 10 and if she is going to continue her progression, especially against the older horses later in the year, she will need to find some “gate speed”. I will happily admit that I had underestimated Rayevka and she found far more speed than I thought possible to finish 3rd at Royal Ascot last week. She holds an entry in the Prix Maurice de Gheest which should suit, though the presence of Lazzat is more than enough to make me think she won’t win that race. However, she took her form to a new level last week and should find plenty of other opportunities in the future.