Two-year-olds

AS expected the outstanding Pinatubo sits on top of the juvenile rankings for 2019 following his stunning and undefeated six-race campaign, of which the highlight was unquestionably his brilliant performance at the Curragh in the Vincent O’Brien National Stakes.

The display that the son of Shamardal produced at the Curragh was one of those once-in-a-generation efforts and the fact that he ended the season with a rating of 128 should come as no surprise. Indeed such was Pinatubo’s level of dominance that he is rated an unprecedented 10lb clear of his contemporaries in the rankings.

Pinatubo’s rating makes him the highest rated juvenile in Europe for a quarter of a century with the last two-year-olds to be rated higher being Celtic Swing (1994) and Arazi (1991) who were both rated 130.

Since these classifications came into being only the aforementioned pair and Tromos, who was accorded 129 in 1978, have been rated higher than Pinatubo.

Next best on a mark of 118 comes another Godolphin-owned colt in the André Fabre-trained Earthlight.

Another son of Shamardal, he notched up his first Group 1 success when defeating the admirable Raffle Prize (114) in the Prix Morny and he struck again at the highest level with a neck success over Golden Horde (114) in the Middle Park Stakes.

The 118 mark also brings in Andrew Balding’s Kameko who carved out his own piece of racing history when landing the rescheduled Group 1 Vertem Futurity at Newcastle which was the first top level contest in Europe to be staged on an all-weather surface.

He was beaten a neck by Royal Dornoch (110) in the Royal Lodge Stakes before defeating the Beresford Stakes winner Innisfree (111) by three and a quarter lengths at Newcastle.

Leading Irish juvenile

The distinction of being the highest rated Ballydoyle two-year-old of 2019 falls to the Coventry Stakes winner Arizona who comes in at 116. He didn’t get to win again after Ascot but his last start of the year in Europe yielded a highly meritorious two-length second to Pinatubo in the Dewhurst.

Champion filly

A feature of last season was the remarkable strength in depth of Jessica Harrington’s two-year-old fillies and the trainer is responsible for the champion European two-year-old filly in Millisle (115).

After beginning her career in the comparatively humble surrounds of a Bellewstown maiden, this daughter of Starspangledbanner ended the season with a near two-length victory over Raffle Prize in the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes.

The Jessica Harrington-trained Millisle (centre) is the champion European two-year-old filly \ Healy Racing

A rating of 115 is a historically low one for a champion European two-year-old filly but it equals that of Clemmie in 2017 and it lies within one or two pounds of seven other title holders since 2004.

This display enables Millisle to end the season a pound ahead of her stablemate and Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Albigna. A mark of 114 also brings in the undefeated Quadrilateral whose campaign culminated in a hard fought head success over Powerful Breeze (113) in the Fillies Mile.

Unbeaten Siskin

Further Irish interest towards the head of the juvenile standings is supplied by Siskin who was undefeated in four outings for Ger Lyons which climaxed in his Phoenix Stakes triumph over Monarch Of Egypt (111).

Siskin is awarded a mark of 114 which puts him a pound behind Mums Tipple who produced that remarkable effort to win a sales race at York’s Ebor meeting by 11 lengths.

Others to come in at 114 include the dual Group 2-winning Threat, Aidan O’Brien’s Dewhurst Stakes third Wichita and Victor Ludorum whose unbeaten three race season culminated with a triumph in the Group 1 Prix Jean Luc Lagardere.

German juveniles

It is also interesting to see a trio of German juveniles figure prominently. Alson (112) is quite familiar having defeated Armory by a wide margin in the two-runner Criterium International and Rubaiyat (112) was an impressive Group 2 winner in Italy in October.

The last member of this trio and an intriguing prospect is Wonderful Moon (112). He was beaten by Rubaiyat in a Group 3 in October before bouncing back to win a Krefeld Group 3 by a dozen lengths the following month.