PLENTY has been written and said about U S Navy Flag since his Darley July Cup victory at Newmarket last Saturday, and there are many aspects of the performance that set it apart.

Aidan O’Brien’s horse was racing for the 16th time in his relatively short life on Saturday, and for the eighth time at Group 1 level. He was taking on his elders for the first time, and he beat them well.

Of course, it is not unprecedented for a three-year-old to win the July Cup. On the contrary, the classic generation have a decent recent record in the race, and it appears that their record is being enhanced by the relatively recent introduction of the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Two of the previous three July Cup winners had come via the Commonwealth Cup, a race that was only inaugurated in 2015.

But when the first Commonwealth Cup winner Muhaarar won the Newmarket race in 2015, he was racing for just the ninth time.

When the 2017 Commonwealth Cup runner-up Harry Angel won the July Cup last year, he was racing for just the sixth time.

U S Navy Flag raced 11 times last year as a juvenile and, with the exception of his final run in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar in November, his first run on dirt, and a forgettable run in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, he improved with every run.

LONGEVITY AND TOUGHNESS

So of his 11 runs as a juvenile, nine of them were career-bests. The War Front colt has longevity and he has toughness and he has pace and he has class. He won the Middle Park Stakes and the Dewhurst Stakes, two of the defining races of the juveniles’ European Pattern.

A full-brother to triple Group 1 winner Roly Poly, he had already raced four times this season before Saturday, each time without success, and he has in danger of being labelled a juvenile only, although his run to finish second behind Romanised in the Irish 2000 Guineas was a high-class effort.

It was that effort that undoubtedly convinced Aidan O’Brien and Team Ballydoyle that he was worth another shot at a mile, that the St James’s Palace Stakes rather than the Commonwealth Cup was the race for him at Royal Ascot.

But he is an aggressive racer. It is difficult to stretch his aggression out over a mile, even around a bend. Easier to allow him jump and run over six, which is exactly what Ryan Moore did on Saturday.

His route from Ballydoyle to July Cup glory via the Irish Guineas and longer distances at Royal Ascot is not unprecedented. Mozart finished second in the Irish 2000 Guineas in a Ballydoyle 1-2-3 in 2001, then won the Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot over seven furlongs before going to Newmarket and landing the July Cup. Stravinsky didn’t run in the Irish Guineas, and he could only finish fourth in the Jersey Stakes before he won the July Cup in 1999.

Aidan O’Brien’s other July Cup winner, Starspangledbanner, originated in Australia, which is apparently where U S Navy Flag is heading now.