IRELAND

A LANDMARK year for Aidan O’Brien was as evident at home, as it was abroad, as the Ballydoyle trainer supplied a host of the country’s divisional champions and claimed four of the five Irish classics.

Indeed O’Brien was responsible for some 76 horses who were rated 100 or higher which underlined the depth of talent at his disposal throughout the season.

Churchill, Highland Reel and Order Of St George were this year’s top-rated Ballydoyle runners on 123, while the likes of Winter (119), Capri (120), Caravaggio (120) all ended the season as the top-rated Irish runners in their respective disciplines.

Among the other title holders under O’Brien’s care was Minding.

She was restricted to just one outing but her comfortable success over Moonlight Magic in the Group 2 Mooresbridge Stakes was sufficient to see her crowned the champion European older mare with a rating of 120.

In winning both the Tattersalls Gold Cup and the Irish Champion Stakes, Decorated Knight was by far the most successful English raider to visit these shores in 2017.

Meanwhile, Karl Burke’s Quiet Reflection (115) was deemed to have produced the second best display by an older female sprinter in Ireland for the last 30 years when she won the Group 3 Renaissance Stakes at Naas in September.

Elsewhere, the leading older male sprinter was the lightning-quick Tony Coyle inmate Caspian Prince (114) who beat Marsha to win the Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh in July.

Meanwhile, the strength of a vintage Matron Stakes, which was the world’s best filly and mares’ race in 2017, was amply advertised by Persuasive.

She achieved a mark of 114 when finishing third to Hydrangea – this enabled her to share the honour of the leading older female miler in Ireland with Somehow – before going to land the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, after which she was rated 118.

Dermot Weld’s American Grade 1 heroine Zhukova ended the year on 115, while Laganore replicated her 2016 mark of 109 even she claimed a breakthrough success at Group 1 level in Italy in the autumn.

Willie Mullins was responsible for his share of highly rated runners with the Melbourne Cup third Max Dynamite and Wicklow Brave both coming in at 113.

Their Royal Ascot-winning stablemate Thomas Hobson, who was an unlucky sixth in Melbourne, is rated 110 and remains a coming force in the staying division.

On the two-year-old front, Aidan O’Brien was especially dominant and only two juvenile outside of Ballydoyle were able to break through the 110 mark.

Alpha Centauri couldn’t match her early season form in the Moyglare Stakes but there is more to come from her and expect her to better a rating of 109 which makes her the highest-rated juvenile filly outside of Ballydoyle.

Of the unexposed two-year-olds with ratings Amadeo Modigliani (99) looks a standout prospect for 2018.

He followed up a nice debut run with an ultra smooth triumph at Galway and he could easily progress into a classic candidate.

The various statistical reports on 2017 also produced a couple of other interesting points.

Johnny Feane’s Not A Bad Oul Day was the winningmost flat horse in Ireland over the course of the season with six victories. He ended the year rated 90 having been 54 at the outset of the season.

The most handicap wins by one horse over the course of 2017 was achieved by Tom McCourt’s Ben Rumson (65) who notched up five triumphs.