AT the conclusion of a remarkably busy and industrious campaign U S Navy Flag sits atop the two-year-old division in Europe with a rating of 122.

The first horse in 35 years to complete the Middle Park-Dewhurst Stakes double provides Aidan O’Brien with his 10th champion European two-year-old. Unusually for a juvenile champion U S Navy Flag met with defeat on his first four runs, but a Curragh maiden win on Derby weekend was the springboard to a revelatory second half of the season for the War Front colt whose finest hour came when he easily made all the running in the Dewhurst Stakes.

He equals the mark of three other recent champions and betters the 119 rating which topped this division in 2014 and 2011, while it leaves him a few pounds behind several other star juveniles.

Of the 10 highest rated two-year-olds in Europe, six hail from Ballydoyle and 2017 marks the fourth time that Aidan O’Brien has supplied the champion colt and filly.

Clemmie (115) is Europe’s top-rated filly after she ended her season with a clear-cut victory over her new stablemate Different League (110) in the Cheveley Park Stakes.

Churchill’s younger sister is one of the lower rated champion fillies of recent years but there is every reason to believe that there is more to come from her and she unquestionably sets the benchmark for success in the 1,000 Guineas.

On 119, Europe’s second highest-rated two-year-old also hails from Ballydoyle and comes in the shape of the undefeated Saxon Warrior who looks well equipped to challenge strongly for both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby.

The son of Deep Impact followed up a Beresford Stakes win by claiming the Racing Post Trophy in determined fashion from the Royal Lodge Stakes winner and Britain’s top two-year-old, Roaring Lion (118).

Expert Eye who looked such an outstanding talent prior to flopping in the Dewhurst Stakes comes in at 117 which puts him on a par with Jim Bolger’s Irish National Stakes winner Verbal Dexterity.

The now American-based Beckford (113) chased home Verbal Dexterity in the National Stakes and he is the only other Irish two-year-old outside of Ballydoyle to feature in the European classifications.

After making light of his position as a 50/1 chance in the Dewhurst by chasing home US Navy Flag, the subsequent Breeders’ Cup winner Mendelssohn comes in at 116. The manner in which he stepped forward at the end of the season must bode well for his prospects in 2018.

One rather debatable decision is whether Sioux Nation (115), the winner of the Norfolk and Phoenix Stakes, should be rated a pound behind the Gimcrack Stakes victor Sands Of Mali and the Prix Morny scorer Unfortunately. The son of Scat Daddy wasn’t at his best in the Middle Park on his final start of the season but he achieved at the very least as much as the aforementioned pair in winning at Ascot and the Curragh.

The second highest-rated filly in Europe is Charlie Appleby’s Prix Marcel Boussac winner Wild Illusion (114), while the rankings point to Aidan O’Brien having another very strong team of classic fillies to rely on this year. The Moyglare winner Happily (113), stablemate Magical (111) and the Fillies’ Mile second September (112) all feature as likely classic contenders.

Elsewhere, expect more from Gustav Klimt (111) who didn’t get to run again after somehow overcoming a troubled passage to win the Superlative Stakes in the middle of the summer.

France’s highest rated classic hopeful is the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere runner-up Olmedo (113), while an intriguing inclusion is Erasmus (112). He is a rare German inclusion in the two-year-old rankings but certainly warrants his place following an eight-length tour de force in a Group 3 in Cologne in October.