IN case you have missed it, things are pretty interesting on the other side of the Atlantic, where the US has no Triple Crown winner like American Pharoah this time round but does have a couple of really good older horses in California Chrome and Frosted, as well as two possibly exceptional three-year-olds in Arrogate and Songbird.

Songbird is unbeaten in 10 races, Arrogate is unbeaten since his debut, and California Chrome - who went through the mill in his Triple Crown year and lived to tell the tale - has looked well-nigh untouchable in five starts this campaign as a five-year-old.

Jekyll and Hyde

Frosted, who lived in the shadow of American Pharoah for a long time, has been much more of a Jekyll-and-Hyde character, and it was the turn of the bad (Hyde) to step forward in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga at the weekend.

None of a slightly slow start, a pace that was lukewarm until halfway and a wide “trip” especially helped Frosted, but he still loomed up early in the straight looking all over the winner, only to lug in and get outbattled by horses he had looked likely to go past.

A defeat by a head and the same by Shaman Ghost (rated 120) and the former UAE Derby winner and now Frosted’s stablemate Mubtaahij (rated 121), to both of whom Frosted was conceding weight, is far from a disaster.

But it was still a couple of rungs down on Frosted’s own 134 personal best, achieved when winning the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont in June by a remarkable 14 and a quarter lengths.