He’d run fast on his previous two starts but was totally outclassed by The Great War (31-pace adjusted 36).

The Great War is a great big mountain of muscle who dwarfed Bwana. He was always cruising and simply cantered away from his rival in the closing stages.

It’s hard to estimate how much further The Great War could have won had Joseph O’Brien ridden him out. But I feel a conservative estimate would be a couple of lengths, and that would push him well into Group 1 territory.

It’s interesting to note that in recent seasons only four other two-year-olds have emulated The Great War’s feat of winning Irish turf two-year-old races on their first two starts before June:

2010 Zoffany

Samuel Morse

2011 Power

2012 Dawn Approach

Three of these four went on to win Group 1 races at two. I doubt you’d find a bookie who’d lay you odds against The Great War making it four from five following this performance.

The reason The Great War is so big, muscular and mature is that he’s an American-bred. My research suggests that American horses have a serious edge in maturity over their European counterparts. So I’d urge caution about taking a short price about The Great War winning next year’s 2000 Guineas. The time to bet him is right now as a two-year-old.

The 23 wins scored by The Great War’s dam and five winning siblings were all on dirt. It therefore makes sense that trainer Aidan O’Brien has kept him to fast ground so far and suggested that the colt prefers this kind of ground. This is the norm for dirt bred horses on turf.

Only one of The Great War’s siblings scored beyond seven furlongs. And he shows such speed that I’d be a little dubious of him doing so.