THREE-YEAR-OLDS
HIS season may have begun with a heavy defeat in the Craven Stakes and he also came up short in two classics.
However, subsequently Roaring Lion’s Group 1-winning spree sees him crowned the world champion three-year-old on a mark of 127.
John Gosden’s admirable charge, who only has three horses ahead of him in the world rankings, reeled off a hugely impressive four-timer at the highest level which took in the Eclipse, the Juddmonte International and the Irish Champion Stakes before he came back to a mile to land the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in October.
The son of Kitten’s Joy achieved three of his top level triumphs by a neck – besting old foe Saxon Warrior in two of those races – but it was his dominant three and a quarter-length success over Poet’s World (126) in the Juddmonte which was adjudged to be his best display of the season.
CLASSIC GENERATION
Roaring Lion holds an edge of 2lb over his closest rival amongst the classic generation and second place amongst the three-year-olds goes to the star American colt Justify. After an interminable wait for another Triple Crown winner, American racing has produced two in the last four years, with Justify following on from American Pharoah in 2015.
The latter ended his career on a rating of 134 but Justify comes in at 125, with injury having deprived him of the chance to race on after he became the 13th horse to claim the Triple Crown in early June. Justify’s path to greatness is all the more remarkable when one considers that he didn’t make his racecourse debut until last February.
A rating of 124 brings in two fillies of rare quality and one of these is Jessica Harrington’s Alpha Centauri whose stunning season makes her Ireland’s star flat horse of 2018. After running riot in the fillies’ division with wins in the Irish 1000 Guineas, the Coronation Stakes and the Falmouth Stakes, Alpha Centauri then produced the performance of her career when stepping into open company for the Prix Jacques Le Marois.
She was simply different class at Deauville and given her relentless progress it was such a shame that an injury brought her career to a halt. As an aside, a rating of 117 for her Matron conqueror Laurens looks conservative.
BRILLIANT FILLY
The 124 mark also brings in the brilliant Japanese filly Almond Eye whose flawless campaign concluded with an odds-on success in the Japan Cup. It is the intention of her connections to bring her to Europe for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in October and the daughter of Lord Kanaloa might be the one to finally win the Arc for Japan.
Interestingly, Magical is Aidan O’Brien’s top rated three-year-old of 2018. She ended her season on a high with a Group 1 success at Ascot before achieving her career high mark of 122 with her second to Enable in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. This makes her the equal of the Irish Oaks heroine and Arc runner-up Sea Of Class and it puts her a pound ahead of the 2000 Guineas winner Saxon Warrior, whose defeats behind Roaring Lion were deemed to be his best efforts of the campaign.
A rating of 121 also brings in the Derby winner Masar who is yet another three-year-old to have his season cut short by injury. The St Leger winner Kew Gardens reached 120 and Billesdon Brook is a below average 1000 Guineas winner on 115.
Forever Together, who met with two defeats following her Oaks triumph, comes in at 116. Mendelssohn is assigned a rating of 119 after a season that yielded some brave efforts on dirt.
Last year’s champion European two-year-old U S Navy Flag also comes in at 119 following his July Cup victory. He was rated 122 as a juvenile, in a season which included a Dewhurst Stakes success in record time. He has been retired to stand at Coolmore.