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.