Too Darn Hot named champion two-year-old and rated equivalent to Frankel

Too Darn Hot has been confirmed the champion European Two-Year-old with a mark that rates him the equal of Frankel, Dream Ahead and New Approach at the same stage of their careers and places him head and shoulders above his contemporaries.

The John Gosden-trained Dubawi colt, who is a hot favourite for both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, ended an unbeaten four-race juvenile campaign with an impressive defeat of Advertise in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket and has been awarded a figure of 126 in the European two-year-old classifications.

His rating is the highest for a juvenile since Frankel and Dream Ahead shared top honours in 2010, and has not been bettered since Xaar was given a mark of 127 after landing the 1997 Dewhurst by seven lengths.

Watch Too Darn Hot win the Dewhurst Stakes

Too Darn Hot has been rated 5lb superior to his closest rival, the unbeaten Charlie Appleby-trained Quorto, who is also unbeaten. Pretty Pollyanna heads the fillies’ ratings on 116.

The BHA’s lead two-year-old handicapper Graeme Smith, who finalised the ratings in association with Mark Bird of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, is in no doubt that Too Darn Hot is an exceptional talent and points out his three predecessors on 126 went on to win 15 Group 1 races between them.

Smith said: “I don’t think many would disagree with us that Too Darn Hot is probably one of the great two-year-olds of the last 30 years. In what promises to be an above-average Classic crop he already sets a lofty standard with the potential of better still.”

He added: “I think we have been bold and measured at the same time. Of course we had history in mind, and where he is pitched in the pantheon of the greats, but I also rely quite heavily on race standards, times, sectionals and so on so our boldness isn’t without foundation.

“One of the good things about Too Darn Hot was that in the Dewhurst you have Advertise in second, and he had only ever been beaten by Calyx when racing on the other side of the track at Royal Ascot.

"Anthony Van Dyck, who was third in the Dewhurst, had pulled miles clear with Quorto in the National Stakes, and Mohawk, who was one of those behind that day, went on to win the Royal Lodge. So we had the form lines where horses had drawn clear of Group horses in Group 1 races, and still Too Darn Hot kicked them out of the way.

“The foundations were there for a big figure right from the start and, although the last published mark was 125, I always had it in mind that he might be 126. When Mark and I got together at the end of the year we were both leaning that way.”

Quorto’s figure comes from that defeat of Anthony Van Dyck, and Bird said: “Quorto put up the best performance by a juvenile in Ireland in 2018, following in the footsteps of his sire Dubawi in winning both the Superlative Stakes and the National Stakes, and he rates just 1lb below his sire as a two-year-old on 121.”

Quorto: star Godolphin rated 121 after National Stakes victoryCredit: Edward Whitaker

He added: “The leading Irish-trained juvenile was Aidan O’Brien’s Ten Sovereigns, who completed an unbeaten season with a defeat of Jash in the Middle Park and ends the year on a rating of 120.”

Pretty Pollyanna came to prominence with a dominant performance in Newmarket’s Duchess of Cambridge Stakes in July before a hard-fought success in the Group 1 Prix Morny in Deauville. Although she failed to carry that level of form through to two autumn Group 1 races, her peak mark of 116 remains the benchmark in the fillies division, 2lb ahead of Morny runner-up Signora Cabello and Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Skitter Scatter.

Overall, 44 juveniles achieved a rating of 110 or above in 2018, compared to an average since 2010 of 47. There was an even split between British and Irish-trained horses at 20 each, continuing a trend of increasing depth in Ireland, with this year’s total bettered only in 2011.

Three French-trained colts in the classification are headed by Andre Fabre’s 114-rated Persian King, in whom Godolphin have bought a half-share. The Kingman colt impressed when beating the subsequent Magna Grecia (113) in the Autumn Stakes.

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