In the first part of a series examining the state of play in each division, Tony McFadden outlines how the two-year-olds rank based on Timeform ratings.
The first Group 1 of the season for juveniles took place at the Curragh on Saturday and it would be a surprise if we saw a better performance in the division this year than the one Little Big Bear put up to win the Phoenix Stakes.
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Little Big Bear earned a Timeform rating of 126p for his impressive seven-length defeat of July Stakes winner Persian Force (109), and few juveniles this century have recorded higher end-of-season ratings.
Pinatubo was awarded an end-of-season rating of 134, which made him Timeform's highest-rated juvenile since Celtic Swing in 1994, when he landed the 2019 National Stakes by nine lengths.
Frankel (133p), Dream Ahead (129), Air Force Blue (128p), New Approach (127), Johannesburg (127), Lady Aurelia (127) and Too Darn Hot (127), are the only other European-trained juveniles this century to have recorded an end-of-season rating higher than 126, while, for further context, last year's champion juvenile Native Trail was rated 122p.
Little Big Bear, who was Aidan O'Brien's 17th winner of the Phoenix Stakes, will of course have the opportunity to raise his rating further before the season concludes. One who won't be seen again this season is Coventry Stakes winner Bradsell (114p), who has been ruled out for the campaign after suffering an injury in the Phoenix.
Bradsell was only fourth in the Phoenix but, given he returned injured and was immediately on the backfoot after stumbling at the start, it's not difficult to overlook that effort. His Coventry Stakes form has worked out well - the second, third and fourth have all won Group 2s.
The highest-rated two-year-old filly is Queen Mary winner Dramatised (110p). She had created an excellent impression on her debut at Newmarket in April and built on that at Royal Ascot to run out a decisive winner, putting up the best performance in the race since Lady Aurelia in 2016.
The only fillies who earned a higher Timeform performance rating in the Queen Mary this century are three of the US winners - Jealous Again, Acapulco and Lady Aurelia - and Attraction, a subsequent multiple Group 1 winner.
Sharing a rating of 110p are two unexposed colts in the care of Charlie Appleby, the man who has been responsible for the champion juvenile in two of the last three seasons.
Noble Style was forced to miss Royal Ascot after tests showed some unsatisfactory blood results but he would have been a leading contender for the Coventry Stakes based on the form of his Ascot debut success, when he beat three next-time-out winners, including Royal Scotsman (110) in fourth.
After improving to get off the mark in a Goodwood novice Royal Scotsman finished third in the Coventry before returning to Goodwood to land the Richmond Stakes, establishing himself among the upper echelons of the division.
Noble Style was given a lower-key assignment during Goodwood week, reappearing in a Newmarket novice, but he was still up against a promising type in Mill Stream and impressed with how he managed to overhaul that rival close home despite lacking something in sharpness.
Appleby has also taken a quiet approach with Naval Power who won novices at Yarmouth and Leicester before tackling listed level at Ascot's King George meeting a couple of weeks ago. He won by six and a half lengths at Ascot, producing a performance that saw him jump to the head of the 2000 Guineas market before Little Big Bear leapfrogged him to that position.
Aidan O'Brien has fared particularly well with his juveniles so far this season, operating at a 36% strike-rate, and in addition to Little Big Bear he also has Blackbeard (109+) and Meditate (106p) taking high rank in the division.
Blackbeard had to settle for fourth in the Coventry Stakes (he has subsequently won the Prix Robert Papin) but Meditate won the Albany Stakes to take her unbeaten record to three, beating subsequent Duchess of Cambridge Stakes winner Mawj (105).
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