Camelot and Dabirsim joint top two-year-olds
Aidan O’Brien’s Camelot, hot favourite for the Investec Derby after sweeping away with the Racing Post Trophy, was given a rating of 119 by the handicappers of Europe and could not be split from Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere winner Dabirsim, who is trained in France by Christophe Ferland.
They fall far short of what was considered quite a controversial decision a year earlier, when Frankel and Dream Ahead topped the standings on 126, and are the lowest-rated champion juveniles since the European classifications began in 1985.
The British Horseracing Authority’s two-year-old handicapper Matthew Tester said: “A year ago we had Frankel and Dream Ahead on 126 and those were exceptionally high figures – in my 15 years we only had Xaar running above that.
“What was different this year was that there wasn’t possibly a performance that could compare with what happened 12 months earlier.
“But that doesn’t mean we are in for a rubbish year. Bago, who was the lowest-rated champion two-year-old in my time in the job, went on to win three Group Ones and made a major impact on the season.
“What we are saying is none of them stamped themselves as being head and shoulders above the competition.
“Either these horses will show us a different level of form this year, or something else is going to step up to the plate.”
On the top two, Tester said: “Camelot won a Racing Post Trophy by two and a quarter lengths but in the style of a horse that might have won by further and we decided it was worth a 7lb margin.
“You could quite possibly say Camelot is a lot better (than his rating), but you are then in the realms of speculation and you can only look at the field he was beating.
“I strongly suspect neither Camelot nor Dabirsim will be turning up for the Guineas. Dabirsim could go for the French Guineas, while it’s unusual for Aidan O’Brien’s Derby horses to start off over a mile. I strongly believe they will start Camelot at 10 furlongs.”
Irish handicapper Garry O’Gorman agreed: “If Camelot goes to Newmarket, we could be looking at a very serious horse.”
Tester also thinks highly of Richard Hannon’s Harbour Watch, who was among those just in behind on 117, along with O’Brien’s Daddy Long Legs and Power, and the Jim Bolger-trained Parish Hall.
“For most of the year I expected Harbour Watch to be champion two-year-old but he suffered a leg injury,” Tester said.
“I expected him to be a major player in the top races and there’s a chance he won’t fulfil that level, but I’m looking forward to seeing him try.”
There was also a tie for champion two-year-old filly with John Gosden’s Prix Marcel-Boussac winner Elusive Kate and O’Brien’s unbeaten Maybe, who took the Moyglare Stud Stakes, both rated 116.
The handicappers, who announced their findings in London yesterday, offered up some potential improvers to watch and Tester likes Bonfire and Most Improved as dark horses for the Classic season.
O’Gorman believes O’Brien has a particularly strong team and picked out Kissed, Was and Twirl from the fillies and Apollo and Imperial Monarch from the lesser-known colts.
He also felt Akeed Mofeed should not be discounted, as John Oxx’s occasional runners in the Beresford Stakes tend to go on to good things.
