| Top 2yos (purely as 2yos) from last 37 years | ||||
| Some notes appear after the table. All animals were colts, none denoted as 'f' for filly | ||||
| Form | Horse | CR | ||
| 1111111- | Johannesburg (2001, Ir) | 133 | ||
| 21111111- | Arazi (1991, Fr) | 132 | ||
| 1011211- | Rock Of Gibraltar (2001, Ir) | " | ||
| 1111111- | My Swallow (1970)* | 131 | ||
| 11111 | New Approach (2007, Ir) | 131 | ||
| 112111- | Mill Reef (1970)* | 130 | ||
| 11111- | Teofilio (2006, Ir) | " | ||
| 1011212- | Holy Roman Empire (2006, Ir) | " | ||
| 111111- | Hector Protector (1990, Fr) | 128 | ||
| 11211- | Xaar (1997, Fr) | " | ||
| 11311- | Dashing Blade (1989) | " | ||
| 31111- | George Washington (2005, Ir) | " | ||
| 2111- | American Post (2003, Fr) | " | ||
| 1012112- | Oratorio (2004, Ir) | " | ||
| 1 2 etc. = underscore means placed in a Group 1 race. | ||||
| * Top races were not called Group 1s at the time of My Swallow and Mill Reef. | ||||
| The above table lists the 2yo's with the highest Capital Ratings over the last 35+ years. My Swallow, on a Capital Rating of 131, reigned supreme at the top of the ratings for 20 years from 1970 to 1990. Unbeaten in seven races at two, My Swallow's achievements included victory over the emergent legend Mill
Reef. My Swallow was eventually displaced by the French sensation Arazi in 1991. Arazi's staggering, then-unprecedented record of four juvenile-Group 1
wins on the bounce, culminating in a then unique and thorough thrashing of the top US 2yo's in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
That race was a tough, end-of-season test that did not exist in the days of Mill Reef and My Swallow. Arazi racked up an amazing juvenile rating of 132. It was then another ten years before Arazi's figure was topped, this time by Johannesburg's seven wins on the bounce, including a match of Arazi's four Group 1s (also including the Breeder's Cup Juvenile). Can records like those of Johannesburg and Arazi
ever be beaten? In the long period since 1990, when the UK's Dashing Blade* clocked up a figure of 128 as a juvenile, the topmost rankings have been completely dominated by French-trained and Irish-trained 2yo's. It is nigh time that came to an end! * Dashing Blade was, of course, the colt that went on the following season to become famous as "the unluckiest horse never to win the Epsom Derby" after being expected to do a physically impossible 60 mph to come from last to first round Tattenham Corner - and almost managing it! Not once since Mill Reef's magnificent two seasons in 1970/71 has any subsequent horse been an outstanding champion at two and gone on to do quite as much at three. That is the defining factor why not one of the other fantastic champion juveniles in our table managed to become legendary household-names in quite the same enduring way Mill Reef did. |
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