THE entire two-year-old season in Britain and Ireland has been crammed into less than a month, and the likelihood is that the leaders of the division are slightly behind where they usually are at the end of Royal Ascot.

Irish-trained juveniles – for which read mostly Aidan O’Brien-trained juveniles – managed just one win and a third from 10 runners in the six races for youngsters, and the suspicion is that there are some better contenders waiting in the wings.

That victory came from Battleground in the Chesham Stakes, and he looks a useful colt, if not yet a Pinatubo or a Churchill, who both took the seven-furlong race in recent years.

His overall time was 1.68s slower than the Jersey winner Molatham’s shortly before, but that is close to what one might expect given their different maturity, and sectionals confirmed that the Chesham had been well-run. Battleground gets a 105 figure from me – the sixth-best by a two-year-old so far this campaign – with runner-up March Law on 98.

The best of the male winners on the clock was, marginally, The Lir Jet, who followed his course-record success at Yarmouth with a more hard-fought but also more meritorious success in the five-furlong Norfolk Stakes, running down the speedy US raider Golden Pal close home.

The ground was on the soft side at this stage and The Lir Jet’s 61.55s translates into a 107 timefigure, with Golden Pal on 106. That has them second-best and third-best among juveniles seen so far, and you can add something like nine to those figures were they to take on older horses in the Nunthorpe Stakes at York due to the generous weight-for-age allowance for that race.

The top performers so far this season

Shock winner

A close second among the colts on 106 was Nando Parrado, the shock winner of the Coventry Stakes on Saturday in a slightly underwhelming time but having gone harder than ideal before that. Runner-up Qaader had really impressed on his debut, and reproduced that 103 figure here despite looking green when it mattered.

The Windsor Castle Stakes is often a poor relative among the Royal Ascot juvenile races, and this year’s winner Tactical rates just about lowest of them on 99, promising though he undoubtedly is after just two starts.

Pride of place overall goes to the Queen Mary Stakes winner Campanelle, who ran notably fast and notably efficiently – the two are related – to deny Sacred on the Saturday, posting a 109 timefigure in the process.

The Wesley Ward-trained filly had been all speed when winning on a firmer turf surface at Gulfstream Park on her only previous appearance, but was sensibly settled in mid-field by Frankie Dettori before getting up late on.

Sacred earned a 106 figure which should see her highly competitive in some of the big two-year-old filly races of the summer.

That may too be the fate of Dandalla, easily the widest-margined juvenile winner of the meeting at six lengths in the Albany Stakes.

However, her overall time (1.82s slower than Golden Horde in the Commonwealth Cup on the same day) is useful rather than better, with sectionals showing that the early pace was too strong. She gets a 100 rating, the eighth-best in the division.