DESPITE failing to appear again after his Tattersalls Gold Cup demolition job back in May, White Birch managed to share the honour of top-rated older colt in Ireland last year with a rating of 122 - matching the mark of Ballydoyle giants Kyprios and Auguste Rodin.

A three-length victory in Ireland’s opening Group 1 contest of the year capped a blacktype treble to begin 2024 for the Chantal Regalado-Gonzalez-owned son of Ulysses. Auguste Rodin, second to White Birch in the Tattersalls Gold Cup, notched the sixth Group 1 of his career in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot on his next start.

Meanwhile, Kyprios enjoyed a perfect season for the Moyglare-Magnier-Tabor-Smith-Westerberg combination. Seven starts in 2024 yielded seven wins, including four Group 1s and the Group 2 Long Distance Cup on British Champions to round off a stellar campaign.

City Of Troy unsurprisingly dominated the classic division rankings in Ireland with his standout rating of 128, while the admirable Porta Fortuna was top of tree among three-year-old fillies domestically on 117.

There was a decent spread of juvenile success at the highest level among Irish trainers in 2024, with the three two-year-old-only Group 1s won by three different stables: Babouche for Ger Lyons in the Phoenix Stakes, Lake Victoria in the Moyglare Stakes for Aidan O’Brien and Scorthy Champ for Joseph O’Brien in the National Stakes. Jessica Harrington also got on the Group 1 juvenile scoresheet with Hotazhell in the Futurity Stakes at Doncaster, and Magnum Force struck at the Breeders’ Cup for Lyons.

Ballydoyle depth

However, the handicappers opted for an all-Ballydoyle look to the Irish two-year-old champions in 2024. According to IHRB handicapper Mark Bird, Lake Victoria (119) is Ireland’s first filly to be crowned overall champion two-year-old domestically since Found in 2014; her rating puts her second only to Minding (120) among Aidan O’Brien’s eight European champion juvenile fillies. Stablemates Expanded and The Lion In Winter (118) achieved their peak performance ratings in Britain and were deemed Ireland’s best juvenile colts.

Overall, 20 Irish-trained horses featured in the European Two-Year-Old Classification; meaning they were rated 110 or higher. This is up from 15 a year earlier, a figure that was close to the average Irish representation since 2000.

The tough-as-teak My Mate Alfie (Ger Lyons) improved considerably as the season went on, and an official mark of 112 makes him the highest-rated three-year-old sprinter in Ireland for 2024. He started the year with a mark of 94. Jack Davison’s She’s Quality (105) came out best of the three-year-old sprinting fillies.

Away from the aforementioned City Of Troy and Porta Fortuna, there was also top-rated joy at their respective distances/sex amongst three-year-olds for Henry Longfellow, Opera Singer, Jan Brueghel, Ezeliya and Grateful.

As for older fillies, globetrotters Warm Heart and Trevaunance, alongside Ebor star Magical Zoe, topped their trip categories, while the recently-retired Luxembourg joined Auguste Rodin, Kyprios and White Birch in the male side of the older rankings at the relative distances.