EUROPE’S handicappers have placed top-rated colt and filly City Of Troy and Opera Singer among the very best juveniles Aidan O’Brien has ever trained after a memorable season for the Ballydoyle team’s two-year-olds.

O’Brien won an impressive 61 races with his two-year-olds between Ireland (52), Britain (six), France (two) and America (one), though there was definite quality infused in the strong quantity.

He struck in six juvenile Group 1s, five Group 2s and five Group 3s, and, of the 23 two-year-olds with a rating above 105 in Ireland at the end of the season, O’Brien is responsible for 16 of them (70%).

“City Of Troy is the 12th top-rated champion two-year-old in Europe out of a total of 46 champions [since classifications began], so he’s well up the list in terms of his quality,” said Mark Bird.

“For context, he has an equal rating to horses like Zafonic, Fasliyev, Machiavellian and Warning at the same stage of their careers. In this century, it puts him towards the forefront of the list, just behind the likes of Johannesburg, New Approach, Dream Ahead, Frankel, Too Darn Hot and Pinatubo. He’s ahead of everyone else, essentially.

Strong comparison

“In terms of profile, he probably resembles most closely to Shamardal, who had a very similar path to him at two. He ended the 2004 season with a rating of 123. Regarding Aidan’s previous two-year-old champions, he ranks only behind Johannesburg, who was rated 126. He’s equal with Fasliyev and ahead of all of Aidan’s other previous champions. I think that’s high praise indeed.

“Nine of the last 10 winners of the Dewhurst Stakes have now gone on to become European champions. It has cemented itself as the preeminent two-year-old race in Europe. City Of Troy is certainly one of the better winners of that race more recently.”

On O’Brien’s terrific juvenile returns, including nine different two-year-olds in the 2023 European classification, Bird added: “It’s remarkable that City Of Troy is his 13th champion two-year-old. The next best on the list is four, so he’s just dominating the two-year-old landscape in Europe and has done for the past quarter century. Aidan has had a stellar year and it’s the third season in which he has trained six individual Group 1 winners at two. There have been many years when he has had good two-year-olds, but only twice before, in 2001 - when he had a stellar crop that included Rock Of Gibraltar and Hawk Wing - and 2017, has he had this many individual Group 1 winners at two. There’s lots more for him to look forward to in 2024.”

The assessors also gave a strong endorsement of Opera Singer’s talents after a fruitful end to the season, despite the fact they were not entirely convinced by the depth of her Group 1 success on Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe day.

Bird said: “Opera Singer, rated 118, is Aidan’s seventh champion two-year-old filly, and in terms of rankings among all O’Brien champion fillies, she is behind only Minding, who we rated at 120 after her two-year-old career. We have rated her ahead of Found, Maybe, Rumplestilskin, Tenebrism and Clemmie.

“In overall context, 118 is the same rating we gave to Tahiyra last year and in previous years, the likes of Marling, Lemon Souffle and Rainbow View, just to name a few. She’s the first two-year-old filly to achieve champion status after a win in the Prix Marcel Boussac since Found in 2014, and is rated 1lb ahead of her at this point in her career.

“In winning the Prix Marcel Boussac, she equalled the five-length winning margin of Blue Rose Cen from a year earlier and Finsceal Beo in 2006. There are maybe some question marks about the form, but the manner of the win was undeniably very impressive.

“It was a race where position was very important and racing close to the pace was an advantage, so there may be a soft underbelly to the race but I hope we’ve factored that into her rating. I think she’s still a deserving champion.”

Bird added: “A mention goes to Justify too for being the sire of both the champion colt and filly in the two-year-old classification. It’s the first time a stallion has accomplished this achievement since 2005 when Danehill sired George Washington and Rumplestilskin.”