Native Trail has today been Europe’s best two-year-old colt of 2021 with a mark of 122, capping a remarkable year for the Godolphin organisation and his trainer, Charlie Appleby.
A son of Oasis Dream, Native Trail was purchased from the Tattersalls Craven Breez-Up Sale for 210,000gns before going on to record a remarkable, undefeated juvenile campaign comprising four starts.
Having broken his maiden at Sandown in June, Native Trail landed the Group 2 bet265 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket’s July Festival. A short break followed prior to a double Group 1 strike in the autumn, firstly taking out the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes at the Curragh before returning to Newmarket to win the Darley Dewhurst Stakes on the
Rowley Mile.
In topping the Classification, Native Trail becomes the eight consecutive winner of Newmarket’s end-of-season showpiece to do so, albeit the colt’s best performance on the figures was posted in the National Stakes.
Native Trail also boasts a remarkable 7lbs gap back to the next best juveniles of the season,a clutch of horses on a mark of 115. Only Pinatubo [10lbs, 2019] has separated himself from the pack to such an extent, although Native Trail’s 122 is below this century’s average peak figure of 123.
Coroebus, also trained by Charlie Appleby, features among the 115 juveniles, along with the Ralph Beckett-trained Angel Bleu, as well as Dubawi Legend, Luxembourg and Perfect Power.
BHA Handicapper Graeme Smith said:
“Native Trail is a worthy Champion, having been one of the star performers of an incredible year for his stable. His performance in the National Stakes was very impressive and in following up with victory in the Dewhurst Stakes, he confirmed himself a colt of high quality.
“That said, 2021 cannot be described as a vintage year for two-year-olds in terms of performance ratings. A total of 42 horses have made this list and only once, when there were 40 in 2019, have there been fewer, so we can deduce that talent was quite thinly spread at the top end last year.”
Europe’s leading fillies of 2021 are Inspiral, owned by Cheveley Park Stud and trained by John & Thady Gosden, and Tenebrism, trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Westerberg/Coolmore/Merribelle Stables partnership. The pair also achieved marks of 115, the former wrapping up her season with victory in the Group 1 bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket and the latter taking the same venue’s Group 1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes.
IHRB Senior Handicapper Garry O’Gorman commented – ‘’ Tenebrism graduatedfrom her maiden win nearly six months earlier to Group 1 success in stunning fashion and is the fifth juvenile filly trained in Ballydoyle to achieve the mantle of European champion (or joint champion) juvenile filly in the last 11 years following in the footsteps of Maybe (116)(2011) , Found (117)(2014), Minding(120)(2015) and Clemmie (115) (2017) ‘’
Notes to editors:
1. The full European Two-Year-Old Classification can be found here.
2. A full list of Irish, European and World Thoroughbred Rankins can be found here.
3. The European Handicappers meet annually at the direction of the European Pattern Committee to discuss and agree the European two-year-old rankings. Two-year-olds are included in the Classification if they put up a performance in Europe rated at 110 or more or if they perform to this level outside of the Continent whilst trained in Europe. The Classification does not form part of the LONGINES WORLD’S BEST RACEHORSE RANKINGS and is published for informational purposes.
4. The two-year-old Classification was first published in 1978