John Gosden's star juvenile Too Darn Hot has been declared as the Champion European Two-Year-old, registered with a figure that rates him the same as Frankel, when he was about to begin his three-year-old campaign.
The Dubawi colt is already a short-priced favourite for the first two classics of the season featuring the colts: both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby.
He ended an unbeaten campaign with an impressive display in the Dewhurst Stakes on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket and has been rewarded with a mark of 126 in the two-year-old standings, equalling Frankel's from back in 2010.
In the ratings, Too Darn Hot has been rated 5lb better off than any of his closest pursuers, where the unbeaten Charlie Appleby-trained Quorto sits next best on 121. Pretty Pollyanna heads the fillies’ ratings on 116.
Graeme Smith - the BHA’s 2yo handicapper believes Too Darn Hot is simply ‘too darn good’ and signifies out his three predecessors on 126 went on to win 15 Group 1 races between them.
(Credit: Racing Post) Smith said: “I don’t think many would disagree with us that Too Darn Hot is probably one of the great two-year-olds of the last 30 years. In what promises to be an above-average Classic crop he already sets a lofty standard with the potential of better still.
“I think we have been bold and measured at the same time. Of course we had history in mind, and where he is pitched in the pantheon of the greats, but I also rely quite heavily on race standards, times, sectionals and so on so our boldness isn’t without foundation.
“One of the good things about Too Darn Hot was that in the Dewhurst you have Advertise in second, and he had only ever been beaten by Calyx when racing on the other side of the track at Royal Ascot."
Despite John Gosden’s star being a short priced favourite, the quality looks rich in depth in the colt division.