The two-year-olds may have taken centre stage at Newmarket this weekend but the most significant performance came from the Classic generation.
At a Newmarket meeting where so much focus is on the two-year-olds, perhaps the most significant performance came from a colt representing the current Classic generation.
Zeus Olympios has come a long way in a short space of time having only made his debut at Kempton in January and improved again to win the Group Two Joel Stakes.
In beating another exciting prospect in Opera Ballo by two-and-three-quarter lengths, he took his rating to 123p – two pounds higher than three-time Group One winner Rosallion.
Reportedly finished for the season, the major mile prizes are set to be on his agenda in 2026, starting with the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury.
Boiling Point was another big winner for Karl Burke and Sheikh Mohammed Obaid, claiming a second successive Cambridgeshire victory for the team in the process. Like stablemate Liberty Lane in 2024, he was defying top-weight when edging out Indalo by a nose.
A return to pattern company is on the cards and he’s likely to make a breakthrough in Group races based on this effort.
He won a Listed race at last year’s Guineas meeting and only went down by a head to King Of Cities in the Group Three Sky Bet Strensall Stakes on his final start before Saturday’s handicap.
He did well to overcome clipping heels with a rival and having to come from last to first to win the Tattersalls Middle Park Stakes, but Wise Approach barely had to improve on the form of his Prix Morny third to do so.
He is now rated 112, up a pound, following the three-quarters-of-a-length defeat of Brussels, with trainer Charlie Appleby indicating he will be campaigned as a sprinter at three, the Commonwealth Cup an obvious summer target.
She was a well-backed 2/1 favourite and, in winning a Group One at the second attempt, True Love also took her master rating up to the tune of four pounds.
Found to be lame following her defeat at 1/4 in the Phoenix Stakes, she justified the market confidence at Newmarket by getting the better of a good tussle with Havana Anna.
Aidan O’Brien expressed reservations about the chances of her staying a mile next season but she could head to America this autumn and the report on her Cheveley Park win said: “There’s a chance that she will aim to emulate Lake Victoria in winning the Breeders' Cup Fillies Juvenile Turf, far from certain to stay 1m on pedigree, though she was relaxed beforehand, travels strongly in her races and was strong at the finish here, all factors could help her stay beyond 6f, particularly in the States.”
BOW ECHO - 110p from 102p
The unbeaten Bow Echo made it three from three with his most significant performance to date in the Tattersalls Online Royal Lodge Stakes.
In beating the Chesham winner Humidity by a length, he also advanced his Timeform master rating by eight pounds to 110p. He looks the sort to improve again with another winter on his back, the report on the race noting: “He reportedly won't run again this season and all roads lead to the Guineas, with no reason to think he's peaked yet."
In becoming the latest pattern-race winner for the late Wootton Bassett, Hawk Mountain also booked a likely tilt at the Futurity Trophy at Doncaster.
He’ll be an interesting runner at Town Moor having shown significant improvement to beat Geryon by three-and-a-quarter lengths, drawing clear inside the final furlong under a positive ride.
Regally bred (he’s a son of British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes winner Hydrangea), he is a very good prospect for next year.
ZANTHOS - 107p from 91p
In comprehensively reversing Leicester form with Touleen and winning the Rockfel Stales by half-a-length, Zanthos saw her master rating rise to 107p while the reporter noted she "will go on improving and is a likely sort for a classic trial in the spring".
Connections pointed to the return to forceful tactics as being the key to her revival and it will be interesting to see how she develops over the winter.
Touleen was below her Leicester level in fifth and seemed ill-at-ease on the track.
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