St Mark’s Basilica earned a Timeform rating of 122p for his victory in Saturday’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, raising the bar yet again in the battle to be crowned the highest-rated two-year-old of 2020.
Held up in the early stages, St Mark’s Basilica travelled strongly before being produced to lead two furlongs out, keeping going well from there to beat stablemate Wembley (119) by three quarters of a length, with favourite Thunder Moon (118p) managing only third.
It looked a fascinating renewal of the Dewhurst on paper beforehand – the 14-strong field featured three of Timeform’s four highest-rated juveniles at that stage – and the form achieved by St Mark’s Basilica is well up to scratch, producing a performance that has been bettered in the race by only Frankel (126 in 2010), Pinatubo (125 in 2019), Too Darn Hot (124 in 2018) and Air Force Blue (123 in 2015) since 2010.
This represented a significant step forward from St Mark’s Basilica on his fifth start, but he had clearly been thought capable of better, notably starting favourite for the Phoenix Stakes when still a maiden. He had also shaped encouragingly when third behind Thunder Moon and Wembley on his previous start in the National Stakes, another Group 1 that ultimately provided the key here, the first three again dominating but this time in reverse order.
Quite what led to the reversal of the placings is open to debate, though Thunder Moon possibly wasn’t seen to best effect given how things developed on Saturday, making his effort earlier than ideal after again impressing with how he went through the race. He remains with potential and is likely make more of a race of it with the pair who beat him here in next season’s 2000 Guineas.
St Mark’s Basilica is likely to remain as favourite for the opening Classic unless something emerges from the Futurity Trophy or the Breeders’ Cup to topple him at the top of Timeform’s two-year-old rankings.
Should that fail to happen, it’s worth pointing out that a rating of 122p would be on the low side for a horse being crowned Timeform’s top two-year-old in Europe – only Harbour Watch (2011), Toormore (2013) and Limato (2014) have taken the title with a lower rating since 2010, each of them having ended the season on 121p.
It’s a similar story in the fillies’ division, one that is headed by Pretty Gorgeous (114p) after she made the breakthrough at Group 1 level in Friday’s Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket. For context, since 2010 only Chriselliam (114 in 2013) has ended the season as Timeform’s highest-rated two-year-old filly without posting a higher rating.
However, she certainly rates an above-average winner of the Fillies’ Mile, coming out on top in what looked a strong renewal on paper, always doing enough to beat the May Hill winner Indigo Girl (112p) in a good time for the conditions.
Minding – Timeform’s top two-year-old filly in 2015 with a rating of 120p – is the only winner of this race obviously superior to Pretty Gorgeous in the last decade, and the first two from this year’s renewal should both have more to offer, likely to be strong contenders for the fillies’ classics next spring and summer.
