Irish flat racing’s showpiece event got a prestige boost with official confirmation that Pinatubo put up the best juvenile performance seen for quarter of a century at the Curragh just over a week ago.
The Pat Smullen cancer trials champions race, which has raised over €2.5 million, inevitably overshadowed everything else during 'Irish Champions Weekend'.
But from a strictly racing perspective it was Pinatubo’s spectacular nine-length victory in the Goffs Vincent O’Brien National Stakes that had purists purring.
The unbeaten Godolphin colt earned comparisons to some of the great two year old champions of the past and on Tuesday came confirmation of that with an exalted 128 rating from the British handicapper.
That’s 2lbs superior to what Frankel earned as a juvenile and it is the best figure recorded since Celtic Swing’s dozen-length romp in the 1995 Racing Post Trophy.
“Celtic Swing was rated 130 with the runner-up Annus Mirabils having previously won the Tattersalls Stakes. Another horse you can compare him to is Xaar, rated 127 after winning the Dewhurst by seven lengths from Tamarisk,” said the British Horseracing Authority’s handicapper, Graeme Smith.
“In my opinion Pinatubo has achieved more than Xaar but not quite as much as Celtic Swing although 128 is his current rating and not his end of season rating.”
Pinatubo is scheduled to have one more race this season in next month’s Dewhurst Stakes, a race Frankel won in 2010.
“We’re not saying he’s a better horse than Frankel. But so far he has achieved more as a two year old than Frankel did.
“Frankel went on to achieve a rating of 136 as a three year old and 140 as a four year old in 2012. So Pinatubo has still got a lot of improving to do to become the horse Frankel was,” Smith added.
