One of the stories of the flat year has been the remarkable start to the stallion career of Mehmas, who is miles ahead in the race to be the leading first-season sire.
Having sired 41 winners, he has nearly triple the total of his nearest pursuer, Kodi Bear (14), and three of his four highest-ranked sons on Racing Post Ratings line up in the Sept. 26 Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes (G1), bidding to give him a first group 1.
Minzaal and Supremacy share the honor of being top-rated, having both achieved RPRs of 114 when winning their latest starts.
Minzaal scored an impressive success in the Al Basti Equiworld Dubai Gimcrack Stakes (G2), but only one winner of that York race has come on to land this in the last 10 seasons, and that was Astaire in 2013.
"We chucked him in at the deep end a bit in the Gimcrack, but he didn't let us down and did it nicely," said Minzaal's trainer, Owen Burrows. "This was always the obvious next step. This is the best of the bunch this year in the 2-year-old sprinting division, and we'll see where we sit in that division. God willing, we're at the top of it."
Supremacy represents the Qatar Richmond Stakes (G2) form, and only one winner of that race, Shalaa in 2015, has gone on to land this since 2010.
However, Mehmas himself finished third here after winning at Goodwood, and Golden Horde was a neck second last year for Supremacy's stable after his Richmond victory. Evidently, it has become a route trainer Clive Cox likes to take with his best juveniles.
One link between Minzaal and Supremacy is that, while both won impressively last time, neither of those races is working out particularly well. Only one subsequent winner has emerged from the Gimcrack and Richmond combined, and that was Bombardier Flying Childers Stakes (G2) scorer Ubettabelieveit, who failed to show his best behind Minzaal at York and finished tailed off.
It appears they were substandard runnings, so both horses will probably need to step up again.
Method is the third representative for Mehmas, and he is arguably the most exciting juvenile lining up this weekend. He comes with a tall reputation and is already on his way to fulfilling it.
The Martyn Meade-trained colt achieved an RPR of 106 when winning the listed Bet365 Rose Bowl Stakes at Newbury last time, but that race has worked out nicely. The well-beaten runner-up, Mighty Gurkha, has since won a group 3 at Kempton, and he was well clear of the rest at Newbury.
Method might have won in a lower grade than Minzaal and Supremacy, but his was a strong race for the class and he can be considered a lot closer to them than the RPRs suggest.
Ryan Moore rode Method first time at Doncaster, Oisin Murphy took over at Newbury last time, but it's Frankie Dettori who gets the call for the big day, and he has been associated with Meade's best horses. Dettori is 6-18 for the stable and 3-8 in group 1s, with all three wins on stable star Advertise. Let's just hope the rain stays away and Method runs.
