Johnny Barnes has been fast-tracked to the highest level of thoroughbred stakes racing, with the bay colt set to compete in tomorrow’s Critérium International in Paris.

Owned by Bermuda Thoroughbred Racing Ltd (BTR), Johnny Barnes has far exceeded expectations this season, shedding his maiden tag on his debut at Yarmouth in August and winning the Wymeswold Conditions Stakes at Leicester this month.

Sandwiched between those victories was a less glorious day at Goodwood last month, with Johnny Barnes beaten into third place, although his trainer, the venerable John Gosden, said that he has no reservations about giving him his first taste of the big time.

“He’s got a good mind on him, a pretty chilled character and I think travelling and racing over there [in Paris] shouldn’t bother him in the slightest,” Gosden said.

Simon Scupham, a racing enthusiast who teamed up with Highclere, the leading horse syndicate management firm in Britain, to establish BTR, believed that there was nothing to lose by entering Johnny Barnes in a top-level race, even at this embryonic stage of his career.

He admitted that the mile race would be a “huge step up in class” and distance for the two-year-old, who has been drawn in stall two in a field of nine, although the soft ground expected at the Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud could be to his liking.

“It’s near the end of the season, so we were expecting Johnny to be put away for a year,” said Scupham, the chairman of Shoreline Insurance Managers in Hamilton. “This is a shock to us all.

“There’s a lot of top horses entering the race, but the ground is likely to be wet and Johnny loves that.

“It might be a bit too early for him, but if he can finish the season placed in a group one race, that will do well for his breeding [prospects]. Next year, the classic year for three-year-olds, is the big year for Johnny, so there’s nothing to lose if he comes fourth or fifth.” Enjoying such a scintillating start to his career has helped capture the imagination of the Bermuda public, who have taken Johnny Barnes, named after the Island’s legendary morning well-wisher, firmly to their hearts.

Scupham admits that he did not expect the opening chapter of the Johnny Barnes story to have made for such enthralling reading.

“Johnny certainly seems to have caught a lot of people’s imagination,” said Scupham, who has had interests in nearly 100 horses.

“I drove past Johnny Barnes [the person] after the win at Leicester and shouted out ‘You won yesterday, Johnny!’

“I know he likes to pray for Johnny. It’s been a great little story so far.”

Horseshoe Bay, who is part of the same BTR syndicate — the Longtail account — will also be in action about 30 minutes before Johnny Barnes’s race for his debut on the all-weather surface track in the 1.50 at Lingfield in Surrey [10.50am Bermuda time].

Sir Michael Stoute, his trainer, has marked out Horseshoe Bay as “one for the future” because of his raw physical attributes.

“He’s a big scoping horse, tall on the leg and still unfurnished, but he’s a very good mover, a fine athlete,” said Stoute, the most successful Flat trainer in British history.

Scupham added that it was unlikely that Horseshoe Bay, who will be ridden by Shane Kelly, would be visiting the winner’s enclosure in his first run, as that was not Stoute’s style.

“Horseshoe Bay will be a late developer; he won’t be pushed,” Scupham said.

“Sir Michael Stoute rarely has his horses ready to win first time out. It’s all about teaching him what it’s all about.

“He will be put away for the winter after this race.”