Everyone (rightly) praising Aidan O’Brien’s training performance in getting August Rodin to bounce back from his 2000 Guineas flop, but Roger Varian with King of Steel arguably an even more impressive feat of training.
Work on the Timeform/SportingLife Two-Year-Old Guide is complete and a PDF is just being put together, which will be free to view/download imminently.
You will be able read about 2yos from the following people
Hopefully an interesting list of 2yos for people scan through - took a fair while to collate. Some typically gorgeous pedigrees included among the 100 listed.
💬 “Briden has left very few stones unturned to provide expert opinion from a huge swathe of the training ranks in Britain and Ireland”
An informative and engaging way to get the lowdown on this year's juvenile crop 👇
Delighted to have finally turned over the 2022 Two-Year-Old Guide.
One or two absentees in the end, but 50 people interviewed in total. I also managed to track down most of John & Thady Gosden’s 2yo string.
Includes ✍🏻 from
@Laurajoy01
&
@jhchevaux
and 📸 from
@FrancescaJane_x
.
Thanks to all those that have enquired about the Two-Year-Old Guide. I can confirm there will indeed be one this year. More details soon, but the work is well underway.
Interviews commence towards the end of April with the aim of getting it out there circa Dante meeting week.
Never seems to get mentioned but the owners of Sir Dancealot must be amongst the best in the game in terms of what they get for their money. As well as SD, they own Speculative Bid, Ripp Orf, Desert Skyline and Master The World. Rarely go above 50k at the sales.
“We needed a cold snap and a few AW bumpers - sadly that hasn’t happened. Hopefully we can now find a nice, quiet gallops morning for him somewhere” posited a visibly shaken Henderson having recently noticed his own shadow on the floor.
Terrific scenes at Sedgy. A Rebecca Menzies treble and all for landlord John Wade. Amazing what happens when she is given the ammo. Two more chances for her later on at Newcastle, including Twisted Dreams who’s favourite in the 6.45
Doing the 2yo guide can be a rather demoralising process at times. The attitude of some - and I’ll stress that it’s a few, not all - for merely wanting information on horses in training (not even any quotes on them!) is curiously taciturn.
Delighted to have turned over The Two-Year-Old Guide to the design team after an intensive fortnight of work.
As you can see, plenty of people covered. I also look at the bigger yards who were unable to offer quotes including that of John & Thady Gosden.
Fantastic to see John Leeper win so well there at Newcastle. Both his parents were multiple Group 1 winners and he is named after the late John Dunlop. It would be lovely if he could be a good one.
I see the utterly classless “I know something you don’t” mob are at it again, milking prior knowledge of a tragedy via veiled tweets. Crass in the extreme.
I’ve kindly had a few people asking about the Two-Year-Old Guide. There will be a series of stable tour-like features running throughout May and June on
@SportingLife
. This allows for two of the main breeze up sales to pass and the later-maturing 6f+ 2yo horses a bit more time.
Maid In Manhattan an excellent illustration of the training abilities of Rebecca Menzies. Now 5-8 for the yard on the Flat having arrived a tricky 17-race maiden.
She was undoubtedly well treated from a mark of 46, but to win a Series final off 74 four months on is no mean feat.
Will be interested to see how Lasting Legacy fares in the next at Newcastle. Has offered a bit on both starts and is a half sister to a course winner. Risk she’s there for a mark on third run, but the extra furlong suggests that perhaps isn’t uppermost in connections’ thoughts.
A very busy past four weeks putting the Two-Year-Old Guide together. Very thankful to everyone that has helped.
Below are the trainers that were interviewed, the industry members that shared their thoughts and the yards that didn’t contribute but whose 2yos are included.
Here’s a look at 30 two-year-olds from the Sir Michael Stoute stable.
It includes offspring of past stable stars such as Echelon, Estimate and Queen’s Trust, whilst there are also relations to Bay Bridge, Nostrum and Toormore in there.
Delighted to finally have this out there - completed version to follow next week and the book itself a little after that, all being well.
A huge effort from a reduced team to get this together within seven weeks or so. Hopefully it’ll prove an informative read.
The enhanced online version of the book has finally been published. 299 pages!
@DanBriden
has put in some serious effort to get this together and it looks fantastic. Well worth a purchase and a read in preparation for the season finally getting underway.
Some potentially informative two-year-old races taking place on Wednesday. There may even be a few last-minute Ascot clues courtesy of some expensive breeze up recruits.
Please now find the full guide via the link provided here (think you may need a SL log in):
A big thanks to everyone who has supported and helped with this year’s edition.
There’ll be lots of talk about the favourite, but that’s a huge training performance from the Kublers with Astro King. Winning a Cambridgeshire from a mark of 107 with one bought out of the Stoute yard who’d finished last on his final two outings of last season. Superb.
It was really good to catch up with Karl Burke earlier in the week. Not a bad starting point for this year’s 2yo guide interviewees. We discussed around 40 of his juveniles, including Saturday’s impressive debut scorer Elite Status.
Thanks for all the messages re Red Kelly. Much appreciated, as always. Good to see him take a big step forward from his maiden runs and a fair bit more on top.
What a lovely start that was from Queen For You. Replicates what her smart siblings and dam did first time out. Another good 3yo prospect for Normandie Stud, following on from Gregory on Saturday.
Worth noting QFY was handed a Coronation Stakes entry earlier this afternoon.
A 6yo, 25-race maiden with an official rating of 30! Some ‘interesting’ syndicates popping up lately, but fair play to them if they get something out of this mare.
Wildly impressive debut victory there at Goodwood from Estrange. 425k yearling Night of Thunder filly out of an unraced half-sister to Logician among others. Had originally been trained by the Gosdens - wonder what led to her being switched to O’Meara after seeing that!
Tabou Beach Boy’s win at Musselburgh takes Rebecca Menzies past the £1m mark in total career prize money. Fitting that it came with a relatively unfancied one in the colours of great supporter John Wade.
Appalling and profoundly sad news about Pat Smullen tonight. He fought a wretched illness with such dignity and courage. Thoughts to all those close to him.
For all it was a good ride, The Lion In Winter really ought not to be achieving this level of form over 7f this early in his career. Really exciting to see what he can achieve over further.
Perhaps refraining full stop from trumpeting a £135,000 purchase being gifted the race by the leader breaking down fatally at the line would’ve been advisable on this occasion. Crass.
Red Kelly in the 6.30 at Leopardstown tomorrow one I’ve been waiting to see in handicaps.
He has been uncompetitive in a trio of maidens, dropped right out and making some late gains for considerate handling on his return/qualifying run in a strong C&D maiden won by Tiger Moth.
Fantastic to see Miss Calculation make an impressive winning debut for
@RebeccaEMenzies
at Doncaster. Her first ever winning 2yo newcomer. More proof that she can train just about anything when given the material.
@icyestretro
“Had a grand day today, landing two accas and my NAP coming in at 8/1 (adv 14s, link to tipping site in bio - just £10 p/m for new subscribers!). Booom! However, we mustn’t forgot the losses of the past 24 hours which puts it all into perspective. So sad.”
It looks like we might get to see Kind’s final foal/Frankel’s 2yo half-brother for the first time this weekend. Kikkuli (by Kingman) has been given an entry in the 7f novice event at Newbury on Saturday.
As usual, the Ballydoyle 2yo string is replete with beautifully-bred individuals. Some very familiar names among the pedigrees of the 75 juveniles covered.
Rebecca Menzies (seven of her last 20 runners have won) and Sam England (4-6 in past fortnight, with the two beaten runners finishing 2nd) a couple of trainers in rare old form of late. Hopefully both receive additional support given their efforts with lesser/soured horses.
The 1m 2yo maiden contested on Newmarket’s July course in mid-August (the 12th this year) has seen winning debuts for the following:
Motivator (2004)
Frankel (2010)
Roaring Lion (2017)
Coroebus (2021)
Incidentally, Coroebus has a 2yo half-brother by Shamardal called Pherenikos.
Finally got there! Hopefully it proves an informative and worthwhile read. Already been some nice winners amongst those quoted by their trainers, including
@jrmillman
’s Cuban Mistress at Sandown last night.
Maid In Manhattan now 6-9 and
@RebeccaEMenzies
passes the £100,000 mark for prize money this Flat season and is now just over £40,000 away from surpassing £1m in total career prize money.
Maid In Manhattan an excellent illustration of the training abilities of Rebecca Menzies. Now 5-8 for the yard on the Flat having arrived a tricky 17-race maiden.
She was undoubtedly well treated from a mark of 46, but to win a Series final off 74 four months on is no mean feat.
Really pleased to have
@Laurajoy01
and
@jhchevaux
contributing articles to the Two-Year-Old Guide this year.
Laura will be taking a look at some of the first-season sires for 2022, while Jordan will give an overview of the 2yo scene in France.
You know the Flat season is creeping closer when Juddmonte starts naming its 2yos. Ferran Star (Frankel half brother to Kingman), Monsoon Moon (Kingman half sister to Logician) and Duty Of Care (Kingman half brother to Expert Eye) take the eye of those named so far.
Planning stages for the third edition of the Two-Year-Old Guide are well underway.
Alice Haynes, Jane Chapple-Hyam and Philippa Cooper are just three of the new contributors to this year’s book. Hopefully more to follow.
Landermere - a lovely first-time-out winner for last year's Two-Year-Old Guide.
Trainer comments such as these are why we stress that this is a book not just for the here and now, but also for the future.
This year's edition is available to pre-order now
Rafferty’s Return is an immensely likeable horse. Jumps so well and has a fair old engine to boot. One to look forward to over fences next season. Could prove to be one of the better ones the yard has had in time.
The hard work is well under way already! Looking forward to get the lowdown from trainers on their 2yos. At least it should be smoother sailing this time around given we’ll actually be racing.
You know the Flat season is very nearly upon us when Juddmonte starts to allocate its 2yos.
No surprise to see the first foals of Enable (Encompass, colt by Kingman) and Quadrilateral (Quadratic, filly by Dubawi) go to the Gosden and Charlton yards respectively.
Honey Sweet wins the opener at Nottingham. Well done to
@karl_burke
who was bullish about her prospects in The Two Year Old Guide. She’s related to the yard’s high-class sprinter Unfortunately.
I’m really pleased the physical copy of the Two-Year-Old Guide is now available. Lots of pages but hopefully those that purchase find some value within it.
A big thanks once again to
@Laurajoy01
,
@jhchevaux
and
@FrancescaJane_x
for their contributions to the book.
A seriously taking debut display from Contarelli Chapel there at Naas. Absolutely tanked her way through that and quickened right away. A half-sister to 2020 Prix de Diane winner Fancy Blue and from the family of High Chapparal, she looks another classy prospect for Caravaggio.
A lot to like about that from Oviedo. Keen early and idled late, but that move into contention was very stylish indeed. Acomb Stakes looks the logical next step.