Gonna keep this simple. Hypothetically if you could own 1 current 2 year old in European racing at this stage who would you choose on a purely racing level? (ie ignoring things like who the trainer is, future stud fees ect) For me I haven't seen anything of Dabirsim. If you have, what do you think?! If I was having an AO'B horse I'd personally take Maybe over Power. The other horse I'd throw into the ring is Harbour Watch who I think is really honest, won at Goodwood going away against some smart rivals and has more in the tank if/when required. I gotta say I really like this horse.
It has to be Born To Sea, winning as he did on debut marks him as a potential star in the making and a very exciting one at that.
I think, at this stage, Maybe. Although she has had too many races at 2 for my liking and there may be others with more scope. By the end of the season, I might change my mind and settle for a nicely bred and lightly raced filly that has shown promise without having a hard race and looks as though she has plenty of scope. I wouldn't choose a colt at this stage unless I thought I was picking a future classic winner; not easy to do these days.
I have to admit, I thought very seriously about Born To Sea but I kept hearing this voice saying "Lightening doesn't strike twice". Poor excuse.
Without doubt the standout 2YO imo so far this season. Any horse to debut in a listed race & win has got to be special
I fear that the glow of Sea The Stars is casting too bright a light on Born To Sea. The horse he beat that day, still hasn't won a race yet. He looks good, but his public profile has already outstripped his performance on the track.
Don't know if it's just me but don't seem to feel there are the standout 2yos there were in previous seasons. (Nicely said Cyclonic, my comment after his debut victory made me sound a real curmudgeon. You've said the same and actually sound like quite a nice bloke).
If I were to buy a 2YO I would use the following gudelines: 1) Forget anything bred in the purple - likely overpriced with no guarantee of success 2) Forget anything that already has Group Race victories, in fact scrub anything rated 100+ as it will likely not be value for money 3) Go for something unraced or lightly raced that has shown a bit of promise (but not too much promise as that will hike the price) 4) Plenty of stamina in the pedigree - so I can send it novice hurdling after it's 3YO season culminates in a 13L 7th of 8 in a Wolverhampton Handicap off a BHA rating of 47 Should be alright there I reckon
I could be wrong here Oddy, but I seem to remember something about returns on investments on yearling buys. In Oz, I think I saw somewhere that the average return was something like 47pc. Even small time breeders had trouble getting back the price of the stud fee. The people who make the real money are the "powerhouse studs" that can charge 6 figure fees. The rest of us, including the poor old punter, cop it in the rear end. We subsidise the already rich.
In my opinion to date, in the main, this is a weak bunch of 2YO’s. However, with many of the big ‘end of term prizes’ still to be handed out lets hope a shining light emerges from the pack. To this correspondents eye 3 2YO’s have sparkled thus far this season they being Maybe, what a lovely name for a filly by the way, Born To Sea and Saturday’s Royal Lodge winner Daddy Long Legs. If I had to choose just 1 of these though it would be the latter named who looked awesome at the weekend and left his Doncaster form well and truly behind.
I think the horse who has me most interested is Top Offer of Roger Charlton. He ran in a Newbury maiden on the same day the Roger Varian talking horse Firdews made his debut. A friend had told me about the Charlton horse the week before and said watch out for it it's really well thought of. It ran a very eye catching race winning untroubled and whilst it has only won a maiden i think he would have to be my standout horse for potential.
Harbour Watch for me. However am keen to see how Zantenda goes this weekend in the Prix Marcel Boussac!
