Jostling juveniles: A look at the 2-year-old landscape

Cover image courtesy of Michael McInally

History suggests that we have already seen the winner of this year’s juvenile features, of which the G1 Golden Slipper remains the crème de la crème. Connections of promising youngsters know all too well that it is a day-by-day approach with 2-year-olds - one morning you are favourite for the Slipper and the next you’re in the paddock - but with only 47 days until the Slipper and even less to the G1 Blue Diamond, things are beginning to take shape.

A Revolution in the juvenile ranks

All those connected with boom young sire Russian Revolution have had plenty to smile about in recent weeks, and that theme shows no sign of stopping based on the results of the past few days.

The son of four-time Champion Sire Snitzel has made a blistering start to life at stud, with five stakes winners and double the amount of stakes horses already to his name.

He looks to have a live contender for this year’s G1 Golden Slipper in the shape of Sir Owen Glenn’s homebred colt Red Resistance, who extended his unbeaten record to two with another pillar-to-post victory in the G3 Canonbury S. at Rosehill on Saturday.

The striking colt is now two from two at the venue, which augurs well for his chances in the Slipper, and his size and scope suggests that there could well be more to come as he continues to develop physically.

After Red Resistance claimed the scalp of King’s Gambit (I Am Invincible) in the G3 Canonbury S., it was another son of Russian Revolution who replaced the latter at the head of the market for the G1 Blue Diamond.

The colt in question, The Instructor, also boasts an unblemished two-from-two record having run his rivals ragged in last Thursday’s Listed Blue Diamond Preview (Colts & Geldings).

The Instructor, who topped last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale when selling to First Light Racing and trainers Gai Waterhourse and Adrian Bott for $230,000 from the draft of Lyndhurst Stud, will now bid to go one place better than her paternal sibling Revolutionary Miss (Russian Revolution) managed in last year’s G1 Blue Diamond and provide his sire with his maiden Group 1 winner.

One son of Russian Revolution who won’t be featuring in the Blue Diamond is Rush Hour, who is currently listed as spelling on Racing Australia. The impressive winner of the inaugural Magic Millions Debut 2YO Plate still holds a nomination for the Slipper, however, and his trainer Nathan Doyle was quick to suggest that his charge is expected to improve when stepped up in trip to 1200 metres.

Whether Rush Hour makes it back in time for the Slipper remains to be seen, but add in the likes of G3 Gimcrack S. runner-up Perfect Proposal, G3 Breeders’ Plate placegetter Physical Graffiti and last-start winner Beluga Express, and Russian Revolution is sure to be heavily represented in the upcoming 2-year-old features.

Gallery: Some of Russian Revolution's exciting 2-year-olds

Also deserving of a brief mention in this space is the stud which stands Russian Revolution, Newgate Farm, on which four of the current top eight in the betting for the G1 Golden Slipper S. were raised.

Rush Hour himself was also sold by Newgate for $130,000 at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, a sale from which the farm sold more 2-year-old stakes winners last season than any other consignment.

Much like their exciting young stallion roster, Newgate continues to be a consistently excellent source of juvenile talent.

Advantage fillies?

Despite only three previous winners of the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic going on to G1 Golden Slipper S. glory later in the season, the Gold Coast showpiece has become an increasingly important form reference for the autumn, and this year’s renewal was once again dominated by fillies.

Fillies filled the first five places this year compared to the first four 12 months ago, and it was hard not to be impressed with the way this year’s winner Skirt The Law (Better Than Ready) went about her business on the day.

The Tony Gollan-trained filly won her first two starts at Doomben by a combined 8l, and with three runs already to her name, she boasts more experience than most of those around her in the G1 Golden Slipper S. betting.

Interestingly, none of the three previous horses to complete the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic -G1 Golden Slipper S. double were fillies, which means that Skirt The Law will need to break new ground if she is to provide her all-female ownership with a memorable G1 Golden Slipper S. victory.

As well as being responsible for the first five home in the Magic Millions 2YO Classic, the fillies also posted a faster time than the colts in Saturday’s respective 2-year-old stakes races at Rosehill.

The drying track could offer a simple explanation for the 0.3s discrepancy, but that doesn’t detract from the deeds of Learning To Fly (Justify {USA}), who defied a lack of experience to make an impressive winning debut in the G3 Widden S.

The regally bred daughter of US Triple Crown winner Justify (USA) is from the first Australian crop of her unbeaten sire, who shuttled to Coolmore Australia for three years between 2019 and 2021 and is expected to return in 2023.

Trained by Annabel Neasham, Learning To Fly floated when she hit the front at the 300-metre mark and was possibly even headed by eventual runner-up Steel City (Merchant Navy), but the $900,000 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale graduate battled back and drew readily clear inside the closing stages to score by 0.59l.

Learning To Fly is out of Group 3-winning juvenile Ennis Hill (Fastnet Rock), who is a sister to Coolmore’s Inglis Nursery-winning stallion Acrobat and stakes winner Lake Geneva, the latter of which placed in both the G1 Blue Diamond and G1 Golden Slipper during her 2-year-old season.

It is a family littered with talented juveniles and Learning To Fly might yet prove to be the best of the lot, especially when taking into account the improvement she will likely take from her debut outing.

As well as Learning To Fly, the likes of Steel City, De Sonic Boom (Spirit Of Boom), Serasana (Snitzel) and $1.55 million yearling purchase Charm Stone (I Am Invincible) are all prominent in the betting for the G1 Blue Diamond S., and Saturday week’s Fillies’ Prelude is likely to separate the wheat from the chaff for the first 2-year-old Group 1 of the season.

Best of the boys

Coolmore look to have another live candidate for the upcoming 2-year-old features in the shape of Shinzo (Snitzel), the blue-blooded homebred out of G1 Blue Diamond winner Samaready (More Than Ready {USA}), whose only other foal to race is Magic Millions 2YO Classic heroine Exhilarates (Snitzel).

There was a lot to like about Shinzo’s debut effort behind Red Resistance and King’s Gambit in Saturday’s G3 Canonbury S., and given that juveniles from the Chris Waller stable tend to improve with age and experience, he will be expected to take a big step forward wherever he heads next.

Fellow global powerhouse Godolphin are synonymous with the autumn’s juvenile features, having won the G1 Blue Diamond last year courtesy of Daumier (Epaulette) and the G1 Sires’ Produce S. the year before with subsequent G1 Cox Plate hero Anamoe (Street Boss {USA}). Not to mention their landmark year in 2019, when the royal blue silks were carried to victory by Lyre (Lonhro) in the G1 Blue Diamond S., Kiamichi (Sidestep) in G1 Golden Slipper S. and Microphone handed the operation a victory in the Sires’ Produce S.

Godolphin’s number one seed this year looks to be Barber, a son of the operation’s record-breaking stallion Exceed And Excel who remains unbeaten after two narrow victories in the Kirkham Plate and Golden Gift.

His stablemate Amur (Snitzel), who is out of a half-sister to Group 1 winners Astern and Alizee (Sepoy), has an almost identical record, and both his pedigree and the manner of his two career victories to date suggest that we may not see the best of him until he steps up to 1400 metres and beyond.

Barber, whose trainer James Cummings has already saddled the winner of eight 2-year-old races this season, won a trial at Hawkesbury last Tuesday and is set to resume in the coming weeks. He is currently joint second favourite for the G1 Blue Diamond S. and a $9 shot for the G1 Golden Slipper S., a quote he shares with fellow unbeaten 2-year-old Don Corleone (Extreme Choice), who is also joint favourite for the G1 Sires’ Produce S.

The Peter and Paul Snowden-trained colt, who fetched a whopping $650,000 as a weanling, entered plenty of notebooks after making a winning debut in a 2-year-old handicap at Royal Randwick a few weeks ago, where he came from off the pace to score an impressive 0.73l victory despite covering plenty of extra ground around the home turn.

His stablemate King’s Gambit, with whom he shares G1 Sires' Produce S. favouritism, had been considered the number one seed for the autumn’s juvenile features ever since he ambled to a 5l success on debut in the Listed Debutant S. back in October, and although his reputation suffered a minor dent when second in Saturday’s G3 Canonbury S., he still retains his place at the head of the market for this year’s G1 Golden Slipper S.

The Snowden camp are masters at preparing horses for their grand final and it would be foolish to write him off after one first-up defeat. You need only look at the record of Snowdens’ most recent Slipper winner, Capitalist, who was beaten at similarly prohibitive odds of $1.22 in the G2 Todman S. before bouncing back to win the Slipper two weeks later.

Peter and Paul Snowden tasted Group 1 juvenile success last season with former Western Australian raider Sheeza Belter (Gold Standard), and there could well be another representative heading across the Nullarbor this year in the shape of unbeaten colt Brave Halo (Brave Smash {Jpn}), who is reportedly being set for the G1 Blue Diamond.

One of two winners to date for Aquis Farm’s first-season sire Brave Smash (Jpn), the Sean and Jake Casey-trained colt won his previous outing by 5.36l and will bring a totally different form line should he take his place in the field for the $2 million feature, which will be run at Sandown this year while Caulfield undergoes its development.

The usual suspects

From a training perspective, it is Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott and Peter and Paul Snowden, so often the protagonists in the 2-year-old scene, who once again look to boast enviably strong hands for the upcoming juvenile features.

In addition to the aforementioned Red Resistance and The Instructor, the Waterhouse-Bott juggernaut also has the likes of G3 Gimcrack S. heroine and 2YO Classic runner-up Platinum Jubilee (Zoustar) in its ranks, as well as promising Exceed And Excel filly Summer Loving, who has finished third in all three of her starts to date in the $1 million Golden Gift, R. Listed Magic Millions Wyong 2YO Classic and Gold Coast equivalent.

Gallery: Some of the exciting juveniles from the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott camp, images courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

Team Snowden meanwhile have the aforementioned King’s Gambit and Don Corleone, as well as G3 Breeders’ Plate winner Empire Of Japan (Snitzel), who is currently listed as spelling, and talented Hellbent filly Divine Glory. The Snowdens also train Listed winner Sovereign Fund (Capitalist), who disappointed in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, but he wouldn’t be the first horse to put a sub-par showing in that contest behind him before going onto Slipper glory.

Away from Randwick, Mornington-based duo Anthony and Sam Freedman have made the G1 Blue Diamond their own in recent years, saddling the winner in three of the past four years. The pair unearthed another lively contender for this year’s edition last week, when De Sonic Boom came from well off the pace to score an eye-catching debut win in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview for fillies.

She now features prominently in the Blue Diamond betting together with fellow Victorian-based juvenile Veecee (Capitalist), who created a huge impression when sauntering clear on debut at Flemington earlier this month.

Veecee, a $750,000 purchase from the Tyreel Stud draft at last year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale, is one of a number of talented juveniles in the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable, who are equally as adept with their juveniles as they are with their older, staying horses.

The Maher and Eustace camp also has Saturday’s G3 Widden S. runner-up Steel City, who has bumped into two smart horses in her two starts to date and could find the necessary improvement to be a serious autumn contender should the mooted addition of blinkers do the trick.

Her stablemate Kundalini (I Am Invincible) is another who impressed in defeat when second to Don Corleone earlier this month. The race in which she debuted in is the same race that has been won by the likes of Stay Inside and Estijaab (Snitzel) in recent seasons, both whom used it as a springboard to Golden Slipper glory.

Gallery: Some of the exciting juveniles from the Ciaron Maher Racing camp, images courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

There is much to be unravelled in the coming weeks, and history tells us that the picture could look a whole lot different come this time next month.