success in the Prix Morny nor her subsequent defeat in the
Cheveley Park came close to substantiating her Royal Ascot
performance in ratings terms. However, the step up to six
furlongs following the Queen Mary may well have been a
contributing factor and I for one am keeping an open mind
with regard to her three-year-old prospects”.
Aidan O’Brien is responsible for five of the top 10 horses
on the list in a strong year for the Irish. Despite Group 1
successes for The Last Lion, Wuheida, Rivet and Thunder
Snow it has been a below-par year for British-trained two-
year-olds with 19 inclusions coming up some way short of
the recent average of 25. With lots of the more powerful
stables having reported sickness issues through the summer it
could well be that many of the better prospects did not run as
frequently as they might have.
Thunder Snow (118) sets the benchmark in Britain, having
shown his best form when winning the Group 1 Criterium
International at Saint-Cloud by 5 lengths.
Ten inclusions represents something of a comeback year for
the French and National Defense (118) emerged as the French
champion two-year-old after a difficult year for his trainer
Criquette Head-Maarek when running away with the Prix
Jean Luc Lagardere.
who won his only start to date at Nottingham in late October.
A seemingly unconsidered 25/1 shot behind a short-priced
stablemate, he looked to need the experience for most of the
race and it was surprising just how much ground he made up
as he got the message. The first three drew some six lengths
clear of a couple who’ve won subsequently, and this half-
brother to the Great Voltigeur winners Lucarno and Thought
Worthy could be one for the Derby trials. Other once-raced
horses to watch out for include Owen Burrows’ filly Talaayeb,
Gosden’s Cracksman and Richard Hannon’s Excelebration
colt, Barney Roy”.
Mark Bird adds his views on the Irish ones to watch:
“In Ireland, potential improvers also abound and I would
highlight two as particularly worth following.
Sir John Lavery is a Galileo colt out of a half-sister to Hawk
Wing and coped well with bad ground in breaking his maiden
at the second attempt. Also, Awtaad’s half-sister Aneen put
up a performance that was pregnant with promise in taking a
back-end Curragh maiden on her second start”.
The Andre Fabre-trained Akihiro (111) is unbeaten in two
starts and looks particularly promising with the French
classics in mind.
As ever, attention soon switches to the spring and hopes for
the season ahead. Graeme Smith provides his views of a dark
horse or two to follow:
“The flip side of a quiet year for British-trained two-year-olds
is that there’s a host of horses with major untapped potential.
One of the more interesting could be John Gosden’s Tartini,
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