Our team have their say on which two-year-olds have impressed them most and which lightly-raced juvenile they think can make a big impact.
‘He looked something out of the ordinary’
I was really impressed with Fairy Godmother when she won the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot. She overcame some severe trouble in running on that occasion, Ryan Moore having a nightmare passage on her and the fact she was able to get herself out of trouble in the manner she did marks her out as a very exciting prospect.
That form is working out well, too, with the runner-up coming out and winning a Group 3 next time, the third winning a valuable sales race and the fourth finishing runner-up in Group 2 and Group 3 company. Fairy Godmother looks all over a Group 1 filly and will likely be kept apart from her equally promising stablemate Bedtime Story.
The obvious one to me who will be rated much higher come the end of the season is The Lion In Winter, who made a striking impression when making a winning debut at the Curragh last month.
He was overlooked by Ryan Moore that day but he looked something out of the ordinary in a maiden which has a rich history. The Lion In Winter displayed clear signs of inexperience, off the bridle before the other principals, but once the penny dropped he powered home to beat some other promising types in comfortable fashion.
Stablemate Ides of March, who started favourite that day, has since come out and won comfortably to give the form some substance, and The Lion In Winter is one to look out for in pattern company next time. He could run in the Futurity Stakes back at the Curragh a week on Saturday, a race sponsored by his owners and one that Aidan O’Brien has won a record-equalling 16 times. Andrew Asquith
‘Could easily end up being a Guineas filly’
Desert Flower didn’t appear particularly well-fancied when sent off 5/2 second-favourite behind Ollie Sangster’s once-raced Flight on her Newmarket debut in the middle of last month and it later transpired she’d taken a while to become acquainted with the starting stalls, taking “an age to go in and then wouldn’t come out of them” on one occasion, according to trainer Charlie Appleby.
Thankfully, there was nothing quite so pronounced on her debut, though, the daughter of Night Of Thunder only fractionally missing a beat as the gates opened before latching onto the bridle. She was brought with a steady run to challenge her main market rival on hitting the rising ground and swiftly put it to bed before drawing over three lengths clear.
Once again hooded for the start second time out over the same seven furlongs of the July Course earlier this month, Desert Flower had no trouble making it two from two as the 1/4 favourite, this time scooting to a six and a half-length success under a 7lb penalty (replay below).
She looks potentially top class and, given her pedigree, could easily end up being a Guineas filly, with the Fillies’ Mile a reasonable end-of-year target on the Rowley Mile, possibly via the May Hill at Doncaster by all accounts.
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The one I like who may still be a little under the radar going into the back-end of the summer is another filly – namely Red Letter, a stablemate of Babouche who won the fillies’ maiden just 35 minutes before Saturday’s Phoenix Stakes heroine landed the Group 3 Anglesey at the Curragh on July 21.
A daughter of Frankel out of the Listed-placed Dark Angel mare Red Impression, she probably didn’t need to improve much – if at all – to open her account at the second time of asking, having earlier got to within a head of Lake Victoria on her debut towards the end of June.
Lake Victoria went on to readily win the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes from previous Group 2 Duchess Of Cambridge runner-up Mountain Breeze, so the form already looks pretty decent and I love how Colin Keane seems to be teaching Red Letter on the job.
She made all the running to break her maiden but I’m not sure that’s a necessary tactic at all and given how she was still looking around when sent clear suggests she could be even more effective given a bit of a tow into things in a stronger field.
Ger Lyons is highly unlikely to throw her straight into the Group 1 Moyglare and she might be the one to represent the yard in the Group 2 Alpha Centauri Debutante Stakes back at the Curragh later this month. Matt Brocklebank
‘She can raise her game to greater heights when required’
It would be difficult to make a case that Lake Victoria has achieved as much as Royal Ascot-winning stablemates Bedtime Story or Fairy Godmother so far, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she proves the best of the classy trio in time.
Lake Victoria started out in a Curragh maiden that Aidan O’Brien likes to target with one of his best fillies and the trainer has used the race as a stepping stone for multiple Group 1 winners Alice Springs, Rhododendron, Love and Tuesday. Of that trio only Alice Springs was forward enough to win, but Lake Victoria proved sharp enough to beat a well-bred rival in Red Letter who has since bolted up.
The Sweet Solera Stakes, and a clash with Mountain Breeze who had hit the frame in a couple of the best races in the division so far this season, represented a steep rise in class for Lake Victoria, but she completely bossed matters and registered a ready two-length success. She can raise her game to greater heights when required.
A Lilac Rolla, the Irish 1000 Guineas runner-up, and Opera Singer, the Nassau Stakes winner, were first and second in the fillies’ juvenile race on the Curragh’s Phoenix Stakes card last year, and the first two home on Saturday are also worth being hugely positive about.
Ballet Slippers, the first foal of the multiple Group 1 winner Magical, was a beaten odds-on favourite but ran a cracker trying to give a promising newcomer 3 lb, and in pulling five lengths clear of the third she took a big step forward on the form she had shown when third on debut. She simply bumped into another excellent prospect in Falling Snow, a filly who also has a notable pedigree being by Justify and out of a dual classic winner in Winter.
Falling Snow was making her debut under Rules but had the benefit of a barrier trial win to call on and she showed a fantastic attitude to get up close home and win by a neck. With normal improvement she looks well up to making her mark in Group company. Tony McFadden
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