Baby’s First Stakes
When I started wandering the Queensland backside, I had two goals in mind: get an up-close-and-personal look at the starters in Saturday’s Queensland Juvenile, and not get trampled or kicked in the process. If there’s one thing that can be said of two-year-olds, it’s that they’re unpredictable.
I began my search by tracking down the favorite, Ydracing3‘s Cat Five Cyclone, and it became immediately clear that I’d have my work cut out for me. He walking the shedrow as I approached, for values of ‘walking’ that include bouncing, nibbling on his escort’s shoulder, and occasionally stopping to stare at something scary, like say, the stable cat. That last move let me get a good hard look at him, and that in turn had me a bit sad that he wasn’t a more seasoned and patient horse: the sleek brown son of Mr. Greeley, out of a Storm Cat mare, is a little gawky still, but as classy as can be. And in his first race over the Dubai track, the audience got an eyeful. He stalked and pounced, romping home better than three lengths ahead with a very credible 71 speed rating.
My connections at the track tell me that Jenyan(GB) has looked good all week, and that may account for the unraced colt’s status as second choice–though it can’t hurt that the Dowelly trainee is out of Paint Crack, dam of famous racemare and producer Amanda Jane. Paint Crack’s middle two foals have just two wins between them, but Jenyan is by Beat Hollow(GB), a son of Amanda Jane’s sire Sadler’s Wells. The track’s top jockeys have opted for other mounts, but Jenyan is a well-made sort, and smart enough to know a peppermint when he’s offered one.
Next, I headed over to visit Dkyoung7 and Regimental Beat(Aus), one of the co-third choices. The son of General Nediym(Aus) out of a Mr. Prospector mare was flown in from Japan (an homage, perhaps, to stable star Turning Japanese?), where he displayed a powerful closing kick to win his debut race over the turf. His sire has produced just one stakes winner in five years at stud, but Regimental Beat has a female family that’s as classic as they come. He was floppy-eared and half-alseep in his stall, but I guess closers have to be patient sorts.
I was feeling bolder after my first three stops, but Set The Standard set me straight with an enthusiastic lunge over the stall door. The Benchmark son and I came to an eventual agreement: I needed my fingers intact to write this article, and he needed the peppermint that I’d gotten his attention by unwrapping. His groom dropped it into his bucket for me and it looks like we’re friends again, which is a lucky thing: I’d hate to have upset the colt with the best speed rating in the race. Set the Standard, like the favorite, started his career in Dubai, where he raced professionally to win by three parts of a length with a quite-solid 76.
Desktop Rollout was on the track this morning, so at least I wouldn’t have to feel guilty about bothering him. Instead, I hung on the rail next to trainer Marto, who confessed that the Strike the Gold colt is just an oversized pocket pony, the closest thing in the barn to a pet. A speedy winner at first asking (in Dubai), Desktop Rollout was run back five weeks later in a thirteen-horse allowance. He pressed the pace through all six furlongs of that race and was beaten just a nose, and his dual 74 speed ratings show precocious consistency for a horse of his age.
I tried out a scratch of Desktop Rollout’s favorite itchy place (behind his ears) of Mozart’s Quest, but the Coronado’s Quest son of a lightly-raced Unbridled’s Song mare was unimpressed. He’ll be making his fourth start on Saturday; maybe he thinks he’s already seen it all. After a lackluster debut, he took a big step up in his second race, which he won by two with 72. Last time out, he was shuffled back early but continued making up ground and just couldn’t quite match strides with the others late, finishing fourth.
The race is unusually heavy in non-Americanbreds and Runvus2‘s Haloman(Ire) continues that trend. I didn’t get to see if the Manndar son neighs with an accent, but I have it on good authority that they spike his grain with Guinness. Fourth foal of a GII-placed Halo man, Haloman was fourth first time out on the dirt and won his second race in front-running style over this track after switching to the turf. Saturday’s race will be run over the main track again, but maybe all he needed was a little growing up.
On my way back to the airport, I stopped off in Gavineades‘s barn to check on Rocka Bye Baby(Aus), the Easy Rocking(Aus) first son of a winning Miswaki mare. The brown colt went wire-to-wire in his first race back in Nebraska with a 63 speed rating. He was on his feet in his stall, looking over the door, all bright-eyed and shiny in his chocolate-colored coat, and I gave him a pat. It’s anyone’s guess which of these youngsters will come out on top on Saturday, and why not any one of them?