BRITISH 2yo RACING - 2011 Season Race Result
Race 17 : Mon, April 11th
Windsor 5:30, 5f Maiden (5)
[Est] is the B2yoR Rating. Green indicates a 55+ level,
Cream between 30 & 54, Pink less than 30.
Wnr = previous/LATER 2yo Winner. Letter is Race Type.
Hf = Position at Halfway. Green indicates making places to the finish.
GOING
 TIME RcPc VP
GFG 60.13
[Compare]		 1None

Horse SP [EST]Run Wnr Trainer Dw Hf Run Notes
1Lord Ofthe Shadows0.36482 D R. Hannon 6
1
B1, Ld Erl, XF+0.5f Ln1, SFreOv, 2.5Clr Hf, TvCmf-2f+, Eff ins-2f SHgL TTR, Po HnH, Resp ins-1f & Po, SCmf
2Serious Spender5.5441 R. M. Beckett 8
4
BOk Wd, Ngl+0.5f 2R, Inx+1f Ngl Drop Mdfld, Resp Hf & SPrg, Eff-2f Resp, Po ins-2f in Clr 2nd, po Lt
3Aquasulis33332 S P. D. Evans 4
2
2nd Cols, BkWL Ngl, 2nd Erl, Ngl+1f, -2.5Hf Ngl, Eff-2f+, po, Stall Lt
4Safari Storm9361 M B. J. Meehan 1
7
B-1 RL, Inx Erl Ngl, H-2 +1f Allow XMr, SwcL Hf & Ngl, Eff-2f, po HnH, SInx-1f, po ins-1f HnH, Stall Lt
5Middleton Flyer66292 S P. D. Evans 2
6
BOk Hld Immed, H-2 Erl Drop Mdfld Sttld, Eff-2f RL, po HnH, Eased ins-0.5f = Why?, NPIR, BTR or OkSlr?
6Witty Buck3371 A. J. McCabe 9
3
BOk Wdst, Eff Erl, XF+0.5f 3rd Ln2, Dv+2f, Eff-2f+ SOutpcd, HgL ins-2f, po, Fd-0.5f+, Eased Lt
7Courtland King20-11 S P. D. Evans 5
5
1st Cols, B-3 Inx P-2 Dv, Resp+0.5f, Eff-2f+ Cent SOutpcd, po HnH, Stall-1f HgL, Fd-0.5f+, Eased ins-0.5f
8Foolscap40-141 J. R. Boyle 7
8
B-2, Inx Erl LsGrnd, Dv+1f, Resp+1.5f & SPrg, Outpcd-2f, Fd-1f, Eased ins-1f
9Illustrious Lad25-171 J. R. Boyle 3
9
B-2 QInx P-3 Dv, Resp+0.5f, Dv+2f LsGrnd, Hmp-2 Hf, NoResp-2f, Eased-1f


SUMMARY
 £10k Yearling Bonus race.

Straight at full width again. Mostly dry weather since meeting 7 days ago and warm period over the weekend. 12mm of watering applied to whole course Fri-Sat period. Medium breeze as a half tailwind from the right (similar to previous week but half tailwind from left then).

Race run in 0.76s slower than the maiden LOTS had been second in here 7 days ago but suspect overall conditions faster today. Pace in this race more balanced although LOTS running a bit too freely and 2.5L clear at halfway and sped up a little across the intersection towards halfway and put the smaller ones behind under pressure. Whole field within 7.5L of leader at halfway.

LOTS did enough to stand up the view that the Windsor maiden he made his debut in is solidly above average. Won comfortably in the end but not without a couple of issues. After a slow start and being scrubbed along FTO the horse knew what to do here. But that meant being in the lead and he ran too freely without getting out of control. Jockey Hughes pretty good at looking like he is sitting comfortably when he is actually getting run away with to some extent. 2.5L clear of the second at halfway would not be what the jockey was trying to achieve. After setling down around halfway the jockey then asked him to make his effort inside the last 2f. This resulted in him hanging left rather than picking up initially and for a brief moment those behind (Windsor has a peculiar camera angle that compresses the relative distances to muddy things) looked like they might be closing on him. But going away comfortably at the end and Hughes finally able to do some posing rather than having to be an active, instructing, pilot. Must be OR85+ and still able to become more professional.

Trainer Beckett seems to have two sorts of early starters (March-April). OR55-65 fillies who take time to win and better quality (say OR74-82) colts who can sometimes win FTO in soft early season races. Serious Spender his second Type B runner this year and both have run in better Windsor turf maidens. Imagine this race on the AW and without LOTS and he would have been the sort of FTO winner he gets this time of year. Looked on the medium to small side and ran competently. Perhaps the OR74 end and not a 'certainty' next time because he was behind a useful Hannon runner....

Instead you could/should look just behind him and there is a smaller, ill-made, Evans filly who chased the pace most diligently and another not far behid that. Their presence quite so close a niggle. Aquasulis presumably ran close to what she can and seller class overall. The take a positive view of the Beckett & Meehan runners on debut you would have liked them to be clear in 2nd/3rd, behind LOTS, and clear of the Evans fit triers who would be a bit back in 4-5th. Also, looking a bit bigger than the Evans 2yos rather than similar sizes. Middleton Flyer given a peculiar ride and eased very early. Easy to get the impression she can do better than she showed and win something. One to track.

Brian Meehan's stable has metamorphosed over the last 10 years from a 5-6f early 2yo operation into a later starting, 6-8f, development outfit. Look at his stats 2000-2004 and they are markedly different from 2007-10. Runners before May are rare now which means Safari Storm starting this early might mean an early natural. By a good sire who has not had a 2yo winner before May 22nd in his two seasons with runners out of a mare who was not that precocious. Really good one of getting a lesser one going because no point waiting? He would normally start the good ones at Newmarket but the Craven meeting only has a conditions race for males now (which he has used for debuts before). The good ones would normally be a bit bigger. He is owned by a guy who likes his 2yo racing and even wrote a, once-off, book about it so that might be some driver. Given a non-involving, educational ride, and achieveing a rating borderline for an OR70+ winner. One to take a close look at STO in context of the quality of the race he is in rather than expecting him to be a certain STO winner.

WB given an attacking ride and paid for trying to chase the pace when he did not really know what he was doing. Tired notably because of that and FSS Multiplex has now had 4 runners with 3 chasing the pace and fading and one winner who got well behind. An interesting sire who seems to have put some zip into the early ones we have seen.

Now, Jim Boyle has a luvvie repuation as being one of the new breed of coming trainers. But, his 2yo record is poor, becoming moderate. Debuts are usually non-competitive and early runners rare. Why is he running two on April 11th with his record? You would hope that he is changing his approach and trying to get some early 2yo successes. Instead we go two grisly efforts with both horses too stupid to compete and only able to keep up a gallop for a bit under 4f. Most trainers wouldn't want their 2yos hard fit and wired for FTO but they have to be better prepared than this. It was embarassing to watch and how can that produce a good learning experience for the horses? Meehan used to get this sort of flopping about but his debut runner here showed how you can give an unstressed debut while the horse also has time to look around and learn.

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