BRITISH 2yo RACING - 2014 Season Race Result
	Race 7 : Mon, April 7th Windsor 2:10, 5f Maiden (5)
2014 Season Home 2014 Results	[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 Video VP S 63.31 [Compare] 1 None Link

SUMMARY

Going changed to Soft after this race although not raining in the pre and during race period. More of the Clerk listening to the jockeys and ignoring any technology available, presumably. GGS from G on Decs by Early am with 1mm of rain and intermittent rain forecast for the am. Rail on the inner racing line. Magical Roundabout (1st, Left) & Fine Prince (2nd, R) = Didn't seem a strong performance but another race where the pace set by Keep 'R Lit (upped pace across intersection) enough to sort the field out by ability, to a large extent, at the finish Hf to Final positions suggest a solid pace with the race starting to turn inside-out by the line and even the Harris pair who were off the back at Hf starting to getting into the over-matched faders who had tried to keep up with the bigger lads. First two home seem solidly OR75+ types with one standing out on profile and the other in Paddock Review. Hannon uses the early WDSR maidens to start better types in many years and one of the regular places he gets FTO wins (as a rule it needs his better types to win FTO and he doesn't wind-horses-up-for-FTO). To make the point first season sire Zebedee won the equivalent race on his debut in 2010 for the same stable and owner. With that owner - Julie Wood - likely to be desperate to see Zebedee get off to a good start as a sire, and at the course on crutches as part of a hip replacement op, to see the race you could infer Magical Roundabout was here to compete to win. Given that, and that Hannon has so many 2yos to choose from, then MR ought to be solidly OR80+ before you have ever seen him. He knew enough to get involved early from a wide draw and had enough 'Class', if not fully fit, to see the race out well enough to win. The Paddock Review is a bit 'mixed' but that may well be the story with the Zebedees. He wasn't an imposing horse and got away with beating the same, weak, group of 5f sprinters in his year. Then whisked off to stud at 2yo which just seems wrong and we need to see what horse he would have developed into at 3-4yo and not letting relatively untried horses become stallions. MR a smaller grey one and on the plus side neatly made and bulkier than most here for a Power +. But, something in OR80s on looks and see check where he is rated at end 2to, and as importantly, end 3yo. You wonder whether Zebedee might have been an OR88 handicapper by the end of his 3yo season. Remove that reality and you can sell a '2yo Dream' on his stallion hype. Robert Mills has a mixed record with 2yos but his does tend to front-load his competitive 2yos in the early debuts and they are usually ready enough to make the 3rd-5th range if they have ability but lacking the nous to win. Which meant Fine Prince was at the upper end of the middling group on profile. Well behind MR but a candidate in that second rank to check for if he showed something in Paddock Review. Which he did in being the tallest and likeable. In the race he lacked the nous to stay close to the leading four but made progress the most comfortably inside the last 2f to engage MR before 1f out. Which meant Ryan Moore (Hughes currently out injured) had to get more serious with the whip than he would have like on MR. FP looked like he could win at times in the duel if he would just wise up and go by but seeming to prefer to race with, and lean on, MR. But, FP is the other solid OR75+ Open Maiden winner type and they finished 1-2 and a bit clear of the others to start making the Race Shape 'Story' a bit more plausible. Sportlobster & Jersey Bull both looking a bit short of build/power & neatness to be OR75+ definitely and more like low OR70s. Both fading after running in the front line and left behind by MR who was with them from early on, to support that view. JBull interesting because he feature in a Chanon Work Gallop VT from March 18th and was in the leading pair of that group of 2yos from early on and finished with the leader looking on the smaller side but a trier. Too buzzy here in prelims and faded worse than Sportslobster but probably a bit better prospect. The Channon Gallops Videos can be hard to 'read' but worth stickiung at it. For the racord the Video Review summary for that Gallops was that Bossy Guest (80+) & Fast Company ex Veronica Cooper looked Open Maiden quality. King Crimson looked borderline (say 74/75) and runs on 11th April. A further note on King Crimson from that VT Rev was that he looked a Ready Type and a Natural runner so should be out early and might rate shorter term OR75+ on precocity. So, good to see him out early and something right but hopefully the quality is as well. Pendlebury lloked a similar level and size to Jersey Bull. The real negatives in that work were the Winker Watson ex Hairspray and Harlequin Striker (dropped off the back and soundtrack seems to suggest Channon jnr pleased he made a bit of late headway= non 5f?) The Evans pair make interesting markers to help to jusge the race quality. As A Dream a smaller one and some sort of OR50s and ran very green here. The fact that he could plug on, looking a bit stupid to the end, and get to 4th seems more of a indication that the absolute form level for the race is low. Rather than AAD being worth folloing. Keep 'R Lit was given a very quiet ride, in rear, on debut in a race where Evans had 5 runners. Clearly she was there to learn. Which she did and set the pace here but an early fade as a negative. On the plus side she has a bit more size than the Evans' Clockwork Mice she debuted with. Might get into the OR60s so one to keep on some background check how she goes on AW or firmer turf. Little interest in those behind. Habibah lightly made and notably lengthy and never travelling to the jockey's liking in the race. A reliable trainer on limited evidence would suggest there might be some OR60s ability there but not one to follow as such. Check whether the SPs wrt Habibah, Fine Prince & Jersey Bull look ridiculous with hindsight in later season. Go Gently quite neat and ok build but probably too 'Toytown' for that to show even if you trust the trainer. The Harris pair look like long term, low level, Nursery projects. Which used to be what the trainer did until he started getting the odd FTO win in early season in weak races as he has notably increased his number of 2yos. Hannon website Post Race wrt Magical Roundabout = "It was hard work for the odds-on favourite in the testing ground, though, significantly, the trainer did not blame the conditions for a success that was more workmanlike than impressive. He said:Zebedee won this race four years ago, so it was good to see Magical Roundabout giving his dad his first winner, and Julie Wood, who owned Zebedee, has a fistful of his progeny at home ready to run, including Dougal, who could make his debut at Newbury on Friday. It is a bit premature to talk of Magical Roundabout as a Royal Ascot contender, but we will certainly treat him as such until he tells us otherwise. He has only done two bits of fast work, so he is bound to improve on what he showed here, but he will probably be better at six furlongs as he did not show the explosive speed of a whizz-bang flyer." [Update 23rd April] Piece written by trainer Palmer on his website after the race (Note how he specifically states the Market was off on a Wild-Goose-Chase but no Pundit ever reports that, they just want any 'scrap' to fill the time/space down to them. Sod 'Quality' or 'Truth' or anything else). = "The ground just went against Habibah at Windsor on Monday. It's always a bit unfair when people latch on to a horse and decide to back it - she wasn't heavily fancied, she's just a nice filly who ought to be able to win a race. To be second-favourite perhaps over-egged everyone's opinion of her and made it look much more disappointing than it was. That said, when a horse finishes last it's always disappointing. Really, I think she just got her feet stuck in the ground and a little bit of 'first day at school-itis'. It all happened very quickly for her in ground that she didn't like and she wasn't able to run her race. But she seems to have come back from it OK and we'll probably go to the all-weather in two or three weeks' time and hope she can leave her debut well behind her. She isn't a superstar but I'm sure she'll be able to win a race at some stage. "

Back to Top of Page