20/11/13
I thought that an interesting topic to do a story or two on for website visitors would be one that I’ve never seen done anywhere else before, namely an article which sets out to name the top 30 two-year-olds that have been trained in the State of Queensland for at least their 2YO year, in the last 50-odd years.
I was born in 1955 and I wanted to make sure that the 2YO’s that were listed here were horses that I at least knew of, so I went back as far as 2YO’s that were born in 1960 meaning they’d have raced in late 1962 or early 1963 at the earliest. And in any event, only three horses got a gig in this article that were born in either 1960 or 1961 and they were Confidence, Basalt and Todwana. Two other top Queensland 2YO’s were born the following year, 1962, and they were Eye Liner and Maybe Lad. The other 25 named horses were all born after 1962. I deemed Gold Edition (born 2003) and Phelan Ready (born 2006) to be the last two top 2YO’s trained in Queensland, therefore the 30 names stretch from being born in 1960 up to and including 2006, so the list encompasses horses born over a 53-year period (1960-2013), but as Queensland hasn’t had a decent 2YO since Phelan Ready, they were cumulatively born over a period of only 46 years (1960-2006).
So here’s my list of 30 Queensland 2YO’s that entered the world from 1960 to the present day – presented in alphabetical order.
Readers domiciled outside of Queensland but who are interested in thoroughbred racing will still know most of the names.
NAME
YEAR BORN
ASCOT BRIDGE
1965
BASALT
1961
BENGALLA LAD
1968
BRAVE WARRIOR
1991
CALAWAY GAL
1999
CHARLTON BOY
1968
CHRISTOPHER
1983
CONFIDENCE
1960
DAYBREAK LOVER
1980
DEFINATE
1971
EYE LINER
1962
FALVELON
1996
GOLD EDITION
2003
GUNSYND
1967
HEROIC ISLE
1966
KAORU STAR
1965
KERO
1974
KING CAPRI
1965
MAYBE LAD
1962
PHELAN READY
2006
PRINCE GAUNTLET
1964
SEAWINNE
1989
SHOW A HEART
1997
SNIPPETS
1984
STRONG QUEEN
1969
STRONG SUCCESS
1973
TAILS
1965
TODWANA
1961
VIRAGE DE FORTUNE
2002
ZEPHYR ZING
1977
So why not cast your eye over this group of 30 horses and work out the following turf teasers:
1) Of these 30 two-year-olds, three won many more races in their 2YO year than the other 27. Who are the three?
2) Three of the aforesaid horses won a race as a 2YO carrying the massive weight of 10 stone 12 pounds or 69 kgs. Name the three.
3) Four of the 30 two-year-olds named above were unbeaten as 2YO’s. What four?
4) One of the 30 named horses had an extraordinary 19 starts as a 2YO. Name that horse?
5) Tails never won a 2YO race but he came into his own as a 3YO and older. True or False?
6) Charlton Boy and Bengalla Lad clashed many times in their racetrack career and it could be said their performances pretty much mirrored each other throughout their racetrack career even to the point where both horses were born in 1968. That sentence is factual. The question on the two horses is this: “Both horses amazingly also won the exact same number of 2YO races”. True or False?
7) Heroic Isle was born before the first of August 1966, so he was officially one year old on 1/8/1966 when he in fact was less than two weeks old. True or False?
8) Of the 30 named horses, which horse from the above list won a race by the biggest winning margin?
Tomorrow I’ll put up all the missing pieces in this puzzle in the final of this two-part article where the number of wins of each horse at two will be placed here along with the major races each won at 2YO, if in fact they even won a race at 2YO.
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s the first of two montages of photos from Beaudesert yesterday and Eagle Farm last Saturday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s the story on the calendar that has just been released with an accompanying photo of all the glams that are in it, plus there’s a story on Swettenham’s big day out last Saturday, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Smokin’ Joey has firmed in betting for next Saturday’s Perth Group 1.