21/11/13
Yesterday I put up a comprehensive list of 30 Queensland trained two-year-olds that saw the light of day from 1960 inclusive right through to 2013 inclusive. Naturally that list had been extensively mulled over to ensure that the right candidates were being put forward in the top 30 list.
So today it’s time to go into the respective CV of each of those 30 two-year-olds in detail and document the number of races each one won at age 2. Also noted in the table below is the most important race and/or races that each horse won as a two-year-old.
Yesterday’s article saw the email writers out in force primarily advising that I’d missed General Nediym off the list, but I intentionally left him off the list, as the horse was officially trained by Bill Mitchell, who of course was based at Randwick at the time General Nediym was a 2YO, so technically the horse was trained by a Sydney based trainer. I accept Peter Moody may have had the horse under his wing, but Moody was not a licensed trainer at the time, he was merely a foreman for Mitchell’s Randwick based operation. As an analogy, if say Gai Waterhouse was to have her greatest ever 2YO, Dance Hero, at a satellite operation in Brisbane that was run by a foreman, it simply wouldn’t be fair to claim Dance Hero as a “Queensland trained horse”, when she, as his registered trainer was never been based in Brisbane – and never would be.
Other people emailed and said Planet Ruler should be there and that Planet Ruler had won his first eight races straight. That is not correct though, as Planet Ruler, trained by the late Bruce McLachlan, was unplaced at his only run at age 2, before winning 10 of 12 starts as a 3YO, which did indeed include eight in a row.
Another email stated Red Seas should have been on the list after he won his Maiden on the sand track at Albion Park by 15 lengths, but again that isn’t correct, as he was 3YO at the time of that 15-length Maiden win. He’d actually had eight starts as a 2YO and couldn’t win a race.
So here is yesterday’s complete list of 30 two-year-olds repeated, along with their number of wins at 2YO – and the main race/s they won at that age:
NAME
YEAR BORN
NO OF WINS AT 2YO
BEST 2YO RACE/S WON
ASCOT BRIDGE
1965
3 of 3
BASALT
1961
3
Hopeful Stakes, Sapling Stakes, Ahern Stakes.
BENGALLA LAD
1968
4
Hopeful Stakes, Murphy Quality, Ross Stakes.
BRAVE WARRIOR
1991
4
Magic Millions 2YO, Tommy Smith Slipper, Ken Russell Classic.
CALAWAY GAL
1999
5
Golden Slipper in Sydney.
CHARLTON BOY
1968
4
QTC Sires’ Produce.
CHRISTOPHER
1983
6
Doomben Dollars, Golden Nugget, Channel 7 Stakes.
CONFIDENCE
1960
4
Tattersall’s Rose Stakes.
DAYBREAK LOVER
1980
5
Meynink Stakes, Coca Cola Stakes and the Todman Slipper Trial in Sydney.
DEFINATE
1971
6
Ahern Stakes, QTC Sires’ Produce.
EYE LINER
1962
9 of 10
McDougall Stakes, Hall Stakes, Champagne Stakes in Sydney.
FALVELON
1996
4 of 4
Meynink Stakes, Freshman Handicap, Kindergarten 2YO at the Gold Coast.
GOLD EDITION
2003
5
Magic Night Stakes in Sydney, Ken Russell Memorial.
GUNSYND
1967
5 of 6
Hopeful Stakes, Sapling Stakes and the Fernhill Handicap in Sydney.
HEROIC ISLE
1966
5
QTC Sires Produce, Murphy Quality.
KAORU STAR
1965
5
Hopeful Stakes Brisbane plus the Hall Stakes at Randwick.
KERO
1974
4 of 4
Meynink Stakes and Golden Horseshoe Stakes.
KING CAPRI
1965
5
Hopeful Stakes, Grange Plate, Murphy Quality.
MAYBE LAD
1962
9 of 11 plus one second and one third
QTC Sires Produce, Hopeful Stakes, Lonergan Stakes, Ahern Stakes, Sapling Stakes.
PRINCE GAUNTLET
1964
6
Sires’ Produce, Ahern Stakes, Sapling Stakes.
PHELAN READY
2006
2
Magic Millions 2YO and Golden Slipper in Sydney.
SEAWINNE
1989
6
Doomben Slipper.
SHOW A HEART
1997
3
Doomben Slipper, Golden Stakes, T.J. Smith.
SNIPPETS
1984
4
Meynink Stakes, Magic Millions 2YO AJC Sires’ Produce in Sydney.
STRONG QUEEN
1969
8 of 19 starts at 2YO and she also ran another 8 placings
Tiny Tots at Canterbury. She also carried 63 kgs to win an Eagle Farm 2YO and 69 kgs to win a Grafton 2YO race.
STRONG SUCCESS
1973
3 of 3
McDougall Stakes by 9 lengths, Scarlet Stakes by 8 lengths, Golden Horseshoe by six lengths.
TAILS
1965
3
TODWANA
1961
3
Hopeful Stakes and QTC Sires’ Produce Stakes.
VIRAGE DE FORTUNE
2002
Won 5 of 6
G3 Champagne Classic and Group 1 QTC Sires’ Produce.
ZEPHYR ZING
1977
3
Doomben 2YO by 12 lengths, Doomben Dollars and a Randwick non-black type race.
The following were yesterday’s Part 1turf teasers. Here are all the questions repeated with the correct answers in capitals and bolded:
1) Of these 30 two-year-olds, three won many more races in their 2YO year than the other 27. Who are the three? (EYE LINER, MAYBE LAD AND STRONG SUCCESS EACH WON NINE RACES WHEN AGED 2YO)
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. (EYE LINER, MAYBE LAD AND STRONG QUEEN)
3) Four of the 30 two-year-olds named above were unbeaten as 2YO’s. What four? (ASCOT BRIDGE, FALVELON, KERO AND STRONG SUCCESS)
4) One of the 30 named horses had an extraordinary 19 starts as a 2YO. Name that horse? (STRONG QUEEN)
5) Tails never won a 2YO race but he came into his own as a 3YO and older. True or False? (FALSE – TAILS WON THREE RACES AS A 2YO)
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? (TRUE – BOTH WON FOUR RACES AS 2YO’s)
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? (FALSE)
8) Of the 30 named horses, which horse from the above list won a race by the biggest winning margin? (THE ANSWER IS ASCOT BRIDGE WHICH WON AN IPSWICH 2YO RACE BY 15 LENGTHS ON 7/2/1968)
Numerous sources were able to be researched for the record of the aforesaid 30 two-year-olds and they included the book entitled “Racing Through The Years A Guide To Queensland Thoroughbred History”, old Racetrack magazines, old Turf Monthly magazines, various Stallions books as well as the Stud Book website and I thank each of them publicly for their contribution.
Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s the second of two big montages of photos from Beaudesert last Tuesday and Eagle Farm last Saturday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s story about Caravan Rolls On, which is unfortunately going to stay in Australia and try to win the Sydney Cup. Bugger. Let us pray: “Dear Lord, can you please arrange to have Caravan Rolls On gelded so that he doesn’t stay in the former convict colony forever and try to improve the gene pool upon his retirement”. On www.melbourneracing.com.au there’s an interesting Victorian racing story.