It is early February and Flat enthusiasts are already excited about which stallion will finish the season as the first season champion stallion. A futile exercise, one might think? Not a bit about that.
Even the best young talent handlers, Malcolm Bastard, Alan McCabe, Joseph O’Brien, Conor Hoban and Dick Brabazon, who know better than most of the madness that comes with anticipating young talent age, also want to have their own voice. on which the emerging steed could make the biggest splash this season.
O’Brien is loyal to Ten Sovereigns (Ire) in his prediction of the first season male champion title while Bastard, who broke and trained before Too Darn Hot (GB), reported striking similarities between the champion undefeated 2-year-old opponent and his stock.
Meanwhile, Dick Brabazon, one of the best horsemen in Ireland, who had Snow Fairy (Ire) (Intikhab) and Exultant (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) through his Curragh base, joined in. Study Of Man (Ire) to give the trump card with a top-notcher.
Welcome to this year’s earliest predictions for what the next Mehmas (Ire), Cotai Glory (GB) or Havana Gray (GB) will be. Each is true until proven to the contrary, and for starters, Bastard, McCabe and Hoban all agree that the bookies have found the right favorites at Blue Point (Ire), is valued by most companies as a 5-2 overall market leader.
McCabe, who pre-trained Rabbah Bloodstock, Simon Crisford and Charlie Appleby among others, is particularly interested in Blue Point stock and says, “I think he’s going to be a big hit. I think the bookmarkers are barking like I am with Blue Point because I think he’s going to do well in the first season of the stud championship. In fact, there was a very smart Blue Point pony I was dealing with, and it went to Simon Crisford’s. He’s the smartest Blue Point I have and if he doesn’t win the July Course at Newmarket, I’d be surprised.”
The bastard agrees.
the bastard Malcolm | Racingfotos.com
He said, “We have six or seven Blue Points and they are kind and very intelligent horses. They all have nice deeds about them. They’re just sprinting very well this time of year, so it’s hard to say, but the Too Darn Hots and Blue Points stand out a bit at the moment. Blue Points is definitely not an early horse, not ours anyway.
But it was Too Darn Hots that set the temperature for Bastard’s Wiltshire operation with its famous brood handler, particularly impressed by the progeny of young males.
“I have about a dozen Too Darn Hots and they look a lot like him. From day one, he trotted like a seasoned pro – he was a beautifully moving pony – and so did his descendants. I think they will be late summer horses, if not fall horses, like him. They’ll have seven plus feathers and they won’t be a sprinter so he might be priced right. [at 14-1]. You would expect him to have a really good number of winners at the end of the season and quality horses among them.”
Hoban may be one of the newest names on the Irish scene but he’s already made a huge impact. The professional equestrian has had two Classic winners, Magical Lagoon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Sonnyboyliston (Ire) (Power {GB}), through his hands and has built a portfolio impressed working with Barnane Stud, Yulong Investments, Johnny Murtagh, Eddie Lynam, Jessica Harrington and Paddy Twomey.
Along with the Blue Point progeny, Hoban nominated the Invincible Army (Ire) to throw down the marker early this spring and said, “I have a pony of the Invincible Army So beautiful. He’s going to be in for one of the big sales and he seems to be doing a great job. He’s the only Invincible Army I have but I’d love to recruit more of them in sales because everything about him is promising. He just has a lovely way of walking and nothing seems to stand in his way. I care a lot about you.”
Hoban added, “I don’t have Ten Sovereigns but there seems to be a bit of a chat about them, which is fun and the few Blue Spots I have are really cool. They are forward-looking, strong, and seem to have a good mind. I’ve also had a couple of Spanish Phoenixes (Ire) and although they don’t develop as early, they are well-proportioned horses and have a great attitude. They will be more in the second half of the year.”
A man has his fair share Ten Sovereigns worked with was O’Brien and he liked what he saw.
“It was early days, obviously, but we were lucky enough to accumulate quite a bit later Ten Sovereigns and we really like what we’re seeing from them,” the coach said.
McCabe has the largest sample size to choose from as he has already passed the best of 100 young to enter training for this year and, while he admits some luck is needed for a horse like crossing, he has identified a wide range. A series of young stock bulls have impressed him.
Blue Point: favorite for the first season of the brooding championship | Racingfotos.com
He said, “I am also very interested in Masar (Ire)s and Too Darn Hots. The Blue Points are a sharp bunch and they look like they’re going to be 2 year olds and the Too Darn Hots are just nice horses. They are easy to deal with and are both very nice horses. We like them very much.
“Masars is very similar to the first Night Of Thunder (Ire). They are very honest horses and I imagine it will be quite successful. Masar has won over seven stretches by the age of 2 and is no slouch. He’s physically great as a racehorse and like the Night Of Thunder, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They seem to have a good mind and are easy to work with.
“I only have one Greek Magna (Ire)colt but I like him a lot. He looks like he would be a runner. I got a little dirty by the Passive (GB) and she goes well. Passive won the Stewards Cup and his coach Robert Cowell said that, if he hadn’t been injured, he would have certainly been a team horse. He’s only had a handful of runners and he’s had winners, with one of them [Intrinsic Bond (GB)] got an RPR of 101 so he might not be a bad bro. I know he’s not the first season bro but we also have an adorable Kodi Bear (Ire) and I’ll be a fan of him as a sire.
On the championship in general, he added, “I used to ride Kheleyf and no one would have guessed he did what he did in school. You get horses that you think will learn well and they don’t for whatever reason and then you get other horses that you think will be in the basement and they come with the cargo. It’s hard to predict, but if I were a bettor, I’d be sailing behind Blue Point to get rocked soon. You need a lot of luck.”
One stallion that certainly won’t end the year as the first season champion stallion is Study Of Man, but for different reasons the French Derby winner’s stallion is bred to perfection. impressed Brabazon.
He explains, “We deal more with breeder-owned horses, which mature more slowly, however, when I went through our list, we had a nice horse. . Greek Magna and another one from Phoenix Of Spain. But if I were to nominate a sire that I am particularly interested in progeny, it would be Study Of Man, as the two males we have are both very athletic, hardy, and athletic. supple. He can be a very interesting gentleman and it would be great if Deep Impact (Jpn) had a big impact here based on what he has achieved in Japan. He is a horse that I will be very interested in following this year. His grandmother is Miesque so that’s a pedigree. Saxon Warrior (Jpn) has started in Ireland so it will be interesting to see how Study Of Man plays out. It’s only February now, and I might be talking nonsense at the start of this year, but these two Study Of Man movies really caught our attention.
“We just started galloping Curragh with our 2-year-olds. I was next to the Old Vic galloping and we were just getting started with the ponies trotting up the Old Vic. Now we will have the fillings go soon. It’s all about education for me. I’m not a coach, so I let the coach coach them and I just educate them. I always yell at the riders that they are just babies. They sometimes start running around them if they start to show a bit but I always try to keep an eye on them and make the horses a career horse for their owners. I’m afraid I won’t win any Brocklesbys! I have accepted that at this stage of my life. My goal is for the horse to survive. I just laid the groundwork for the trainers and then watched the horses’ careers with interest.”
He added, “The racers are very important. Tim Carroll is my main driver and he’s amazing. He just had a natural feel for a horse and could tell exactly how well each horse ran. If he says this is fine, I take note of what he says. He’s picked a number already and he’s a fan of Study Of Mans. Not all of them are on the right track but you should have a good idea at this stage.”
Similarly, Bastard has seen enough from the descendants of the Land Force (Ire), Inns Of Court (Ire) and Ten Sovereigns to suggest that their 2-year-olds can achieve good things on the track this season.
He concluded, “We’ve got a couple of Ground Forces and they’re pretty easy to deal with as well. They’ve got a bit of a size and range on them and a lot of power. They have good bones, good minds and are quite progressive and they look good. He can be a bit of a surprise package. He can do well. Inns Of Court is another thing worth mentioning. I have to say, we only had one at Inns Of Court, but he was very nice and I hope he does well. We have several ways Ten Sovereigns, who went well, but again, the people we had seemed like they were going to need some time. Nothing really early among them but they are good horses. They have quite a range.
