Juvenile Watch: a standout Star Of The Week

Where are the superstars in this juvenile crop? There have been plenty of promising performances, but I’m not convinced we’ve seen the real deal yet.

I’d hoped the Phoenix Stakes might have produced one with the potential for a dominant display from either Gstaad or True Love.

At the early prices, I felt the market had over played the perceived difference ability between the two; I’d been impressed by True Love in the Railway Stakes and, despite Ryan Moore choosing Gstaad, I was happy to side with her.

Then the unhappiness started. On Friday evening it was reported Gstaad was observed to have been quiet after his work, before being declared a non-runner on Saturday morning.

This left the unhappy prospect of a winning slip with a huge rule four and, more importantly (for this column), a re-run of the Railway Stakes which would leave us all none the wiser as to just how good True Love is.

Still, a winner is a winner, right? Alarm bells started to ring almost immediately as although she travelled nicely enough, she didn’t look to be the same ball of dynamite that tanked through her previous outing.

At halfway I knew that if she was going to win, it wasn’t going to be mind-blowing. It’s the hope that hurts; with a furlong to run it looked like she might just overhaul Power Blue, but then she started to hang and that rival dug deep and a thoroughly underwhelming Phoenix Stakes was over.

Had Power Blue found six lengths of improvement in just three weeks? It seemed unlikely, and then a post-race vet check found True Love to be lame on her right-fore – the same direction to which she hung.

It would be churlish not to give credit to the winner and to his opinion-dividing ownership team;, he was gutsy in the battle and they were brave to pitch him in here against a filly that had pulverised him on his previous start.

Fortune does indeed favour the brave.

Here’s hoping that the York Ebor meeting offers up a few more clues as to the hierarchy in this years juvenile crop.

Zanthos was a clear pick for this accolade this week.

Racing over seven furlongs at Newmarket on Saturday, she won in the manner of a potentially smart filly. Despite getting a bump and shifting to her right leaving the stalls, she raced professionally at the head of the field and looked the dominant filly throughout.

She effortlessly travelled clear approaching the rising ground from where she quickened up smartly under just hand and heels riding from jockey Oisin Murphy.

The Simon and Ed Crisford yard go about their work with little fanfare but it was clear in the post-race interview that this €1,000,000 breeze-up purchase is clearly held in high regard.

This fact was highlighted by Simon Crisford when he suggested they wouldn’t be afraid of taking on the colts in the Solario Stakes for her next start.

Karl Burke has long had a reputation for producing bountiful numbers of two-year old winners each season, yet even by his high standards, this season is proving to be a bumper one.

A juvenile double at Leicester courtesy of Boiling Over, in the nursery, and Alparslan, an impressive debut winner of the Novice, took him to a staggering 42 two-year old winners this season at an equally impressive 34 per cent strike rate.

It’s been a largely consistent flow of winners since the beginning of the season and, with plenty of bullets still to fire, this already impressive number is only going to grow.

No Direction, a Karl Burke-trained son of Space Blues, took a while to understand his job when sent off favourite at Haydock on Sunday, but he made good inroads once putting his best foot forward, eventually finishing an eye-catching third.

He holds an engagement at Thirsk on Friday in the 5.25, the yard aren’t afraid to turn juveniles out quickly and if taking up this engagement he should be hard to beat.

Regardless, he’s a worthwhile addition to your Racing TV Tracker.

Alan King's Plan C, a son of Sioux Nation, improved tremendously on his second career start, finishing third at Kempton over seven furlongs.

He travelled far better through the early stages than he had on his Newbury debut, but again showed his inexperience when taking a good while to answer his jockeys urgings in the closing stages.

However, late on the penny finally looked to drop and he produced some eye-catching late work.

He will stay further than this in time but providing he’s able to find his finishing kick more instantly next time, he’s more than capable of winning over this trip.