Juvenile Watch: Keep a look out for this unraced pair

Ross Millar’s weekly focus on the two-year-olds includes two unraced youngsters to look out for, a star performance from last week plus an eye-catcher at Goodwood.

Helen Jones has been stud manager at Ballyhimikin Stud in Nenagh, Co Tipperary for the past 11 years.

The stud has its own band of broodmares as well as offering boarding to outside mares. In addition to this the team at Ballyhimikin would also buy a select number of foals each year to resell the following year as yearlings.

The queen of the broodmare band has undoubtedly been Cassandra Go, dam of Irish 1000 Guineas winner Halfway To Heaven, and therefore grandma of the top class fillies Rhododendron and Magical.

Cassandra Go retires this year at 25 years young having just delivered yet another filly by rising star Night Of Thunder.

However, Jones sights the James Fanshawe-trained Society Rock, a multiple Group One winner, as the best horse she’s dealt with.

“He was a gorgeous foal, he certainly tested us during the yearling prep as he was more than a bit mad,” she said. “I took great pleasure in seeing what he achieved. It’s just a pity he was lost from the breeding ranks just as he was starting to get some really promising stock.”

I asked Jones to nominate two horses from last year’s yearling crop that she thought had the makings of promising two-year olds. Here’s what she said.

She took all of her yearling prep well without a moments bother, and impressed with her toughness and straightforward attitude. Dark Angel needs no introduction and Kambura was a smart two-year old winning at Listed level and placing in a Group Three. Kambura’s first foal, by Kingman, won, as a two-year old and I’d be confident this girl is better still. She’s with Paddy Twomey and the last reports were positive.

He was a successful pinhook for us and sold well at Tattersalls. He was the most beautiful moving colt and had plenty of attitude. His dam was unraced but comes from a good Godolphin family.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I strongly believed that the Ascot maiden won by Get Ahead was above average and suggested a couple of horses to follow next time out. Wild Beauty, who was sixth, did as suggested by improving for going up in trip and won at Haydock last week.

The Charlie Fellowes-trained Eve Lodge was third in the Ascot race when she had a far from smooth passage. She suffered no such problems in a five-runner field on the turf at Lingfield on Saturday and rates one to follow.

She could be called the winner from two out and didn’t need to come off the bridle to win very easily. The runner up Sophie’s Star had already won a maiden at Thirsk and carried a 2lb penalty, but this was more than offset by her apprentice rider’s 5lb claim.

This wasn’t the strongest contest but I was captivated by the high cruising speed Eve Lodge demonstrated. I’m a fan and can’t wait to see what she can do up in grade.

As a side note be sure to check that Gorgeous Star (Roger Varian), who was a close up fourth in that Ascot maiden, is in your Racing TV tracker.

Flotus was well found in the market before her debut at Goodwood on Saturday and duly obliged, running out a wide-margin winner for Simon and Ed Crisford. As a consequence, she's now a best-priced 5-1 for the Albany Staes at Royal Ascot.

I’m sure she went on into plenty of notebooks and trackers for bigger targets later this year, and it is of course possible that she is as good as she looked.

Personally, I’d want to see her do it again on a sounder surface before believing it. The ground was soft at Goodwood and six furlongs for two-year olds at this time of the season can certainly be a test of stamina more than speed.

When you study her pedigree there is precious little (other than her sire) to suggest such speed. Her half-siblings, admittedly by more stoutly bred sires, have all displayed stamina over speed.

I think there is a possibility that her stamina, and perhaps a lack of staying power in the opposition, exaggerated the winning margin. As a consequence I’d be happy to oppose her if she were to appear on good ground over the same trip in the future.

However, she is certainly one I’ll have in mind for autumn races when the ground may soften (assuming it ever dries) and stamina becomes essential.

As I’ve mentioned previously I do think it’s pertinent to take a cautious approach to soft ground form for two-year olds. However, one runner from last week has gone in my tracker.

Maiden’s Green (Charlie Hills)

Maiden’s Green finished third in the Goodwood maiden won by Flotus. She was noticeably slow away from the stalls and raced a little green in the early stages before showing good pace to get into a challenging position he run then petered out in the last half furlong.

The two-year olds from this yard will often improve plenty for a run and she is from a smart sprinting family that contains plenty of two-year old winners. I’d be keen to follow her if she had a sounder surface to race on next time.