Juvenile Watch: Solario review and an ante-post tip

I love it when I can legitimately fill this section with a horse from one of the smaller yards in the country.

Into The Sky was a disregarded 80-1 shot for his debut at Newbury on Thursday, however, the son of Starman produced a devastating performance under Kieran Shoemark.

Alertly away from the stalls, he raced exuberantly up the middle of the track and quickly headed his 12 rivals. Approaching the two-furlong pole it was evident to see that his strong early fractions had plenty in behind in trouble, yet it remained to be seen what he would find when asked.

A tall and leggy individual, he duly found plenty for minimal pressure and drew away again in the closing stages to win by just over seven lengths.

Runner-up Dark Shore was having his third start of the season and on his latest start had separated two 83 rated individuals when finishing second at Ffos Las.

With both the third-placed Law Court and fourth-placed Leone Alato having shown promise on their previous starts, I think it’s fair to reason that this was a performance every bit as good as it looked.

There should be plenty more to come as well. In his interview with Rishi Persad on Luck On Sunday, trainer Jim Boyle alluded to the fact that, due to the dry summer, Newbury was the first experience on turf for his promising colt, before advising that, provided he could overcome the potential hurdle of losing Into The Sky out of his yard*, that the Mill Reef back over course and distance in three weeks time would come under strong consideration.

The Publicans Son (Trainer: Joseph O’Brien)

This colt is clearly held in high-regard, as he was pitched into group three company for his debut at the Curragh on Saturday.

Slowly away from the stalls, he raced keenly at the rear of the field before settling well in behind runner, close to the stands side rail.

He was moving noticeably well with two furlongs to run, but was required to switch out to his right before finding top gear, producing a powerful finishing effort with the post arriving three strides too soon.

He has a dirt-based pedigree being by lightly raced Group Three runner-up Beau Liam out of Annie Walker, a winner over a mile on dirt. This performance, coupled with his pedigree, strongly suggests he’ll improve for an extra furlong, but should connections chose to keep him at this trip, a regulation maiden would appear a formality.

Sadly, after heavy rain on Friday turned the ground soft, we lost ante-post favourite Publish from the line-up. While it perhaps deprived us of chance to see the one potentially ‘top-class’ colt (I have my reservations), it did give the race a far more open look to it.

This proved to be true, as just a neck separated the first four home after a titanic tussle to the line. A Bit Of Spirit continued the fine form of his trainer Clive Cox, as he stuck his nose out where it mattered to narrowly see off Humidity, who produced an improved display in second.

The blanket finish would rather suggest that this is Group Three form at best and I’ll be surprised if any of these colts are able to climb the ladder further in their careers. However, it is a form line that compels me to have my first ante-post play for next year’s Classics.

Morris Dancer trounced A Bit Of Spirit in the Listed Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury on his latest start, drawing away by four lengths despite still showing signs of inexperience.

At the time, I considered the margin of victory to be, in part, due to a lack of stamina on the part of A Bit Of Spirit, but given how tenacious he was over seven furlongs on testing ground at Sandown, I’m inclined to revise that opinion.

On his penultimate start, Morris Dancer was a fast finishing runner-up in the Vintage stakes behind Zavateri in the Vintage Stakes at Goodwood. 

He holds entries in the Champagne Stakes and the Royal Lodge, both of which are Group Two contests, as well as the Group One Dewhurst. I’d anticipate he’ll stick to the mile in the Royal Lodge and would envisage him going very close in that. 

At the time of publishing, his current odds of 33-1 for the 2,000 Guineas make strong appeal, though of course the strength in depth of the Charlie Appleby team means that, even if winning the Royal Lodge, he wouldn’t be certain to line-up at Newmarket in May. That, however, is more than factored into his current price.

We’re into September and finally the rain has arrived. I expect this to signal the start of plenty of yards starting to get racecourse experience into their backend two-year olds.

This week, Dylan Cunha gives us a couple of his unraced juveniles that he thinks are worth keeping an eye on.

“We’ve got a few still left to step out, at this moment in time Overbudget, a son of Mehmas, is really pleasing me in his work. By our standards he was an expensive yearling purchase at €115,000. We hope he can improve on our already strong season with juveniles, which in turn, might allow us to be stronger with our purchasing at this years sales!

“Havana Jag is a filly I sourced privately along with my father Luiz, she was more in keeping with our usual budgetary restrictions, a daughter of Havana Grey she is showing up well in her work and I’m looking forward to getting her on track.”