The first two-year-old race of the season - WILLIAMHILL.COM - PLAY POKER BROCKLESBY CONDITIONS STAKES (27th March).
This is always a fascinating start to the season, a Stakes race with almost £13,000 going to the winner. With soft ground and potential draw bias to contend it is never an easy race to win although generally it goes to one of the more fancied runners. There were 24 juveniles entered at the five-day declarations and a field of 16 take part in this cavalry charge. The Brocklesby is a race worth noting as an impressive number of winners came from this race last year. Stakes races are never the easiest to predict and with no form to consider the betting will be the best indicator.
This is a race that certain trainers target with some of their better juveniles and specifically Bill Turner has sent some of his best juveniles to compete here so it will be intriguing to see how Lady Brookie fares.
Tom Dascombe’s representative, Mirror Lad, is only a cheap purchase and the betting will indicate the chances of this winning. His trainer has an impressive string of two-year-olds this season and he will have plenty of winners in the coming months, many on debut.
Chiswick Bey is one of two from the Fahey stable and costing £90,000. Connections will be hoping for a return on such an investment. Richard Fahey has done well in this race on previous years and it would be no surprise to see this colt by Elusive City run well.
The Brocklesby field is made-up of a number of trainers who know how to train two-year-olds and David Evans’ colt and filly should be respected.
Mick Channon fields Sarandjam and Saucy Buck. The price will reflect the chances of these colts as he rarely has winning two-year-olds go unfancied. In recent years, his win rate for juveniles making their debut has not been as impressive as is often implied.
Karl Ryan had a pretty dismal season last year with his two-year-olds and will be hoping for brighter prospects this term.
Clive Brittain will be hoping to carry on from last year’s successes and has a vast string of juveniles from Saeed Manana. Mayhab cost 80,000gns and well bred. Generally a trainer who features a poor win rate on debut, he had a number win on their racing bow last year and it will be interesting to see if that trend continues.
Very much a watching race but a good basis to build form lines and no doubt there will be a number of winners come from this event.