Redcar are turning the day surrounding their richest race, the totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy, into an Oktoberfest. Racegoers are being encouraged to turn up in their best Bavarian leather, an oompah band is being provided and the beer will be served in steins. This is still Yorkshire, however, so that beer will be local, much of it brewed within hailing distance of where many of the runners in this Saturday’s big race are trained.
Two-Year-Old Trophy History and Trends
The totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy is one of the most valuable races in Europe for juveniles. Contested over a distance just short of 6f, it is worth almost £100,000 to the winner and was first staged back in 1989.
Won in the past by top-class sprinters such as Somnus, Captain Rio, Pipalong, Peak To Creek and Misu Bond, the 2008 winner Total Gallery went on to land the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp with the 2014 winner Limato going on to glory in the July Cup last year.
Tim Easterby has trained the winner on four occasions, most recently in 2013, but this is one notable northern race to so far elude Richard Fahey. However, the Musley Bank handler had 17 entered at the five-day stage so is going all out to set the record straight this year.
There is a maximum field again this year but none of the last 12 winners have been drawn higher than stall 17. Only one of the last nine winners has started at bigger odds than 12/1 and that could be down to the fact that the race now attracts a better class of juvenile. However, only one of the last nine has carried more than 8st 12lb so it’s still rewarding those trainers with an eye for a bargain regarding purchase price (the weights are framed with regards to a sire’s stock value as well as previous form).
Official ratings in the last years range between 78 and 111 so there are few clues on that score with only three fillies winning since 2002.
| Two-Year-Old Trophy Previous 10 Winners | ||||||||||
| YEAR | HORSE | WGT | FORM | TRAINER | JOCKEY | RAN | OR | SP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Wick Powell | 8-3 | 12272 | T D Barron | A Mullen | 20 | 85 | 12/1 | ||
| 2015 | Log Out Island | 9-2 | 237232 | R Hannon | S M Levey | 20 | 109 | 10/3 | ||
| 2014 | Limato | 8-12 | 111 | H Candy | G Lee | 23 | 111 | 6/5 | ||
| 2013 | Ventura Mist | 8-7 | 182033 | T D Easterby | D Allan | 23 | 78 | 10/1 | ||
| 2012 | Body And Soul | 8-1 | 61113 | T D Easterby | D Fentiman | 21 | 95 | 4/1 | ||
| 2011 | Bogart | 8-12 | 1716 | K A Ryan | P Makin | 22 | 103 | 11/2 | ||
| 2010 | Ladies Are Forever | 7-12 | 13 | G R Oldroyd | S De Sousa | 22 | 105 | 3/1 | ||
| 2009 | Lucky Like | 8-6 | 415 | E J O’Neill | F Norton | 22 | – | 20/1 | ||
| 2008 | Total Gallery | 8-9 | 152 | J S Moore | L P Keniry | 22 | 105 | 11/2 | ||
| 2007 | Dubai Dynamo | 9-2 | 351 | J S Moore | Dean McKeown | 23 | 75 | 40/1 | ||
Eight of those original Fahey entries stand their ground this weekend and one of them, Darkanna, has the highest official rating. She’s been campaigned at the highest level since winning at Haydock in June but offers little in the way of value at the general 5/1 at Redcar as she’s fully exposed. Of the Fahey legions, Crownthorpe makes similar appeal at the weights and it would be no surprise to see the tough Requinto Dawn run well at a big price (currently a best 33/1).
Richard Hannon won the race two years ago with Log Out Island and is expecting a big run from the speedy Billy Dylan while one has to wonder if NEVER BACK DOWN (a general 14/1), just beaten on his debut by the smart Sound And Silence, has been deliberately kept fresh for this by the shrewd Hugo Palmer.
He goes on our short-list along with fellow Newmarket raider FLYING SPARKLE (14/1 with Paddy Power). Michael Bell’s filly beat this weekend’s rival and subsequent winner Hunni at Windsor in July and then only failed by a length to hold off the well-regarded Beauty Filly at Yarmouth when conceding 3lb. The third and fourth in that race haven’t let the form down and Hayley Turner’s mount is getting weight from all-but-three of her rivals so is entitled to run a big race.
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totepool Two-Year-Old Trophy Current Best Odds
Darkanna (5/1), Red Roman and Crownthorpe (8/1), Never Back Down, Flying Sparkle and Simmy’s Copshop (14/1), Billy Dylan, De Bruyne Horse , Green Fortune and John Kirkup (16/1), Hunni (20/1), Foxtrot Lady, Maybride, Rumshak, Silver Starlight and Regulator (25/1), Chatburn, Requinto Dawn, Inviolable Spirit, Jedi Master, Lady Anjorica and Pilkington (33/1), Move It Move It (50/1)
