Sporting Life
James Doyle rode Pinatubo while William Buick was out injured
James Doyle rode Pinatubo while William Buick was out injured

Let's talk about: Matt Brocklebank looks back on the unblemished two-year-old campaign of Charlie Appleby's Pinatubo

By Matt Brocklebank
15:24 · TUE April 07, 2020

Pinatubo carried all before him as a two-year-old in 2019 but are there reasons to believe he won't quite be the dominant force this time around?

Matt Brocklebank looks ahead to the return of last year's superstar juvenile. And we want your feedback! Will Pinatubo train on and prove himself top-class at three? Check out details of how to contact us towards the foot of the article.

Six racecourse appearances, six victories, and an aggregate winning distance of 24 lengths. Pinatubo’s juvenile campaign was almost flawless. Not absolutely flawless, but we’ll come back to that.

The first thing to note is that it quickly became apparent the son of Shamardal had shown next to nothing – in future superstar terms at least – on the gallops around town as Charlie Appleby tried to put his 2019 juveniles into some sort of likely pecking order last spring.

Well Of Wisdom was sent to the Craven meeting (won), Path Of Thunder had been earmarked for the five furlong maiden on Guineas weekend where he was second, all the while the HQ gallops watchers were whispering the name of Al Suhail, who didn’t materialise until the July Festival where he was well held on debut.

Pinatubo first appeared on May 10 at Wolverhampton, where he faced Saeed bin Suroor’s Dark Of Knight, who had the benefit of racecourse experience and was clear market leader. It was obvious after the son of Shamardal quickened tidily to win by a yawning three and a quarter lengths that Pinatubo’s jockey’s time in the white cap of Godolphin was over.

Onto the Investec Woodcote at Epsom and while odds-on at points through the morning, decent support for Mark Johnston’s twice-raced, wide-margin Ripon winner Misty Grey meant Pinatubo returned an SP of even money.

He had plenty to do two and a half furlongs out, too, Misty Grey having predictably poured it on from the outset where the favourite was far from tidy leaving the gates, but the front-runner’s stride began to shorten.

The opposite was true of Pinatubo and James Doyle sensed victory passing the furlong marker. He wandered slightly on the adverse camber but sealed the deal with a strong, late kick and it was this education, overcoming adversity for the first time, which clearly served him well on his next two starts - the white-hot atmosphere of Royal Ascot and the gloriously tricky undulations of Goodwood.

The Coventry Stakes was mooted ahead of Ascot and must have been seriously considered but the horse satisfied the race conditions of the Chesham Stakes through his sire’s French Derby-winning exploits, and the step up to seven furlongs was eventually decided upon.

Again Pinatubo was made to play second-fiddle in the betting ring, as the money poured in for Aidan O’Brien’s Lope Y Fernandez after a first-time-out Curragh score, but experience, professionalism and raw class came out on top as the Ballydoyle runner was left trailing over three lengths in his market rival’s wake.

From that point we knew we were dealing with a serious two-year-old and he confirmed as much on tacky ground on the Sussex Downs, looking hard as nails and straightforward to boot as he pulverised Clive Cox's Positive by five lengths.

The National Stakes looked quite daunting on paper. A first Group One assignment and four O’Brien blue-bloods to contend with - on their own patch. But Appleby knows what it takes to pinch this particular prize from under O’Brien’s nose, having done so the year before courtesy of Quorto, and odds of 1/3 gave the game away to some extent.

They did not see which way he went.

William Buick, who had returned from a worrying head injury less than a month beforehand, got his first taste of afternoon action on the stable star and motored through the driving rain with a stonking great grin on his face.

William Buick enjoys the moment on Pinatubo

His second sample yielded a second top-class triumph in the Darley Dewhurst, the horse’s first sight of the Rowley Mile and the Newmarket dip. Two lengths, job done.

But this is where we circle back to the initial hint at imperfection. It could be that the trip to Ireland took something out of him, but he’d beaten Arizona almost 10 lengths at the Curragh and now the margin of superiority was down to two.

Pinatubo lacks size and scope and while the rest of his impeccable juvenile campaign was one of considerable progression at every step, it cannot be argued that his final performance was his best. And that raises the faint possibility that the rest of the pack – the more late-maturing colts – were beginning to bridge the gap.

It can also be argued of course that National Stakes third Arizona had stepped up massively on his previous effort, which would not be out of sync with O’Brien-trained two-year-olds at the back end of the season, but his subsequent Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf run, where admittedly not best positioned throughout, was clearly more in line with the Curragh on basic form terms.

Perhaps he hadn’t scaled dizzy new heights at all in the Dewhurst, and Pinatubo had taken a slight step back or at best plateaued.

For now that will essentially remain unknown, but as we gaze into a sea of far more concerning unknowns, at least it is one we can ponder with a degree of excitement and hope.

Send us your views

Send your comments and contributions to racingfeedback@sportinglife.com and if you’ve any ideas for more topics you want covering over the coming days and weeks please let us know.

Feedback from readers

Jennifer Skippings:

He was a star last season, in a season of mediocrity. His performance in the National Stakes was undoubtedly the pinnacle and his Dewhurst victory could easily be put down to him being past his best.

What about his pedigree? His Dubawi half siblings have not shown much. The eldest did not see the racecourse till 4 and she managed to win a modest affair in the French Provinces. Al Mureib is a 12 race maiden albeit with a reasonable level of form, but not good enough to save him from the deepest cut of all. Overall his form reads as one with form to win races but lacking a turn of foot at the level his is plying his trade. He has never raced beyond a mile and a quarter and after 12 attempts, the conclusion must be is that he is not that good.

Dubawi is a greater influence for stamina than Sharmadal so expecting Pinatubo to blossom over a mile and a half on the first Saturday in June is very optimistic. He looks all over a miler that may stretch his stamina out to 10 furlongs later in the season. He was so far ahead of the rest that merely training on should have been good enough to realize his Guineas aspirations. The Irish equivalent where he showed his best form would seem to be a natural target. However he handled Goodwood well and there is no doubt his sporting owners would like to win the Derby with something not of the Galileo line.

If the classics are held outside the normal window of the Weight-for-age time scale, the winner will be crowned but the relative merits to previous winners will be based on a false premise.

Let’s hope he trains on and we get to see him on the racetrack at some point this season.

George Goodenough:

Nothing unusual about those dominant in June to run below par in October whatever age. Nijinsky failed heroically in the arc and Authorised was completely anonymous in that race. A six race campaign is probably more than enough for a juvenile. As for scope and size let's take Mill Reef as the precedent. He too did the Royal Ascot and Dewhurst double and was not the most imposing. So plenty of positive precedents but on the other hand he may just be the biggest Guineas certainty since Try My Best.

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