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Timeform ratings analysis | Two-year-olds including Whistlejacket
Tony McFadden provides an update on the two-year-old pecking order based on Timeform ratings.
Whistlejacket (Timeform rating 106p)
Trainer: Aidan O'Brien
Whistlejacket is a full brother to 2022 champion juvenile Little Big Bear and he has made an equally promising start to his career.
Whistlejacket, who was understandably a short-price favourite on his first outing given his pedigree and 500,000 guineas purchase price, had to settle for second on debut (just like his brother) but he built on that to register an emphatic success in the listed First Flier Stakes at the Curragh.
Dropping back a furlong to the minimum distance, Whistlejacket broke quickly, raced with enthusiasm at the head of affairs and kept on strongly after he was shaken up to beat subsequent Marble Hill Stakes winner Arizona Blaze by three and three-quarter lengths.
That earned Whistlejacket a rating of 106p which, coincidentally, is the same figure Little Big Bear had heading into Royal Ascot where he won the Windsor Castle Stakes.
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Fairy Godmother (98p)
Aidan O'Brien
Fairy Godmother, a 425,000 guineas filly by Night of Thunder, was all the rage in the betting on her debut at Naas and was sent off the 4/7 favourite. However, she ultimately shaped as if she'd be better for the run and was no match for Sparkling Sea who showed an impressive turn of foot to quicken two and a half lengths clear.
The rematch came in the Group 3 Fillies Sprint Stakes, also over six furlongs at Naas, and Fairy Godmother again dominated the betting, sent off a strong 6/5 favourite. But this time she rewarded that support in the style of a filly likely to take high rank in the division this season.
The winning margin was only a neck but Fairy Godmother picked up strongly after she was switched to make her challenge and she did well to reel in Sparkling Sea who had nabbed first run.
She ran to a similar level at Naas as Meditate and Porta Fortuna who won the same contest before going on to land the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Mountain Breeze (98p)
Charlie Appleby
Fairy Godmother wasn't the only filly to mark herself out as a strong contender for the Albany Stakes the weekend before last, however, as Mountain Breeze also looked like an exciting prospect when winning at Newmarket 24 hours beforehand.
Mountain Breeze, a close relation to the 2019 champion juvenile Pinatubo, had proved strong in the finish when making a successful start over five furlongs at Newmarket and, sharper with that experience to call on, she produced a more impressive display back at the same venue over six furlongs.
She was value for more than the two-and-a-half-length winning margin and her performance is rated as the best by a juvenile in Britain so far this season.
Treasure Isle (97p)
Aidan O'Brien
Treasure Isle was Aidan O'Brien's first two-year-old runner of the season and, as was the case with Whistlejacket and Fairy Godmother, he found one too sharp. In fact, of O'Brien's 14 individual juvenile runners this season only two - Camille Pissarro and Henri Matisse - won on debut, while four of his five runners to have run again won on their second start.
Treasure Isle was one of those who built on debut promise to get off the mark at the second attempt in a conditions race at Naas, finding plenty despite still not looking like the finished article.
He didn't run to such a high level as last year's winner River Tiber, who followed up in the Coventry Stakes, but he remains open to improvement.
Arizona Blaze (97)
Adrian Murray
The first two-year-old race of the campaign in Ireland last season was won by Bucanero Fuerte who went on to bag Group 1 honours in the Phoenix Stakes for Adrian Murray and Amo Racing. This time around the same connections struck on the opening day with Arizona Blaze and he too has gone on to win in pattern company, landing the Group 3 Marble Hill Stakes over six furlongs at the Curragh on Saturday.
Upped in trip and on a sounder surface than previously, Arizona Blaze improved on the form he had shown on debut and when beaten by Whistlejacket, displaying a willing attitude to rally and edge out odds-on favourite Camille Pissarro by a head.
Camille Pissarro (97)
Aidan O'Brien
Camille Pissarro is one of only two juveniles trained by Aidan O'Brien to win on debut so far this season, and he is also the only two-year-old from Ballydoyle to be beaten second time out this term.
However, he still showed improved form when only narrowly beaten by Arizona Blaze in the Marble Hill, looking set to win when sent to the front entering the final furlong (traded at 1/20 in running) but edged out late on.
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