Top two-year-olds in action
31 August 2001
A number of unbeaten two-year-olds are in action at Sandown and The Curragh this weekend
Several two-year-old bubbles will be burst this weekend when Dulcet Spear, Bandari and Tholjanah meet in Sandown’s Ford Solario Stakes on Saturday and Seba tackles a field of promising young fillies in Sunday’s Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh.
All four put their unbeaten records on the line. Dulcet Spear, from David Loder’s formidable stringof juveniles, kicked off at Southwell and progressed to Newbury where he won again with plenty in hand. This constitutes another step up for the daughter of the French Guineas winner Vettori.
Mark Johnston’s Bandari came home three lengths clear of his field on his Beverley debut, while Tholjanah, from the in-form Marcus Tregoning yard, signposted a bright future with an eye-catching success at Kempton.
It is difficult to say how far up the ladder this trio will go, and, for now, it may be worthwhile to play safe with Pip Payne’s Asheer who followed up his Lingfield maiden win with a solid second to Comfy at York.
Payne’s filly Sonatina, who runs in Sandown’s Variety Club Sunshine Coach Atlanta Stakes, chased home Goggles at Goodwoodand is clearly improving. She will be a big threat to the David Elsworth-trained Foodbroker Fancy.
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Elsworth has always held Foodbroker Fancy in high esteem and the filly will appreciate the drop in class after finishing sixth behind Sakhee in the Juddmonte International at York the other day.
Seba, Loder’s first two-year-old winner of the season at Newmarket, fulfilled all the promise shown there by taking the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot. She did not enjoy the smoothest of runs at Ascot and should be able to cope with Sunday’s strong opposition at The Curragh.
Gerard Butler goes for a hat-trick on consecutive weekends with Shamaiel in the Rated Stakes at Chester on Saturday. Shamaiel won at Newbury a fortnight ago, then scored at Goodwood last Saturday. As Butler said, she keeps on improving.
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