It's no secret that John Gosden's 2-year-olds are flying at the minute and my next tracker would have gone into many peoples notebooks after a promising debut at Kempton. Byzantine Empire is a beautifully bred Golden Horn colt who is owned and bred Rachel D S Hood. He is a half brother to Richard Pankhurst who won the Listed Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old. Byzantine Empire was 3/1 second-favourite for his debut but fell out of the stalls and lost a good few lengths before steadily catching up and finishing like a train, I think he would have won that day but for the slow start and I can see him being a lot more streetwise next timeout.
19:10 Kempton 06 Sep 2019.
Another John Gosden beauty here and if Donnybrook is not odds on next timeout I will eat my hat. Donnybrook was purchased for 900,000 euros as a yearling by Godolphin last year. The Invincible Spirit filly wore a hood first timeout which was a bit of a worry and probably reflected in her price on debut. Despite that being a negative she still ran a promising race and looks a decent prospect for the John Gosden team. Rob Halvin had a job trying to settle her the first few furlongs as she was very keen but once she got the hang of things she picked up beautifully and almost got up in the last strides. Donnybrook looks a big athletic type and it will be interesting where John Gosden sends her next. The one negative was how keen she was on debut and hopefully, she won't waste so much energy next timeout.
15:50 Newcastle 06 Sep 2019:
Am not sure how strong this race was but the winner Ascension has won twice now. The horse that caught my eye was the Karl Burke trained Gravity Force who is a 45,000 gns Fountain Of Youth colt. Gravity Force was purchased in 2017 and is owned by Bearstone Stud Limited. He made a promising debut at Newcastle last week but jockey Clifford Lee had to earn his pay because he was hard at work from the word go. Normally you can tell when Karl Burke has a nice horse as the money comes in but it was the opposite here as Gravity Force drifted to 12/1. Even though Gravity Force took a while to get going he sprouted wings a couple of furlongs out and finished full of running. One to note next timeout but as I said not sure how deep this race was.
13:35 Ascot 07 Sep 2019:
Zegalo was a pretty big price on debut for Roger Varian. The Zoffany homebred colt made a pleasing debut at Ascot on Saturday. The 16/1 shot looked professional and knew his job straight away. I did like the way Zegalo travelled, and he looks a nice relaxed type. Jockey Charlie Bennett urged Zegalo to get a bit closer a couple of furlongs out, the response was not immediate but he stayed on nicely in the final half-furlong. Zegalo should pick up a race in the near future.
15:25 York 08 Sep 2019:
I can't finish without mentioning Convict who stays on my eye-catches list despite Danny Tudhope losing his irons after Convict stumbled on the path. It was a miracle Danny stayed in the saddle but even though I lost a few quid on this It did look funny they way he finished off the race and ended up looking like a rodeo star. One definitely worth keeping an eye out for after being well-supported in the betting.
LATEST EYE-CATCHERS RESULTS:
Band Practice: won 11/4. Nice type who will be racing at a higher class soon.
Single: Unplaced 7/4. Disappointing effort and looks to have limited ability.
Convict: Unplaced 2/1. Travelling well until stumbled on the path and jockey lost his irons.
Stays on the list.
Pocket Square: won 9/4. Looks a nice type for Roger Charlton.
Panic Room: won 5/2: Easy winner at Haydock for Tom Dascombe.
Handlebars Unplaced:11/4: Limited.
Thanks for reading and good luck.
Nice post, Craig. I thought Donnybrook ran an amazing race.
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