Charlie Appleby: Another Exceptional Season...

Newmarket trainer Charlie Appleby has had another exceptional season with his 2-year-olds. 

This is the first part of his season review plus a couple of horses worth keeping an eye out for in the future. 

One horse stands out of course but I will get to him soon enough. Charlie started this season with a bang having five winners out of his first ten 2-year-old runners. 

Well Of Wisdom was his first win of the season at Newmarket. The Oasis Dream colt looked to be the second string of the Godolphin pair as they also had Full Verse in the race but Well Of Wisdom stayed on well to win on his debut. Well Of Wisdoms highlight of the season was winning the Listed Prix Roland De Chambure at Longchamp and gaining some black type to go with the 26,786 euro prize money. 

Pinatubo

Charlie Appleby's next winner looked every bit a superstar and he’s a horse that got everybody talking. Pinatubo was born on the 11th March 2017. The Shamardal colt was made 3/1 second-favorite for his debut race at Wolverhampton's evening meeting back in May. Little did we know at this stage that he would be mentioned in the same breath as the great Frankel in months to come. It was a professional and easy victory for his first race of the season and his second race was just as easy when winning the Woodcote at Epsom, but could he produce the same effort when he moved up another level? Well, we found out when Pinatubo demolished a decent field in the Chesham Stakes at Ascot. After another easy win in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood I wrote a post about promising Pinatubo and the mighty Frankel: Can Pinatubo Match the Might of Frankel? 

I don’t think we will ever see another Frankel but at the time Pinatubo looked unbeatable and so it proved for the rest of the season when adding the National Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes to what was already an impressive first season. 

Can Pinatubo be as good next season? 

I really hope so and can't wait to see him out again. Saying that he still has to keep that level up to be in the same league as Frankel. 

That leads me on to my first two Charlie Appleby horses to follow. 

The first is the well-thought-of EASTERN WORLD. The Dubawi colt was given a Group 2 Champagne Stakes entry back in August but didn’t run and it’s interesting he has early entries for the Irish 2000 Guineas and the Irish Derby next season. He was declared to run on Wednesday at Kempton in what looks a decent field with some big yards in the mix.

Another 2-year-old who made a favorable impression on me is the Dubawi filly DECLARING LOVE.

It's been a while since we saw the Godolphin homebred in fact the Dubawi filly has not run since making her debut in a hot Novice race at Newmarket in May. 

That was a nice introduction without pushing Declaring Love, she was only beaten by the impressive Group winners Raffle Prize and Daahyea and the fact she was given plenty of significant entries since that race and also has early entries for the Irish Oaks and the Irish 1000 Guineas next season means she could be horse not to take lightly in 2020. 

Thanks for reading and look out for my next Charlie Appleby season review plus a couple more horses to follow.