2yo Unraced Hidden Gems For The Future (15th October)

The 2-year-old season is getting closer to the finish sadly with plenty of Natural Hunt meetings popping up, each to their own but as you may be aware it's not for me.

I've been going through my trackers and found plenty of unraced beauties still waiting to hit the racecourse. 

Last year's Hidden Gems did pretty well, Malex was the first who I nearly missed as the Kodiac colt had changed yards to Michael O'Callaghan in Ireland, anyway I took 16s and he eventually won 7s, never really progressed afterwards.

Zero Carbon another winner, rattled up a hatrick of wins, 4s, 10/11, and 9/1 for trainer Richard Hughes.

King Of Time not to be outdone also rattled up a hatrick of wins, shorter this time, 11/8, 4/11, 11/10.

Pure Dignity was one I had been looking out for and I was giving up on the Varian filly but she didn't disappoint when making her debut at Newmarket in June and winning despite running green, followed up with a second and looks a nice prospect.

Princess Olly another who moved to Ireland, I actually missed this one first time out when winning 18/1 and I'm still pretty gutted about that.

Tashkent for Richard Hannon was one I was convinced was decent, finishing fourth on two of his starts when big prices, potential was there but not sure what happened.

Let's see how this year's Hidden Gems get on:

1: I'm slowly but surely steering away from Irish horses because as good as they might be it's pretty hard to work out when they will actually win, first up is the Aidan O'Brien trained Ballsbridge, this will be my last year putting Irish trained horses up so let's hope it's a nice one. Sired by Japanese superstar Lord Kanaloa, with dam Happily in the mix the brown colt could turn out to be a nice one and is well-regarded at Ballydoyle, probably one for next season.

2:  Richard Hughes makes it on the list again after Zero Carbon did the business last year for me, this time he has a Sea The Moon colt named Ballymoreboss in the colours of Bernardine and Sean Mulryan. An 120,000 gns purchase at the 2021 October Yearling Sales, a full brother to Connemara Coast who is trained by Richard and owned by same connections, the latter looks a nice type after finishing third at Ascot this year then breaking his duck second timeout in October, worth keeping an eye out for.

3: Glorious Lion for James Ferguson and owned by Qatar Racing, what a name by the way, it has to be decent right? Hasn't been on the racecourse yet but the Roaring Lion colt is another well-regarded. Dam Glories only raced twice back in 2018 and never achieved much to be honest but Ferguson knows the time of day and that will do for me.

4. Another trainer who knows the time of day is Kevin De Foy and he has a Dark Angel colt called Hailey Ya Mal who could be decent. Dam Miranda Frost has already produced a few nice offspring including Ejtilaab trained by Charlie Fellowes. One to look out for either this season or next.

5: Talking of Charlie Fellowes he's made the list with Dandy Man filly Lady Primrose. A full-sister to Lady Kaya who was the Group 3 Guineas Trial in 2019 for trainer Sheila Lavery. Another well-regarded so it's worth taking note if Charlie has a nice one.

6: Lion Tamer for John Gosden and by Qatar Racing again. Dam Exceedingly Rare raced once in France, winning. A couple of offspring already that have won but not set the world alright. I'm pretty sure John and Thady can change that here. 

7: Maharajas Express for trainer Richard Spencer and familiar owner Phil Cunningham. A half-brother to May Girl for Robert Cowell who won a few over the minimum distance in 2017. 

8: Karl Burke has had a pretty decent season with 2yos and yet to unleash the Clipper Logistics New Bay colt Overrule. The 100,000 guineas purchase could make his debut at Doncaster next week.

9: Going to throw one that could be a price in here from the Nigel Tinkler yard, Ubettabequick was entered for the class 2 Convivial Stakes but never ran, was it just the owners pipedream or does the Wootton Bassett filly have ability? 

10: Last but not least, Vandeek for Simon & Ed Crisford. Dam Golden Valentine was a decent sort for Freddy Head winning the Prix Minerve back in 2016, liked a distance and a soft ground so could be worth keeping a note of that. 

I will be wary first timeout with these but hopefully a few can win.

Thanks for reading and good luck.

Author: Craig