Charlie Appleby's 5 To Follow

If you read the blog regularly you will know I gave the Charlie Appleby Dubawi colt Eastern World as a horse to follow. Eastern World made his long-awaited debut this month and was backed like defeat was out of the question. The 10/11 favourite managed to finish second despite looking a bit awkward and green through-out the race. I will be keeping with Eastern World next season as I am sure he will be winning his maiden soon enough. Charlie Appleby has plenty of firepower and these five are worth following next season.

I'm sure MAN OF PROMISE went into many notebooks and if he doesn't get him in now. The Into Mischief Colt was born on 10th February 2017 in the United States and is owned by Godolphin. The bay colt has only had one run to date in what was a pretty hot Ascot Maiden Stakes race back in July. Man Of Promise traveled well but looked a little green towards the business end of the race when making his challenge and lost nothing in defeat coming third. The winner Mums Tipple and second place Molatham both franked the form and even though Man Of Promise will be short next time out I am keen to see how good this Charlie Appleby colt is. 

The next Godolphin owned horse to follow is the Irish born STATE CROWN who looked in need of the race on his debut at Chelmsford in August. The New Approach Chestnut colt drifted from 7/2 to his eventual starting price 5/1 before the off and it showed as State Crown fluffed the start and was slowly away. William Buick tracked the leaders and then switched to the inside but could only manage third behind the more experienced Surf Dancer. A step up to a mile should bring out more improvement next season and State Crown will hopefully be competing in a higher grade. 

No big surprise to see who my next Charlie Appleby horse to follow next season is. BOCCACCIO already has two wins to his name. Born in Ireland on the 22nd February 2017, the Dubawi Bay colt was an expensive purchase from the Tattersalls 2018 October Yearling Sale Book 1. Bought for a tidy 850.000 Guineas for owners Godolphin, Boccaccio had a big price tag and big home reputation after starting 5/4 favourite for his debut race at Yarmouth back in May. He wasn’t to disappoint as he won easily and looked like he would be taking it to the next level soon enough. Plenty of significant entries followed but no sign of the exciting Boccaccio until he finally made his second start at Kempton last month and it was the same story, as he won with plenty in hand. Boccaccio had been off the course a while since his debut and gone up 4 lb in weight. Really looking forward to seeing this Irish 2000 Guineas entry back out again next season. 

SACRED DANCE is another who will be hopefully competing in group races next season after winning a Doncaster Novice Stakes race back in June comfortably. Another who was bought from the Tattersalls 2018 October Yearling Sale Book 1, this time a 650.000 Guineas purchase. The Sea The Stars Filly looks a class act even though she didn’t beat much at Doncaster she was given a few significant entries including the Group 1 Fillies' Mile race but didn't run. Another worth following next season. 

Unraced RENAISSANCE QUEEN has a couple of nice entries next season and one to keep an eye out for. Thanks for reading and a very happy New Year also thanks for supporting the blog in 2019. 

Related post: Can Promising Colt Pinatubo Match The Might Of Frankel? 

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.

Can Promising Colt Pinatubo Match The Might Of Frankel?

Do We Have Another Frankel?

The thing that I love about following 2-year-old racing is you never know what to expect when the season starts and If another special horse will stand out like the mighty Frankel. It doesn't look likely that we will ever find another Frankel to be honest as he was just a freak of nature. Frankel was born 11 February 2008 and unbeaten in 14 races and has an official Timeform rating of 147. He had a list of major wins to his name including ten Group 1s and earned an impressive £2,998,302 in his short career. I think this season we have a nice 2-year-old who has great potential but can he get anyway near Frankel? 

PINATUBO (Pictured) is the top-rated 2-year-old so far this season with a Timeform rating of 125 and I can see why. The Shamardal colt was born March 11, 2017 and owned by Godolphin. Trainer Charlie Appleby started Pinatubo off in a Novice Stakes race at Wolverhampton and you could see the potential straight away as he powered home by over three lengths. He beat Platinum Star that day who has since gone on to win a Listed race at Ripon. 

The Woodcote Stakes at Epsom would be Pinatubo’s next race and the evens favourite didn't disappoint as he took it in his stride and demolished another good field. By this time it seemed everybody could see that Pinatubo looked a class act. His next run would see him take on the best of the rest. 

The Might of Ballydoyle

Royal Ascot loomed next and Pinatubo would be taking on the might of Ballydoyle. The Aidan O’Brien 900,000 euro colt Lope Y Fernandez would be his next victim in the Chesham Stakes. Pinatubo still had his doubters, and he was an unbelievable 3/1. Going up in distance didn't make any difference as James Doyle rode the perfect race and Pinatubo sprinted clear to win easily. I know I say easy but this was without breaking a sweat and in doing so beat the 2-year-old track record with a time of 1 min 25.73sec. 

Vintage Display

The Group 2 Vintage Stakes would be his next race as the Irish were back for another crack. This time Lope Y Fernandez was only third favourite as the bookies didn't make the same mistake again and made Pinatubo the 6/4 favourite. It was another demolition job as Pinatubo eased to victory this time lowering the colours of the Mark Johnston trained Visinari. The second that day was the Clive Cox trained Positive who has since gone onto win the Group 3 Betway Solario Stakes at Sandown. Make no mistake the form is rock solid and with future entries in the National Stakes, Champagne Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes it looks like being an exciting end to the present 2-year-old season. 

Only One Frankel

Frankel only raced four times as a 2-year-old winning the Royal Lodge and the Dewhurst before embarking on what was a spectacular 3-year-old career. As for Pinatubo he has the world at his feet and is a clear favourite for the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket next year. There will never be another Frankel but in Pinatubo we have a real exciting colt, who I for one hope he goes onto bigger and better things next year. Thanks for reading and good luck.

Charlie Appleby Trainer Profile Series

Charlie Appleby is someone I have always highly rated. He joined the Godolphin team in 2013 and has many big race winners to his name, including Outstrip who landed his first G1 for him in his first year with the boys in blue taking the Breeders' cup juvenile turf race at Santa Anita, USA by half a length and earning a whopping $572.101. 

Which is not a bad start by any means for Charlie, with further success to follow with the likes of Space Age becoming his first Royal Ascot winner in 2015 by winning the King George V stakes. 

2017 saw him travel far and wide for winners including four more G1 winners in France, Australia and the USA. You would think things couldn't get much better but as with every great trainer he kept on top of his game and in 2018 was crowned champion trainer at the Dubai world cup carnival with Jungle cat and Hawkbill topping off a great night in Dubai. 

The winners kept rolling in 2018 but one was more special than most when Masar at an unbelievable 16/1 powered up the Epsom hill with William Buick on board in the famous blue silks to become the first Godolphin winner of the famous Epsom Derby and bringing with it a nice little £850.650. 

Not a bad five years for the Newmarket handler but backing every Charlie Appleby horse would be madness so after all this waffling it's time find a few gems to keep the betting bank ticking along. 

As with every trainer Charlie Appleby is no different they like certain race tracks. Nottingham is a track he likes to send out his later two-year-old horses. 

Out of the last eight bets, you would have had five winners with a 62.5 percent strike rate and 209.4 per cent win return at starting price, all running October or November on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. 

The star horse being Ispolini who was an 8/11 beaten favourite here on debut but managed to reach a high of 110 rating and running creditably in some decent group races. Haydock and Newbury would be another two tracks worth keeping a closer eye on when he sends his three-year-olds. 

Six wins from nine bets are not to be taken lightly, giving you a 66.7 percent win strike rate and a 218.3 win percent return at starting price from the combined tracks with all winners winning on debut or second time out. 

Undoubtedly the star of the show from these two race tracks would be Frontiersman who was beaten favourite at Goodwood on debut before making amends second time out at Newbury and reaching a rating of 117. 

So next time you are struggling to make your mind up, check these statistics for a few little pointers in the right direction. 

Good luck everyone and make sure you look out for my next trainer profile with a few statistics to keep you on top.