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Jayne Ivil's tips on selecting 2yo winners!!


Thomass

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Fill ya boots before the Karaka Million field starts parading!

Maozi

Maozi after winning on debut at Geelong earlier this month (Image: Racing Photos)

A guide to picking a 2YO from the yard

Racing Article

Jayne Ivil

12:48pm

, (

The build-up to the $1.5 million Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) on Saturday, February 23 at Caulfield is already underway with several two-year-olds stamping themselves as contenders with strong racetrack performances.

At Flemington on Saturday another group of babies will be out to stamp their Blue Diamond claims in the VRC Members Duane Rogers Plate (1200m). Viking Warrior, Outlandos, Game Keeper and Maozi all hold Blue Diamond nominations and a strong showing down the straight could see any of the quartet catapult up the betting order for February's feature.

Unfortunately, I haven't sighted a single runner in Saturday's field on race day so here is a guide as to what I will be looking for:

Type

Given these two-year-olds are running over 1200m I will be looking for a horse physically suited to that distance, a sprinting or short-course type.

Generally speaking a sprinting type will be a little shorter across the back (short-coupled), they will tend to carry more muscle mass and have a strong, powerful hindquarter.

Balance is another key attribute to a good two-year-old. Balance refers to a horse spreading their weight evenly when they move, they are not weighted more heavily in front or behind and are level between their wither and hindquarter.

A sign of a two-year-old who is still growing is one whose hindquarter sits higher than their wither, so when viewing in the mounting yard they can look a little downhill.

Two-year-olds are generally immature and at this time of the year typically parade with lots of development to come, so pinpointing a runner that looks more physically forward or mature than its rivals is advantageous.

Behaviour

On Saturday, only one of the six runners is on debut, the others have all experienced race day.

How a horse returns to the races at its second start is very important.

On debut, horses will often parade calmly and relaxed as they don't know what contesting a race entails but sometimes at their second start they will parade more 'on edge' as they now understand what is going to happen when they head onto the track.

Seeing a horse parade in a relaxed manner at its second start generally means they have coped with the pressures that come with race day and they can inwardly deal with nervous energy.

On Saturday this is what I will be looking for, a two-year-old who has had a good experience on debut and has returned to the races relaxed and settled.

In saying this, it is important to remember that these are inexperienced, young racehorses and like all adolescents they won't always behave the way we expect!

It's not unusual to see a two-year-old calling out in the yard, jogging alongside their strapper and getting a little bit warm. They will be inquisitive and take in their surroundings (remember everything is fairly new) so as long as they are not completely melting down you can forgive some of this behaviour.

A mature brain in a two-year-old is vital. These babies have a lot to cope with both physically and mentally in their training regime and new racing careers and those that are more forward often have an edge over their less-developed, potentially more talented rivals.

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10 minutes ago, Thomass said:

It's the Blue Print to selecting your own winners via Horse Psychology and observational anatomy!

Only if you are on-course!  Interesting though that you are now talking about individual characteristics for each horse vs general population.  I'd suggest that the "Horse Psychology" option is extremely variable.

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