TOTS OF THE TURF SHOWING PROMISE

lan Heitman stumbles across some gems at the Curragh and Doncaster

- lan Heitman

The start of the turf seasons in Ireland, the Curragh on March 18, and in the UK, Doncaster on March 23, was earlier than in recent years, meaning a sooner than normal start for the two-year-olds with a race staged at each venue.

The ground was very testing at the Curragh and that resulted in three of the intended runners being withdrawn leaving eight to face the starter. Just as in 2023, Adrian Murray and the owners Amo Racing Ltd and Giselle De Aguiar had the favourite, Arizona Blaze, who at 5/4 was much shorter in the betting their winner last year Bucanero Fuerte who went off at 3/1.

Arizona Blaze was in front at halfway and looked to have control of the race, but he faced a strong challenge from Rowdy Yeats over a furlong from the finish, the pair having the race between them inside the final furlong, Arizona Blaze just the stronger inside the last 50 yards winning by a length and a quarter with a five-length gap to Monotone in third.

The first and second had hard races on the testing ground and might need a bit of time to get over the race. Monotone, one of three to have run since, won his next start at Cork on March 30 when he got the better of another Murray/Amo Racing colt, Amazonian Warrior, inside the last 100 yards, to win by half a length.

Both Arizona Blaze and Monotone are by first season sires, Sergei Prokofiev and Verbal Dexterity and there will be more on the first season sires later.

The Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster has more often than not been the first two-year-old race in the UK and this year there were 15 runners.

There was another Amo Racing & Giselle De Aguiar-owned favourite, Mystical Elegance who having cost 115,000gns at the Tattersalls October Book 2 sale was by some margin the most expensive runner in the lineup. He was the 11/4 favourite ahead of Dukes Of Haather who attracted support from 7/1 into 7/2.