Three-way battle for honours as top 2YO trainer

Maher and Eustace have prepared 34 2-year-old wins in the season to date, twice the amount they had last season, and one more than Peter and Paul Snowden, widely regarded as one of the premier 2-year-old stables in the country.

Just one win further behind is the Victorian-based partnership of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig, who have 32 2-year-old wins in what will be the final season of David Hayes' involvement after his recent move to Hong Kong.

What is also significant for Maher and Eustace is that they lead the 2-year-old trainers on prizemoney as well, with $5.1 million, despite not having won a Group 1 2-year-old race in 2019/20.

Table: Top trainers by 2-year-old prizemoney this season

Magic Millions 2YO Classic winner Away Game (Snitzel), has delivered the lion's share of that return, having won $2.7 million, the most money won by an Australian 2-year-old since Capitalist in 2015/16.

All in all this season, Maher and Eustace have had 10 2-year-old stakes successes, four more than any other stable.

The 2-year-old prizemoney total is over $3 million more than they collected last season and has been driven largely by the strong performance of the Sydney stable. It will be fascinating to chart their future success with 2-year-olds given the departure of Annabel Neasham from her position in charge of the Melbourne-based partnership’s Sydney stables in the new racing season.

The Snowdens' 2019/20 2-year-old campaign has been headlined by dual Group 1 winner King's Legacy (Redoute's Choice), but their overall volume of 2-year-old wins has dropped significantly from last year's total of 50.

However, with a 17.6 per cent winning strike rate, the Snowdens did earn more prizemoney from 2-year-olds in 2019/20 than they did in 2018/19 and that $4.29 million would have been significantly more had it not been for the prizemoney cuts forced by COVID-19, which cost King's Legacy alone around $380,000.

A measure of the Snowdens' amazing consistency when it comes to their young horses is it is the fifth straight season where they have had more than 25 juvenile wins.

New era, same story

Lindsay Park may be transitioning into a new era, but its long held reputation as the nursery of some of the nation's premier juvenile talent remains very much intact.

Hayes, Hayes and Dabernig have prepared the winners of 32 2-year-old races in 2019/20, which comes off the back of the previous three seasons where that number has been 44, 40 and 40. While the total number of wins has dropped this season, Lindsay Park's winning strike rate with 2-year-olds of 16.2 per cent is the highest it has been in that four year period since Ben joined the team.

Their three stakes winning juveniles this season were all at Group 3 level in Minhaaj (Exceed And Excel), Aryaaf (Epaulette) and Hard Landing (All Too Hard).

Table: Top trainers by 2-year-old wins this season

Kris Lees has increased his focus on 2-year-olds in recent years and as a result has already achieved 18 juvenile wins in 2019/20, at an impressive winning percentage of 24.4 per cent.

While none of them have been at stakes level, the merit of his performance is as much about the names beneath him in the table of 2-year-old wins by trainer this season.

Prior success sets high benchmarks

Anthony Freedman was always going to find it hard to live up to his amazing 2018/19 2-year-old season where he had 20 wins at a 31.3 per cent strike rate, including a Group 1 winner with Lyre (Lonhro), but with 17 wins, including four in stakes races at nearly 20 per cent, he has still done very well with smaller numbers than those around him.

James Cummings was another one coming off a spectacular season, and matching that 2018/19 success, where his horses won 38 2-year-old races, two at Group 1 level as well as the Magic Millions, and amassed $7.84 million in prizemoney, was going to be almost impossible.

His 2019/20 figures are a little more humble. With around 30 per cent fewer 2-year-old starters, he had 16 2-year-old wins in all, one at stakes level and $1.36 million prizemoney.

Table: Comparison of 2-year-old wins from season to season

Tony McEvoy, now in partnership with his son Calvin, always places his 2-year-olds well and has also had 16 wins this season, at a strike rate of better than 20 per cent, with two stakes successes.

While he has had historical success with 2-year-olds, Chris Waller, who is on track for another title as the nation's top trainer overall, has always focussed more on horses which peak through their 3-year-old campaigns and beyond.

His 14 2-year-old wins included three at stakes level and were achieved at a strike rate of 11.1 per cent. As a point of reference, his previous season totals for juvenile winners were 17, 18, 12 and 11.

Golden highlight for Waterhouse and Bott

Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott tasted success in Australia's richest and most prestigious 2-year-old race this season thanks to the colt Farnan (Not A Single Doubt), which has helped them to $3.11 million in 2-year-old prizemoney this season, the third most of any trainer.

That was one of the 13 wins they have had with 2-year-olds this season, a total which is significantly less than their recent totals of 23, 22 and 18. That drop corresponds with a 20-30 per cent drop in 2-year-old starters compared to recent seasons, which is interesting.

The other training partnership to earn over $1 million in prizemoney from their youngsters this season has been Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young, who had Tagaloa (Lord Kanaloa {Jpn}) with the G1 Blue Diamond S. That memorable win at Caulfield was one of only eight from their 2-year-olds this year and formed a major part of the $1.87 million earned.

The other Group 1-winning trainer from the 2-year-old ranks was Brisbane-based Robert Heathcote, who had $10,000 buy Rothfire (Rothesay) win the G1 JJ Atkins S. last month. That was one of 12 2-year-old wins for Heathcote this year, a jump of 12 fold on last season and more than double than any other season in the past five.