Two-year-old Flat Debutants, Part 2

In part 1 of this series, here, I suggested that if we were looking to blindly back two-year-olds on their flat debut this season, our starting point should initially be those juveniles trained by Richard Fahey, Jessica Harrington and Ger Lyons, writes Chris Worrall. As well as that standout trio, I was also interested in those trained by Paul Cole, Eve Johnson Houghton and David Simcock, notwithstanding the reservations I highlighted about those three.

I went on to highlight in that opening piece that we may be able to eliminate some bad bets by focusing more on each trainer's runners based on a series of factors: track location, actual track, race class/distance/going, jockeys used, time of year and sex of horse.

Richard Fahey

So, if we start with our three headline acts, we can see that Richard Fahey's results with 2yo flat debutants from 2016-19 were as follows:

Closer inspection of those 381 runners showed no real bias towards either gender or for any particular reported ground conditions, but of the other five tested variables, I found (in sample size order) that those numbers included:

• 55/363 (15.15%) for 135.66pts (+37.37%) over trips of 5 to 7 furlongs
• 53/359 (14.76%) for 125.13pts (+34.85%) during April to September
• 51/339 (15.04%) for 122.82pts (+36.24%) in Yorkshire, NW & Central England
• 47/314 (14.97%) for 132.07pts (+42.06%) at Classes 4 & 5
• 38/236 (16.10%) for 92.88pts (+39.36%) ridden by Tony Hamilton or Paul Hanagan

(all profit quoted is to Betfair Starting Price, BSP)

And when combine all those filters, we are left with...

Suggestion: back all Richard Fahey 2yo Flat debutants ridden by Tony Hamilton or Paul Hanagan at up to 7 furlongs in Class 4 or 5 races in Yorkshire, the North West or Central England during April to September.

Jessica Harrington

And now onto Jessica Harrington, whose 2016-19 stats were...

From which (in order of winners)...

• 18/114 (15.79%) for 81.5pts (+71.49%) over trips of 5 to 7 furlongs
• 15/122 (12.3%) for 23.28pts (+19.08%) in Leinster
• 15/104 (14.42%) for 56.85pts (+54.67%) on ground declared as Good to Yielding or firmer
• 15/80 (18.75%) for 80.7pts (+100.88%) during May to July
• 13/95 (13.68%) for 26.94pts (+28.35%) with female runners

And combining trip, track location, going and time of year gives us...

             

of which the gender spilt is as follows....

The females win more often, but the males generate more profit, so I'm not really convinced we should narrow it down either way.

Suggestion: back Jessica Harrington's 2 year olds on debut in Leinster (Bellewstown, Curragh, Fairyhouse, Gowran Park, Leopardstown, Naas, Navan) during May to July at trips up to 7 furlongs and on ground described as Good to Yielding or firmer.

Ger Lyons

The final member of our top trio is Ger Lyons, who qualified on his record over the last three seasons of...

Once again, we'll subject those runners to the filtering system, where it can be noted:

• 30/130 (23.08%) for 90.71pts (+69.78%) over trips of 6f to 1m
• 30/125 (24%) for 95.71pts (+76.57%) during April to September
• 29/137 (21.17%) for 76.78pts (+56.05%) on ground deemed Soft or better
• 29/136 (21.32%) for 79.30pts (+58.31%) in Leinster and Munster
• 28/116 (24.14%) for 79.07pts (+68.16%) when ridden by Colin Keane

and when we combine those five sets of data, we end up with a fantastic set of numbers reading...

Once again both sexes fare well as follows...

...so we'll not differentiate between the two.

Suggestion: back all Ger Lyons' 2 yo debutants ridden by Colin Keane over trips of 6f to a mile in Leinster (see above for tracks) and Munster (Cork, Killarney, Limerick, Listowel, Thurles, Tipperary) on Soft ground or better from April to September.

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Those were the three main protagonists from part 1 of this series; combining their two-year-old flat debutants under the specified conditions brings us to 66 winners from 293 runners (22.53% SR) and 266.74pts of profit at an excellent ROI of some 91.04%.

Clearly it will be difficult to fully repeat those numbers but if they only do half as well in the next three or four years we'll still be looking at 130+ points.

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So what of our 'second string' trio of Paul Cole, Eve Johnson Houghton and David Simcock? Are there conditions under which we might follow their juvenile debutants?

The easiest way to find out is to dive into the data, starting with...

Paul Cole

Cole's base figures with 2yo first-time starters are:

That's a small sample size so caution is advised, but they do include of note...

• 6/35 (17.14%) for 68.1pts (+194.57%) in Classes 4 and 5
• 6/30 (20%) for 73.1pts (+243.67%) over trips of 5 or 6 furlongs
• 6/29 (20.69%) for 74.1pts (+255.52%) during April to July
• 6/14 (42.86%) for 89.1pts (+636.43%) at Brighton, Leicester & Newbury
• 5/28 (17.86%) for 31.35pts (+111.96%) in SE England
• 3/10 (30%) for 60.92pts (+609.2%) with Raul Da Silva in the saddle

You probably don't need me to point out how Paul got all of his six original winners, but combining those first four filters gives...

Suggestion: keep an eye out for Paul Cole 2yo firsters in Class 4 or 5 races over 5 or 6 furlongs at Brighton, Leicester or Newbury from April to July, especially if Raul da Silva's on board, even if it's a big price.

Eve Johnson Houghton

Next up is Eve Johnson Houghton, whose own record during the last four seasons was...

...which, like Paul Cole previously, was a smaller than ideal sample size, but did include...

• 8/52 (15.38%) for 141.35pts (+271.82%) excluding April and July
• 7/62 (11.29%) for 98.02pts (+158.10%) in Classes 4 and 5
• 7/46 (15.22%) for 106.94pts (+232.48%) over 6 or 7 furlongs
• 6/47 (12.77%) for 120.04pts (+255.41%) in SE England
• 6/41 (14.63%) for 88.22pts (+215.16%) ridden by Charles Bishop
• 6/37 (16.22%) for 142.18pts (+384.26%) from female runners
• and 5/21 (23.81%) for 42.74pts (+203.52%) on Good to Soft or Soft ground

Combining class, month, distance and going gives us...

...and despite this dozen qualifiers include 4 from 7 (57.1%) for 48.5pts (+392.7%) for Charles Bishop, 3 from 6 (50%) for 43.6pts (+726.2%) for females and 3 from 6 (50%) for 31.4pts (+524%) in the South East, there is an uneasy feel to the exclusion of April and July - I can't come up with a logical reason why the horses would fail to fire in that month. Instead, I've taken a more straightforward view...

Suggestion: Look out for Eve Johnson Houghton's Class 4 and 5 runners over 6 or 7 furlongs on Good to Soft or Soft ground. Add a bonus point if you see Charles Bishop down to ride.

David Simcock

And finally for this look at trainers who perform well with juvenile first time starters, we'll put David Simcock under the microscope, despite his sobering record last season (0 from 20). Even with that abject campaign, his four year score is...

and again we've only a small number of runners to consider, but they do include...

• 6/31 (19.4%) for 18.65pts (+60.17%) when ridden by Jamie Spencer
• 4/20 (20%) for 49.15pts (+245.76%) over a mile
• 4/15 (26.7%) for 27.4pts (+182.66%) at Yarmouth
• 3/14 (21.4%) for 23.6pts (+168.6%) for Jamie Spencer over a mile
• 3/9 (33.3%) for 28.6pts (+317.8%) for Jamie Spencer at Yarmouth
• 3/7 (42.9%) for 30.6pts (+437.1%) over a mile at Yarmouth
• and 3/6 (50%) for 32.69pts Jamie Spencer over a mile at Yarmouth

Obviously the Jamie Spencer angle is interesting, especially over a mile at Yarmouth, but I feel that particular stat lends more to the excellent record the jockey and trainer have together at that venue (a story for another day, perhaps?), but as for this piece...

Suggestion: Note, but don't necessarily back, David Simcock two-year-old flat debutants.

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All of which second team deliberation leaves us with just the Paul Cole and Eve Johnson Houghton runners, whose suggested angles combine for 11 winners from 22 runners (50% SR) and 144.84 pts (+658.6% ROI) as a juicy-looking - but less reliable based on sample size - supplement to our top trio's 66 winners from 293 runners (22.53% SR, +266.74 BSP, ROI of 91.04%).

Hopefully, we'll soon be able to "live trial" these angles. Fingers crossed and all that, but for now, thanks for reading and I'll be back with more soon.

 - CW

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