'She has the tools to take high order' - the juveniles from last year to note

After revealing their final classifications for the top two-year-olds of 2022, the BHA and IHRB have also selected some lesser-known names from last year's crop of juveniles who could make an impact in 2023. Here are four horses who may just do that . . .

Coppice

John and Thady Gosden

Of all the two-year-olds that raced only once in Britain in 2022, Coppice achieved the highest figure. She looked anything but all out in beating next-time winner Whispering Dream by a length and three quarters over seven furlongs at Kempton in October, with the 81-rated Hey Lyla a further four and a half lengths back in third.

The time is strong considering how inefficiently the race was run. Coppice is a sister to the 2018 Coventry Stakes winner Calyx and is from a blue-blooded family. She’s already proven at seven furlongs and looks an exciting prospect for 2023, with a 1,000 Guineas trial surely on the agenda.
Graeme Smith, BHA handicapping team leader

Imperial Emperor

Charlie Appleby

Imperial Emperor beat only five rivals when making a successful debut at Newmarket over a mile in early October but he created a big impression. The time was reasonable considering how inefficiently they ran, and he was only really getting going towards the end of the final furlong and was eventually eased down to beat the 81-rated Attaj by three and a half lengths.

Imperial Emperor is related to 2020 world champion GhaiyyathCredit: Frank Sorge

That performance alone looks to be worth a figure in the 90s and longer trips look sure to bring significantly more still. Both his sire [Dubawi] and dam [Zhukova] won at Group 1 level, his dam also being a sister to Ghaiyyath, and he looks a very exciting prospect with the Derby trials in mind.
Graeme Smith, BHA handicapping team leader

Beginnings

Aidan O'Brien

Beginnings comfortably landed a modest seven-furlong Dundalk maiden in November, in the process emulating her dam [Winter], who ended her two-year-old season rated just 89, but then went on to success in four Group 1 races as a three-year-old.

Already ahead of her dam at this point in her career, she rates an exciting prospect for next season if she can show improvement along similar lines at three. Beautifully bred, she appears to have significant scope to improve physically and her uncomplicated style of racing and push-button acceleration means she has all the tools at her disposal to take high order among the fillies in 2023.
Mark Bird, IHRB handicapper

Sandy Creek

Joseph O'Brien

Sandy Creek showed sufficient promise on her racecourse debut at the Curragh in June to suggest that she has a bright future over staying trips as a three-year-old.

A daughter of Frankel, she was doing her best work late when beating all but one of her 18 rivals over seven furlongs on Irish Derby weekend. Out of a half-sister to Prix de Diane winner Bright Sky, who was bought out of the Wildenstein dispersal in 2016, she is herself a half-sister to Group 3 winner Stone Age.
Mark Bird, IHRB handicapper

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