This year's 2-year-old program has marched on without bringing the horses with it. The division is still forming ahead of Newmarket's 6-furlong Middle Park Stakes (G1) Sept. 27, which has as strong a claim as any to be the last real leading 2-year-old race of the campaign in the sense that the Dewhurst Stakes (G1) and Fillies' Mile (G1) are as much about next season's classics.
Leading the Middle Park field is the juvenile currently fourth in the division by Racing Post Ratings, Norfolk Stakes (G2) runner-up Wise Approach. Since Royal Ascot, he has won a listed race at Newbury and finished a close-up third in the Prix Morny (G1). He also has an ideal pedigree for this race. His sire Mehmas finished third in the 2016 running, while half brother Perfect Power won it in 2021.
The field against him might have been expected to be deeper, given the openness of the division. Nine runners in the Middle Park is above average but far from an outlier. The next-best form in the race belongs to Richmond Stakes (G2) winner Coppull. Behind him are Flying Childers Stakes (G2) runner-up Kansas and fourth-place finisher Havana Hurricane, who also won the Windsor Castle Stakes.
From this you can see why The Publican's Son, who has an unusual profile, might be second favorite. The Louisiana-bred son of Airdrie Stud's freshman sire Beau Liam made his debut in a group 3 at the Curragh in late August and, in spite of an unenterprising ride, he passed all but one of his rivals to finish second. The promise of that run, plus his being trained by Joseph O'Brien, are the clear positives. Everything else is muddier. His American pedigree is unspectacular, and the only evidence of promise before he made the track was a jump in his sales price to $200,000 when he was sold at the Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-year-Olds in Training Sale.
New Challenger Arises
Godolphin and Coolmore have long been flat racing's superpowers and they are joined in this absorbing group 1 by a new operation, Victorious Forever, which hopes to challenge them over the next few years.
An entity created last month by two Bahraini princes, Shaikh Nasser Al Khalifa and Shaikh Khalid Al Khalifa by uniting their Victorious Racing and KHK Racing ownerships, the presence of their exciting colt Hilitany adds further intrigue to one of the principal 2-year-old events of the season.
George Boughey, the trainer of the two-time Windsor winner, said: "He's inexperienced and comes here on the back of two wins in novices. He was impressive at Windsor last time, which slightly surprised me as he's a good work horse in the mornings without being a star.
"We gave him a racecourse gallop over the course and distance the other morning and were very pleased with how he went."
Hilitany has lots of potential, but will need to improve to overcome Godolphin's Wise Approach, the likely hot favorite.
His trainer Charlie Appleby said: "Wise Approach is in great nick. I didn't think we'd be participating in the Middle Park because I thought the ground conditions would have gone against him. He's a horse who I feel wants quick ground.
"The only negative I can think of is the track. He's a very slick horse who lowers (when he quickens) and that's why I was keen to take our chance in the Prix Morny. I thought about bringing him here to gallop him through the dip, but I decided we might just try to treat him with the element of surprise on Saturday.
"If he produces anything like he did in the Prix Morny, he's going to be hard to beat."
Wise Approach, who finished third to flying filly Venetian Sun in the Deauville group 1, will not have to contend with the Aidan O'Brien-trained runner-up Gstaad this time, but the Ballydoyle operation are represented by Brussels, First Approach, and Kansas.
This looks a taster of what is to come as Victorious Forever-owned runners are likely to be bumping into rivals from Godolphin and Coolmore many more times in the future.
