It's always among the key questions on everyone's mind as 2-year-olds begin racing when Keeneland opens in April and the first-year sires have their first chance to show off their progeny. In this ongoing series, we have sought the opinion of several top judges as to who will be on top of the podium when 2019 is in the books.
LINDA RICE, Trainer
AMERICAN PHAROAH
“Based on what I saw at the yearling sales last year, American Pharoah is the obvious choice. He had a lot of very attractive physicals at the yearling sales. They may not be the precocious types, but they really stood out among the yearling crop. I think the American Pharoahs are going to be pretty pricey at the 2-year-old sales. They certainly were as yearlings. I'd love to have a few along the way, but I don't think I'm going to go after him at this stage because I worry that with all the hype, and considering he was a Triple Crown winner, they'll be overpriced. Then again, maybe he'll be such a good sire that they'll get even more expensive in years to come and these ones will prove to be a value.
“I'm a little biased on this one, but a horse I am rooting for is Palace as a juvenile sire. He is a son of City Zip and I trained him and City Zip. He is a multiple Grade I winner at Saratoga (the 2014 Forego and Vanderbilt). He was a great physical himself and from what I saw at the yearling sales, I think they may come out running as 2 year-olds. Compared to his stud fee, he did very well at the yearling sales. He had a modest book of mares and they were selling quite well. There's been some buzz about his babies. I don't have any yet, but I will make sure I see all of them that are selling at the 2 year-old sales.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
