Salute to the Best Sophomore Class in Years

 

For thoroughbred racing fans, January 1^st is a date that brings with it a new crop of three-year-olds and the hope that the new year’s group of sophomores will do great things on the race track. In 2014, we got just that, a crop of three-year-olds that had more talent than we had seen in many years. This blog will salute this fine group of runners that showed great promise on the road to the Kentucky Derby, got so close to a Triple Crown, and ended the year by dominating in the Breeders’ Cup.

The three-year-olds are immediately thrust in to the limelight as the Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying races begin on the very first weekend of January. From then until the first Saturday in May, the boys are scrutinized and critiqued; and winning is not enough. Can they get the ten furlong distance of the Run for the Roses and might one of them, please bring us a Triple Crown?

The highlighted alphabetical list on the left names three-year-olds that made an impact during 2014. Some of them were not around for long, while others came and went, and came back again. There were even some that did not begin to make their mark until later in the year. All told, however, this bunch of sophomores was unlike any that we had seen for several years.

California Chrome led the way in the spring and through the Triple Crown series. There is nothing in racing that comes close to the excitement when there is a chance that down the stretch at Belmont Park we will have a successor to Affirmed. California Chrome got as close to a Triple Crown as we had gotten since Smarty Jones finished second in the Belmont Stakes in 2004.

Bayern, Tonalist, and Shared Belief stepped into the spotlight of the summer and fall by winning the biggest restricted races and even, at times, beating the best older horses on both coasts. The strength of this sophomore class became completely clear when they dominated the Breeders’ Cup Classic by sweeping the top six spots [Bayern, Toast of New York, California Chrome, Shared Belief, Tonalist, and Candy Boy] in the year’s most important race. A three-year-old had not won the Classic since 2008 with Raven’s Pass.