The OBS March Two-Year-Old in Training Sales offers the first chance to get a preview of juveniles by many of the year’s freshman sire crop, so we ran a quick eye over some of those represented at next week’s sale.

Two of the biggest names among the freshman, the classic winning Champions Big Brown and Curlin are both represented. Although he only started once at two – winning by 11 ¼ lengths on the turf at Saratoga – and scored his most prestigious victories in the nine-ten furlong range, Big Brown has more speed in his pedigree than one might initially think, being by the sprinter Boundary, out of a Nureyev mare. His only representative at OBS is a colt out of Sisu (a Silver Deputy mare from the family of Speightstown) who whistled through a furlong in :10.1. Curlin was unraced at two, and both his pedigree and his physique suggest that he is a horse whose offspring are going to better as they mature. Still he does have a duo here, and one is out of a Storm Cat mare, so broadly the same nick that produced Champion Two-Year-Old Filly My Miss Aurelia for his sire.

Empire Maker’s Mr. Prospector half-brother, Chester House, sired 29 stakes winners from 216 foals prior to his premature death. If his line is going to continue, it will be through the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) winner,Divine Park. He has one here, out of a mare by Cape Town, which gives some interesting inbreeding to Mr. Prospector combined with Buckpasser. Continuing with the Empire Maker theme, First Defence is by a son of Empire Maker’s sire, Unbridled, out of Empire Maker’s brilliantly speedy half-sister Honest Lady. He has one at OBS, and the dam is by Pulpit, a reverse cross to First Defence. Two more from the Fappiano line are Harlingtonand  Midnight Lute. Harlington – by Unbridled out of Serena’s Song – is the type whose offspring are most likely to need time and distance. Midnight Lute – two here, both out of stakes winning mares – shares with Harlington the sire-lines size, but operated at the other end of the distance scale, with back to back victories in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I). This was a horse that the yearling buyers really loved, but we’d caution that for all his speed, his size, and some stamina in his background would dictate that we shouldn’t expect too much too soon.

The most recent one was a great weekend for the A.P. Indy line, particularly via stallions bred on the A.P. Indy/Mr. Prospector cross, as is A.P. Indy first year son, Majestic Warrior. Winner of the Hopeful Stakes (gr. I) over Ready’s Image and Maimonides, Majestic Warrior’s first two dams were grade one winning sprinters, so he should have every shot of getting precocious juveniles. It might be a positive sign that there are as many as seven in this sale. Majestic Warrior’s old rival, Ready’s Image, is the most precocious U.S. two-year-old colt by More Than Ready (three time Leading Sire of Two-Year-Olds in the U.S./Australia). The heritage looks as if it might be worth noting as of his five at OBS, three went in :10 flat, and two went in 10.1.

Spring At Last at last didn’t run at two, but he’s by Silver Deputy, a stallion who has already supplied a Leading Freshman Sire in the shape of Posse. His only entry, a filly out of Unbridled Run, went a quarter in :21.3. She has a rather interesting pedigree as Spring At Last’s dam has the brothers His Majesty/ Graustark 3 x 2, and Unbridled Run’s dam is by a son of Majestic Light, a genetic relative to His Majesty and Graustark.

Crack sprinter Street Boss has no less than eight from his first crop here, and feedback is that more than a few them have caught the eye – a trio knocking out an eighth in 10.1. He’s the second major son of Street Cry with runners, and the first, Street Sense, has some promising three-year-olds just starting to emerge from his first crop, among them prominent Kentucky Derby (gr. I) fancy, Castaway.

With several sons of Tiznow now at stud, there will be a lot of interest in Tiz Wonderful, the first of their number to have runners. He was one of Tiznow’s most precocious sons, going three-for-three as a juvenile, with wins in a pair of graded stakes. His yearlings were well-received, and word is that he has some nice types at OBS. The clock seems to be bearing that out, with a colt out of Foolish Kiss hussling down the lane in :10 flat, and a colt out of Rainbow Girl require only :21.2 to cover a quarter.Finally, we shouldn’t overlook deceased juvenile Champion War Pass, who was a way above average leader of his crop at two. One of his to catch the eye on pedigree was hip 114, the colt out Runup the Colors, a grade one winning three-parts-sister to Mineshaft.