From Kremlin Cottage Stables

We are delighted to announce that Classic winning trainer, Hugo Palmer, will be writing a regular column for TDN. In this installment, Hugo offers an insight into the training and preparation that goes into his two-year-olds at Kremlin Cottage Stables in Newmarket. Hugo trained 22 two-year-old winners in 2015 and is looking to build on that impressive total in 2016.

With the British flat turf season finally underway after months of preparation, thoughts and dreams turn to the new batch of younger horses in our ranks. We haven't yet had our first juvenile runner this season but, all being well, we will send out our first two-year-old runners next week. It is always a nervous time for the yard it but will give us a solid indication of where we currently stand.

I believe that the vast majority of early two-year-old races are won by not necessarily the best two-year-olds, but by the best-educated two-year-olds. We actually start teaching ours at a very early stage and aim to have our yearlings in and cantering upsides by November. Cantering in groups holds enormous benefits as it teaches them about racing and competing against other horses which makes them want to go faster.

We are lucky to have some beautifully bred two-year-olds in our yard this year and this, of course, means we are dreaming of some of the big two-year-old races at Royal Ascot like the Coventry and Norfolk Stakes. Unfortunately, there is only one Coventry winner in the world each year, but when you have a well-bred and forward looking type, you can't help but hope that it might just come from your yard! We are lucky enough to have three of Frankel's offspring in our yard. He himself made his debut in August but I don't necessarily think ours will be later season types. My three are all strong, well-made and good moving individuals who find their work easy, which perhaps puts them slightly ahead of where you would imagine at this stage.

Just because a two-year-old is an early type that will be seen in the first part of the season, it doesn't necessarily limit its potential to progress as the season advances. Last year, we saw Mark Johnston win with Buratino (Exceed and Excel) on the first day of the season (28th March 2015) and he ended up being a close 2nd in the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes at the end of September to leading 2-year-old, Shalaa (Invincible Spirit).

Before I took out my licence I had the good fortune to spend time working for Gai Waterhouse in Australia, she was a great believer in running the horses rather than unnecessarily wrapping them in cotton wool – what is the point in having a fit, strong and healthy horse that is galloping at 40mph up Newmarket Heath for absolutely nothing when I could take it to the racecourse and run it for prize money? They can't win anything in their box at home!

All in all, it is a wonderfully exciting time of the year for us and, who knows, perhaps the 2016 Coventry winner is in my yard after all!