DID I SAY I LOVE TWO-YEAR-OLD RACES?

OH, BOY! -- DO I EVER?

I repeat:

DO I EVER?


This past Saturday August 16, 2025, at Saratoga, a two-year-old colt It's Our Time (by Not This Time - Shea D Summer, by Summer Front) won by an eye-catching, geared-down 17 3/4-lengths, in a powerful performance sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs over the Saratoga Race Course main track.

It's Our Time, sent to post at odds of 5-1 under Luis Saez, exited alertly from post 4 in a field of 9 2yos and tracked from second position as 3/4 favorite Hero Declared shot to the lead through a quarter-mile in 21.99 seconds and a half-mile in 44.78.

It's Our Time advanced without asking through the far turn, opening up by 10 lengths at the stretch call and drew away from his rivals with each and every stride to win in a final time of 1:15.63.

He "bumped at start, three wide in pursuit... four-five wide upper stretch, forged clear, geared down," according to the chart comments.

The winning effort registered a 94 Beyer Speed Figure.

To put that into perspective, only one other 2yo colt Brant earned higher Beyer Speed Figure of 101 winning his debut at Del Mar when scoring a 5 1/4-length victory in a maiden special weight race on July 26, 2025.

Brant ran 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:02.63 and the track record for 5 1/2 furlongs at Del Mar is listed as 1:01.88, making Brant's time only 4/5 of a second of tying the track record.

For his debut win, Brant earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 101, one of six juveniles to record a triple-digit figure in races from five to seven furlongs this decade.

The next closest to It's Our Time in term of Beyer numbers is Mythical who earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for her win in the Tremont Stakes on June 5, 2025.

In that race, she defeated a field of colts and geldings at Saratoga Race Course.

After defeating males in the Tremont Stakes with a 93 Beyer, Mythical earned a Beyer number of 84 winning the Grade 3 Adirondack Stakes on August 3, 2025 (at Saratoga).

Her 84 Beyer is one point lower than the 85 Beyer she earned winning her debut at Gulfstream Park in mid-April 2025.

In the Tremont she defeated a good group of 2yo males but when facing horses of her own sex in the Adirondack she ran the 6 1/2 furlong in 1:17.20 while beating only four 2yo fillies.

The track record for 6 1/2 furlongs at Saratoga is 1:13.74 held by a 3-year-old named Quality Road since 2009.

I don't know what to make of Mythical's ability going foward even though she is undefeated with 3 for 3 thus far and untested -- particularly in the Adirondack when she beat only four 2yo fillies with a slow final time of 1:17.20.

I'm a little discouraged by the drop in Mythical's Beyer number last time out.


As for It's Our Time and Brant -- it says a lot for them to run this kind of Beyer numbers this early in the year.


Brant, by Gun Runner, is the leading candidate for the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, a $300,000 race at seven furlongs on Sept. 7, the final day of the current summer meeting.

Brant is a $3 million 2yo auction purchase this past spring and the price is this year's highest paid for a 2-year-old.

On the other hand, It's Our Time most likely will run in the fall, perhaps in the Iroquois Stakes on September 13, 2025, at Churchill Downs.

It's Our Time is a $425,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase and he is out of the multiple stakes-winning Summer Front mare Shea D Summer.

His third dam, Circle of Gold, is a full-sister to multiple Grade 1-winner Flanders – the Champion 2-Year-Old Filly of 1994.

It's Our Time is trained by Tom Amoss who lost another highly regarded fast 2yo named Dazzle d'Oro earlier this summer [due to training injury that had to be euthanized shortly after the incident.]

I profiled Dazzle d'Oro after his fast debut win at Churchill Down in June 2025.


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Amoss said he was a little concerned about how his charge stacked up against a field with a collective sales purchase price in excess of $3.8 million that included $975,000 yearling Renegade [3rd] and $575,000 OBS March purchase Hero Declared [2nd].

"He didn't really grow that much, so when we got in the paddock and looking at him versus the group, I thought this is David versus Goliath and it was just one of those deals - David showed up," said Amoss, with a laugh.

"We went by (the leader) really, really quickly and opened up on this field," trainer Tom Amoss said on the At The Races program the following Monday after his 2yo colt ran on Saturday prior. "I've never experienced that with a first-time starter. I've had it happen once when Serengeti Empress ran the Pocohontas at Churchill Downs. To have it happen with a first-time starter was really something."


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It's Our Time looks like a route horse the way he is moving -- unlike Brant which is geared towards a miler horse than a route horse.

It's Our Time is by Not This Time who is definitely a route producing sire.


Let's take a look at Not This Time:


Not This Time is a young hot sire and his runners are competitive across the board -- meaning, his sons and daughters can run on dirt or turf, sprint or route -- but he's had the most success with his sons and more often routing than sprinting.


NOTE: Sons!

Derby fever, anyone?


A son of Giant's Causeway, Not This Time ran four times only at 2, demonstrating speed and talent and completing his career with a runner-up finish in the 2016 Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

At stud, he has established himself as one of the premier stallions in North America.

He is standing at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky and commanded a stud fee of $175,000 for the 2025 breeding season.

Not This Time has proven himself as an exceptional sire with six Grade 1 winners and 25 total graded-stakes winners from his offspring thus far [up to 2025].

His Grade 1 winners include Epicenter, winner of the Travers Stakes; Cogburn, Jaipur Stakes; Just One Time, Madison Stakes; Princess Noor, Del Mar Debutante; Sacred Wish, Matriarch Stakes; and Up to the Mark, Coolmore Turf Mile.

Showing no signs of slowing down, Not This Time's offspring have been adding to this list all year.

Giocoso captured the Secretariat (G2) on Aug. 9 (2025) at Colonial, and Swift Delivery took the Seagram Cup (G3) at Woodbine on Aug. 2 (2025).

Magnitude goes in the Travers (G1) this weekend (8/23/2025) along with Claret Beret in the Ballerina (G1) on the same card.

Trainer Bob Baffert has Goal Oriented likely for the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) as well as 2-year-old Balboa readying for the Del Mar Futurity (G1) in a couple of weeks.

All in all, Not This Time's offsprings are hitting racetracks like a storm and having successes doing it.

Don't be surprised if we see his offspring win the Kentucky Derby next spring, and one hot prospect is It's Our Time.

But first thing first: It's Our Time needs to take the horse racing world like a storm this fall in order to merit his father's lofty expectation status as an up-and-coming classic-producing sire.

If he does that this fall, oh boy, I don't think I will survive until next spring [as the Derby fever will get to me so bad].

DID YOU KNOW THAT I'M PRONE TO CATCHING FEVER?