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By Ray Hickson

It’s always tricky to make grand declarations on the evidence of one barrier trial but that’s what we have to go on when looking for the winners of next month’s Breeders’ Plate and Gimcrack Stakes.

Our first look at the new season two-year-olds saw 57 newcomers step out publicly for the first time on the Kensington track on Monday and if pressed for a standout you’d say it was North England among the colts and Icarian Dream from the fillies.

Coincidentally, they ran identical time of 49.33 for the 850m.

North England cost $280,000 and is by Golden Slipper winner Farnan and in the Waterhouse/Bott camp, they won three of the eight heats, and he looked very typical of the Tulloch Lodge product.

He was reasonably fast away, he assumed the lead before getting into a bit of a speed battle with stablemate Varejao and they opened up a handy break. He shook off his companion and established a big lead 200m out, looking very much the readymade two-year-old.

Behind him, Nitro (by Deep Field) made a stack of ground from a clear last on the turn and ran into second place a few lengths back.

Icarian Dream was one of the more visually impressive winners given Zac Lloyd barely moved a muscle on the $310,000 Blue Point filly trained by Ciaron Maher.

She parked just off them and when she moved alongside in the three wide line she was clearly travelling the better without being asked to go at all. It’s hard to know what was there if Zac let her go but she had them covered easily.

North England wins a Kensington trial on September 23

A rundown of the remaining six trials:

Heat 1 – Tuscany, a $1.55m full brother to Group 2 winner Schwarz, kicked off the session with a nice win in the hands of James McDonald. After breaking well, he was eased back then when asked to chase he responded to the riding and edged away in what would be the equal fastest time of the morning (49.11). Stablemate Tremonti was also ridden up a bit on the inside. The leader Gambler looked to travel best into the straight but when asked to go didn’t find as much so perhaps he has some upside.

Heat 2 – The well named Memo looked quite impressive in her easy win. The $350,000 Captialist filly (out of Notation) sat back near the tail and settled well, she came around them to make her run and did it comfortably by just under 1-1/2 lengths under hands and heels in 49.33.

Heat 3 – King Kirk, as the name suggests by Ole Kirk, sat third on the fence and he changed stride noticeably when coming across heels before he balanced up and ran past Hidden Motive. Might be worth keeping an eye on Valedictorian who ran sixth but made up a couple of lengths late from the turn in what was a sprint home.

Heat 4 – Strada Verenna showed some good race sense when she was presented with a wall of horses in front of her early in the straight. When she moved into some space she took a few strides to wind up before nailing the leader near the line. Time was a bit on the slow side. Tupakara has worked home well from last into fourth running through the line nicely.

Heat 5 – The Peter Snowden-trained Raging Force had a nice passage and gained an inside run to pick up the leader Tempestuous, responding to a bit of a push home along the fence. The runner-up has performed okay holding the rest safely.

Heat 6 – O’Ole matched the fastest time of the morning as she showed good speed to lead, travelled nicely before being felt for about 150m out. She held them at bay with Bel Merci closing off the heat to get within about half a length on the line.

All the results and replays from Monday's Kensington 2yo Trials