FOUR TO FOLLOW

ANALYZE IT One of the most talked about two-year-olds of the season, the son of Point Of Entry has won both his starts, including the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, with consummate ease, cranking out fast times both times. Bred by Headley Bell, Nancy Bell and NATO, the bay colt cost $130,000 as a yearling and $190,000 as a two-year-old. The sky is officially the limit for this Chad Brown steamer.

CALEDONIA ROAD

Sure, plenty of the two-year-old stars on Breeders’ Cup day don’t pan out but this filly sure should. She’s a big, long-striding daughter of Quality Road who is far from the finished product.

Trained by Ralph Nicks, she overcame an outside post to win easily back in November. Nicks, a former assistant to Bill Mott, combines patience and precision to develop horses and he’s got a star on his hands.

JONATHAN THOMAS

We knew him when. A former steeplechase jockey who broke his back in a fall in 2000, Thomas is on his way as a trainer. He’s won with 20 of his 63 starters this year and business will be booming in 2018. He learned from the best in both spheres – Jack Fisher in steeplechasing and Pletcher in flat racing. He handles himself in a similar style as Pletcher – quietly confident, observant like a hawk in a tree and potent with every entry.

In 2017, Catholic Boy won graded stakes on the turf and dirt. Asked who he trained him like, Thomas offered the quiet confidence learned from Pletcher.

“I train him like…me,” Thomas said. “It’s a combination of everybody, but it’s me.”

KLARAVICH STABLE AND WILLIAM LAWRENCE With a small but select group, the partnership battled with the big boys of Juddmonte, Godolphin and Calumet to finish fourth in the earnings table in 2017. Klaravich and Lawrence have made the plan and worked the plan, buying reasonably priced yearlings and then riding the Chad Brown train to the top.

TRAINERS Among thoise who could be on the cusp of breakout seasons include Brendan Walsh, Ben Colebrook, Arnaud Delacour, Ralph Nicks and Jason Servis.