PERFECT POWER shot to a smooth Greenham Stakes win at Newbury to hand Richard Fahey a Guineas headache.
His first crack at seven furlongs went like clockwork, but the step up to a mile in the 2000 Guineas on April 30 is the big question mark.
Jockey Christophe Soumillon is convinced Perfect Power deserves his place in the 2000 Guineas
However if his jockey Christophe Soumillon has any say in the matter then he’ll be lining up in the big one for which he was trimmed into as short as 8-1 with Paddy Power.
The Belgian ace said: “Every owner would love to have a runner in a race like the Guineas, and the way he won a prep race for it today, you have to try.
“Many horses have been like him and gone on to win at a mile. It depends how the race will be run, but he’s got a chance.
“I was always happy, he jumped out the gate well and travelled very easily. When I took him out he quickened up. His turn of foot is his main weapon.”
Very comfortable
Perfect Power takes the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes with relative ease
#ITVRacing pic.twitter.com/5iQ1dQlQiV
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) April 16, 2022
His one and a half length win from Lusail was cosier than the margin suggests but the step up to a mile is the only doubt Fahey has.
The Yorkshireman has said he’ll decide next week with owner Sheikh Rashid Dalmook whether to take the plunge. The three-year-old is a sprinter on looks and pedigree but Fahey reckons he might just be a freak.
He laughed: “I’m not being awkward but I genuinely don’t know what we’ll do! Does he look like a miler? No. But does he need to, to run in the Guineas?
“He’s a very quick horse, Christophe loves him so I know what he’ll say. He shouldn’t get a mile, but he might just be that freak.”
Soumillon will hope to ride the three-year-old at Newmarket on April 31
Sheikh Rashid will make the final call on his target and his racing manager Bruce Raymond has said it will be a toss-up between the English and French Guineas.
He’s 6-1 for the French option which is run on May 15.
Raymond said: “I think he’ll stay. I know he would prefer to go to the English Guineas – he didn’t say, ‘Let’s go to France!’ – but we haven’t decided.
“He wouldn’t want it too firm, though, and that would be a deciding factor in the Guineas.”
Will Buick’s brilliant start to the season continued as he drove Wild Beauty to a win in the Fred Darling.
Charlie Appleby’s filly was cut into 12-1 from 20-1 for the 1000 Guineas but Godolphin look likely to send her to France for their Guineas.
