FIRST came the lights, camera and some action – but now it’s time for fireworks!
Coming back for the Sport of Kings was one thing.
But, boy, does racing step up a gear this weekend with British Classics at Newmarket – Group 1s that had looked in danger of being lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Yes, people, while all racing fans gagged for the Newcastle fixture last Monday – and it hosted two decent prospects in Art Power and Frankly Darling – it was all a bit tepid compared to the boiling hot performers we can look forward to in the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas.
And the Opening Show on ITV4 at 9.30 this morning will really get the juices flowing.
Heading the market in the Qipco colt’s Classic is Pinatubo, last season’s champion juvenile who was rated best youngster to run in Europe for the last 25 years.
And an exciting supporting act includes Quadrilateral in the fillies’ equivalent, as Prince Khalid Abdullah’s filly bids to show she still has enough speed for a Guineas mile.
There’s no doubt Pinatubo, or Pinaturbo – as he should have been named – has the chance to steal the show in a huge pull for the start of a delayed Flat campaign.
As an animal who had a higher rating than all-time great Frankel, there’s much resting on his shoulders. It’s surely too much to expect him to match what Frankel did in the 2001 renewal when he went on a jolly romp from the front.
But, trained by Charlie Appleby, Pinatubo has raced six times, notching a nine-length routing of Armory in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh and a two-length defeat of Arizona in the Dewhurst at Newmarket. Recent Dewhurst heroes to land the 2,000 Guineas include Churchill, Dawn Approach and Rock of Gibraltar and, of course, Frankel.
Arizona, like Armory trained by Aidan O’Brien, tied up badly at the end of the Dewhurst and he’s not bred as an out-and-out stayer. But he closed fast from off the pace in the mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf to be a fast-finishing fifth. So it’s hard to see stamina being a problem.
That said, it’s equally tricky to see why Arizona — a well-beaten third in the National — will reverse the form if Pinatubo has merely kept his old ability, let alone improved.
Many feel Kameko is the each-way horse, after his victory in the Group 1 Futurity at Newcastle. I’m not sure it was the hottest race of all time, but Oisin Murphy is a big fan and he’s clearly useful for Andrew Balding. Some considered him a Derby horse. But a mile and a half might stretch his stamina.
Of the others by far the most interesting horse for me is Military March, who is probably getting ready for the Derby but who gives Hector Crouch a huge Classic chance for Saeed bin Suroor.
He’s held in the highest regard and won the Autumn Stakes in the manner of a horse with a future.
I just hope Pinatubo blitzes the field. If he does we’ll all be getting very, very jiggy.
Roger Charlton trains Quadrilateral, who had a bit of ‘Oh So Sharp’ about her when taking the Fillies’ Mile, a race Sir Henry Cecil’s filly also landed before her stunning 1985 Guineas victory.
Quadrilateral took an age to get going for her Group 1 success. The big question is whether that was because she was still green, or because she needed further.
Charlton told me: “She has the pedigree to suggest she will stay beyond a mile and I thought at Newmarket she clearly demonstrated that she needed every yard of the trip. I would have liked a prep race. She’s a big filly.”
Love, who goes for O’Brien, was behind in the Fillies’ Mile, while Millisle has major stamina doubts for Jessica Harrington having landed the Group 1 Cheveley Park.
I have long been a Quadrilateral fan and advised readers to back her each-way for the Guineas at about 9-2. Let’s hope we collect!
SEE ALL FREE BETS HERE
