Sunday 1st May 2022

Author: Jordan Yates (EvRacing_)

Newmarket

“A warm welcome to my preview for 1000 Guineas Day at Newmarket, apologies that I didn’t get a blog out for Saturday, I wasn’t feeling too good and slept for about 16 hours. You didn’t miss out on much anyway, as I did have a few punts and they were all dreadful. Anyway, I’ll crack on with the preview as I’ve got four fancies throughout the card…”

I’m going to kick things off with the 1:50 which is Heritage Handicap that’s contested over a mile and six furlongs. A typically competitive affair of which a case could be made for most of the line-up, I’ve taken a chance on the Tim Easterby trained Dark Jedi though at 13/2 who’s the mount of Duran Fentiman. He’s already had two outings this term, firstly when he finished a pretty distant fourth of eleven to Raymond Tusk at Doncaster and most recently when he followed up with a good second at Musselburgh to Enemy. He’s not got a lot of room manoeuvre off his current mark, but he’s battle hardended to this kind of contest and if progressing again from his last run he’s got every chance of playing a part.

Next up is the 2:25 which is the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes that’s ridden over a distance of a mile and two furlongs. I think this can go to the John & Thady Godsen trained Crenelle who’s currently a 13/8 chance under Frankie Dettori. She progressed from a third placed effort on debut to win at the Craven Meeting here last month, when getting her head in-front by a neck in maiden company. This obviously requires significant improvement on that effort, but she’s likely got considerable improvement and represents a stable who have had some top-class fillies throughout the years, even in this race when winning it the likes of Lah Ti Dar and Tahgrooda winning it in recent years.

It’s the first group race of the afternoon up next at 3:00 with the Group 2 Dahlia Stakes taking centre-stage. The race for Fillies & Mares is contested over a mile and a furlong and I like the chances of a French challenger here in the form of Ebaiyra at 5/2 in the Aga Khan silks for Francis Graffard and Christoph Soumillon. She’s had two outings already this season and hasn’t quite showed her best form, finishing third in both of them including when she was a well-fancied 6/5 favourite most recently. She is however a dual Group 2 winner, her last success coming last May when she beat the smart Raabihah at Saint-Cloud in the Prix Corrida. She’s also got Group 1 form to her name having finished third in the Hong Kong Vase at Sha Tin back in December, which is some of the best form on offer in this race. It’s likely she will have been primed for this and if she’s ready to go she could prove to be a huge player.

The big one is where I turn my attention too next which comes up at 3:40 and is of course the 1000 Guineas. Probably the most prestigious race for Fillies, it’s contested over a straight mile and is a Group 1 contest. Following the removal of long-time ante-post favourite Inspiral, the race has been thrown wide open and has a very competitive look to it. Aidan O’Brien has a fantastic record in the race and has a strong hand once again of which I’m siding with one of said hand. My fancy comes in the form of Tuesday at 6/1 who’s set to be ridden by none other than Frankie Dettori. She made her return to the track in March where she shed her maiden tag at Naas, running on strongly at the finish to win comfortably. I think there could be a huge amount of progression in her, and it’s likely that connections think that too pitching her in here after just a maiden victory. She’s a sister to Minding who won this race for the stable back in 2016 and is an all-round fascinating prospect.