The Newmarket Qipco Guineas marks the first classic race of the flat season - there is a total of 5 classics in the year. The 2000 and 1000 Guineas are both ran over one mile, however the 1000 guineas is for fillies only. The winners of both races have only ever gone on to do great things and some even to be top stallions. This is as we said the first of the classics for the year the last four years has seen Aiden O’Brien win at least one of the two races if not both, with the irish domination in mind we look at this years contenders.
2000 GUINEAS With Gosdens TOO DARN HOT officially and devastatingly out of the race our attention again is drawn to O’Briens pack again. We are still over a week out so runners are yet to be confirmed but we have a good idea of how the race might look. First horse that caught my eye has got to be ADVERTISE, who was 2nd last time out only to be beaten by TOO DARN HOT. Meade who says he has faith in the horse after a solid season last year has been aiming him at the race and we think has a solid chance, Frankie will ride him. Currently 10/1
Next we look at ALMUFTI, a horse trained by Hugo Palmer. Hugo has won the 2000 Guineas before in 2016 with Galileo Gold and will be hoping for a second victory. ALMUFTI was 3rd at the Craven meeting last week and is a strong contender for the race. Another chance for Hugo is SET PIECE who again ran at thee Craven meeting and was 3rd which should set him up nicely for next weekend, especially if we get a little rain.
Lastly we look at the two O’Brien favourites MAGAN GRECIA is currently second favourite he has had the perfect prep winning on champions day last year and has never been out of the top 2 in his 3 starts, it looks like he likes a good to good to soft ground and with no rain in Newmarket in weeks it will depend how much they water for his chances. TEN SOVEREIGNS an unbeaten colt who won at Newmarket last time out last year, a very strong favourite and looks like he will take all the beating but doubts about whether he will stay.
1000 GUINEAS Now we turn our attention to the fillies, if you are looking to go to Newmarket next weekend Sunday is such a nice day to go too. It’s a little less busy but top quality racing! Turning attention to the favourite first, QABALA for Roger Varian who looks like a top favourite, a daughter of the late stallion SCAT DADDY. She ran at the Craven Meeting and won impressively under David Egan who hopefully will keep the ride next week. She’s very strong looking for a filly and will take a lot of beating, I think. Talking of SCAT DADDY second favourite is SKITTER SCATTER trained by irish trainer John Oxx. Personally I think she should be shorter, she has had more starts than QABALA and is nearly unbeaten, they are good Group 1 and 2 races she’s won in too plus these irish trained horse tend to be tougher too. At 8/1 she’s a great ante post eachway bet. With us still being a few days out we will wait for the declarations and reflect again then. If you would like to go to the Guineas and be part of the action head to https://www.racingbreaks.com/events/qipco-guineas-festival