Equinties - Guineas girls

Gm Equinauts

After yesterday’s electric performance from 800k breezer CATHEDRAL, we’ve taken a quick look at next years 1000 Guineas prospects to try and find which girls might shake up current market.

Let’s dive in.

HEADLINE ROUNDUP

HIGH EXPECTATIONS

In what is a serious bout of vintage Kia Joorabchian, the boss of Amo Racing reportedly tasked Ralph Beckett with getting his exciting juvenile CATHEDRAL to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf before she had even hit the track.

They must have thought plenty of her, and the market spoke like that ahead of yesterday’s debut at Lingfield as she opened up at 5/2 and went off 1/2.

The market got it spot on as she won impressively under the guidance of David Egan.

For an average days racing, this was an above average Lingfield maiden which attracted a lot of comment and hype, mainly due to the performance but also due to her entry in next weekend’s Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes which was quickly kiboshed by Amy Drummond, racing manager to the Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing, who said: "She has a Moyglare entry but she won't go there as it'll come too soon. 

"We'll make sure she comes out of the race okay but there's a few options. There's the Cheveley Park and the Oh So Sharp, but they're only being considered at the moment, nothing is certain. I'm sure Ralph will make more of a solid plan for her in the coming days.”

If they want to head to the Breeders’ Cup with her - which would be a big effort considering she’s made her debut in September - they’ll have to get a run into her in a Group race.

Whether this occurs or not is all speculation, but with a pedigree and price tag like that, all the wildest dreams are warranted.

DOUBLE CHAMPION

William Haggas is going to attempt a pretty daunting feat in the later stages of this Flat season.

The task he has put upon himself is to try and win both the Irish and English Champion Stakes with ECONOMICS, his Dante and Prix Guillaume d'Ornano-winning son of NIGHT OF THUNDER.

He’s been very quiet about this horse all season in order to put brakes on the racing worlds over-excitement. That has meant not running him in the Derby and waiting until this stage of the campaign to give him a Group 1 assignment.

To be honest, it’s pretty brilliant from him. You have to respect William and Maureen for not running him at Epsom if they felt that it would not suit the horse due to his immense size and action. After all, he only made his debut in November 2023 when he was beaten by nearly four lengths.

Only six horses have won both the Irish and English Champion Stakes since the Irish equivalent was created 48 years ago - TRIPTYCH (1987), INDIAN SKIMMER (1988), PILSUDSKI (1997), NEW APPROACH (2008), ALMANZOR(2016) and MAGICAL (2019) - so if he was to do this, he would join an illustrious list.

GUINEAS GIRLS - CURRENT PICTURE

As we alluded to in yesterday’s newsletter, we’re going to have a look at next year’s 1000 Guineas picture at this early stage away from the obvious hype horses like BEDTIME STORY, FAIRY GODMOTHER and BABOUCHE WHO have already demonstrated their credentials.

We should start with yesterday’s brilliant debut performance from CATHEDRAL.

By the unbeaten 2yo champ TOO DARN HOT, her dam is a half to BLUESTOCKING - also trained by Ralph Beckett. She was in such demand at the breeze ups in France the market went to 800k for her. At that price she had to win yesterday but CATHEDRAL delivered a performance so powerful that connections won’t be able to feel any other way than excitement for next years big one. As such, she is currently 33/1 on BET365 for next years 1000 Guineas.

Ralph Beckett is brilliant with the fillies, in fact, he’s probably the best trainer for them and you’d be silly to think CATHERDRAL will be his only big gun for next year. Enter TABITI.

She runs in today’s Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies’ Stakes after her pillar to post success lto. A real Juddmonte pedigree, er dam is a half to the twice Listed winner TANTINA who is the dam of sires CITYSCAPE and BATED BREATH.

TABITI is also a half to the once Beckett trained OLD FLAME who debuted as a three-year-old and did his best work at four, so her family suggests this girl will train on to get better with age

RED LETTER looks like a good prospect. Won extremely well over 7f lto at the Curragh, she hit the line well that day. Her dam was placed over 6f but her sire FRANKEL is well known now to put stamina in to his progeny so the mile should be no problem.

GISELLE is a dark horse at the moment. She lost to the impressive Chesham Stakes winner and subsequent Gr2W BEDTIME STORY by only a length on debut but did go off 8/11 that day suggesting much more was expected. BEDTIME STORY was also making her debut but interestingly Ryan Moore was either selected or he chose to ride GISELLE. She is another in the list by FRANKEL and her dam NEWSPAPEROFRECORD was a very impressive Breeders Cup Juvenile filly winner and trained on to win a Grade 1 at 3 years old over a mile.

JEWELRY made a smart impression at Newbury when she broke her maiden, whilst looking green as grass. By WOOTTON BASSETT, her dam is a sister to ATHENA who won the Belmont Oaks and has produced NEVER ENDING STORY who was placed in the French Oaks, BRACELET who won the Irish Oaks and WADING who won the Rockfel and has since produced Rockfel winner and Belmont Oaks/ Matron Stakes placegetter JUST WONDERFUL.

Not only that, but her 3rd dam is URBAN SEA no less! A 220k purchase as a yearling looks an absolute steal even at this point. She races against TABITI today - do NOT miss it!

JUSTIFY over a GALILEO mare, same cross that produced the wonder horse CITY OF TROY, but FALLING SNOW isn’t out of any old GALILEO mare - her dam is the 4x Group 1 winner WINTER who won the 1000 Guineas under Wayne Lordan. A sneaky suspicion a mile will be her minimum trip!

It’s safe to say next years 1000 Guineas race is already a mouth-watering prospect. BEDTIME STORY and FAIRY GODMOTHER are rightly dominating the market but you can bet your bottom dollar there will be a furious shake up between now and then and the two girls who run today, TABITI and JEWLERY, might have a part to play there.

The whispers (before CATHEDRAL ran) is that TABITI is Becketts number one Guineas girl and she’s currently 33’s for the big one or 105/1 if you double her in todays feature race - an ew lotto play we wouldn’t put anyone off for fun stakes… if any bookmaker is brave enough to take the bet!

RISK ON

A poor run from Hugo Palmer’s KODIE BEAR horse yesterday - if that race was run again today we’d still back him on the pedigree, it was stand out for the race… but horses can run flat.

The idiot grounds staff have watered every where again and this rain means both Salisbury and Newbury are anticipated to turn soft, Salisbury might be even worse than that which will likely throw up some prices.

We’ll wait to see what the going is and post others bets on X but for now this is the only bet:

15.50 TABITI

This girl is supposed to be Beckett’s best Guineas prospect. She was pulled out of Goodwood on account of the ground but we’re not taking that at face value mainly because her pedigree suggests she’ll handle soft like many of her siblings did. 2/1 a bet.

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