Simon Holt provides a selection for every ITV race on Sunday and as well as Tahiyra in the 1000 Guineas, he's keen on Prosperous Voyage.
Racing betting tips: Sunday May 7
1pt win Sea King in 1.50 Newmarket at 8/1 (General)
1pt win Prosperous Voyage in 3.00 Newmarket at 7/2 (General)
1pt win Tahiyra in 3.40 Newmarket at 15/8 (General)
ITV selections: SEA KING 1.50 Newmarket, Good Show 2.05 Hamilton, Floating Spirit 2.25 Newmarket, Wandering Rocks 2.40 Salisbury, PROSPEROUS VOYAGE 3.00 Newmarket, TAHIYRA 3.40 Newmarket
One piece of form stands out ahead of Sunday's QIPCO 1000 Guineas and that is TAHIYRA's demolition of Meditate in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at The Curragh last September.
Going into that race, the runner-up had some of the best two-year-form of all the juvenile fillies, but her rival showed an exceptional turn of foot and swept right past her inside the final furlong, quickly pulling over two lengths clear.
Tahiyra has a sensational pedigree being a daughter of the top French stallion Siyouni out of a very useful middle distance Cape Cross mare who has also produced the top-class Tarnawa (by Shamardal), winner of the Prix Vermeille, Prix de l'Opera, Breeders Cup Turf and second (to Torquator Tasso) in the Arc.
Tarnawa didn't win as a two-year-old but her half sister seems much more precocious even though she is likely to do well beyond a mile. She is of the same cross as the top-class miler Laurens who was a four-time Group One winner and finished second to Billesdon Brook in this race. Despite that defeat, Laurens went on to win the Sun Chariot Stakes on the Rowley Mile course.
The only question seems to surround Tahiyra's readiness for her reappearance as Dermot Weld feels she has been a bit slow to come to hand during this cold spring. However it seems unlikely that one of the shrewdest and most patient trainers in the game would be running her if he wasn't happy, especially when there will be many other good targets in the months ahead.
Aidan O'Brien feels Meditate might not have been at her best in the Moyglare but she went onto win the Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Keeneland over a mile following a narrow defeat by Lezoo (Mawj third, Juliet Sierra fifth) dropped back to six furlongs in the Cheveley Park Stakes. If Tahiyra needs the run, she will be the one to beat.
Lezoo, the mount of Frankie Dettori, was beaten only once last year (by Mawj) but her pedigree suggests a mile could stretch her.
The best recent form is represented by Mamma's Girl, an impressive winner of the Nell Gwyn at the Newmarket Craven meeting (finishing off very well over seven furlongs) and Remarquee who showed a worrying amount of greenness in beating Stenton Glider a neck in the Dubai Duty Free (Fred Darling) Stakes at Newbury.
However, they have an awful lot to find if Tahiyra has trained on and repeats that Moyglare performance.
In the Group Two Howden Dahlia Stakes, last year's 1000 Guineas runner-up PROSPEROUS VOYAGE should be ideally suited by the nine-furlong trip on her fourth attempt to win on the Rowley Mile course.
Second to Inspiral in the Fillies' Mile here as a two-year-old, Ralph Beckett's filly motored home and failed by a neck to reel in Cachet on this card 12 months ago, after which she took advantage of a below-par Inspiral in the Falmouth Stakes on the July Course.
Prosperous Voyage didn't run up to that form on her final two starts, finishing sixth to Inspiral in a red-hot Jacques le Marois at Deauville and then fourth behind Fonteyn in the Sun Chariot back on the Rowley Mile when possibly over the top on her final start.
However, it was Group Ones all the way for her last season and, with the Beckett team in good form and Frankie Dettori booked to ride, she should really appreciate this drop in class.
Finally, SEA KING is fancied to make a winning reappearance – as he did last season – in the Howden (Heritage) Handicap over a mile-and-three-quarters.
After scoring at Doncaster at around this time last year, the Sir Mark Prescott-trained gelding had a light, slightly in-and-out campaign until running a career best over this trip at Haydock in September when finishing a close second behind the progressive Double Cherry only to be placed fourth after causing interference.
That form was boosted when third-placed Post Impressionist beat Double Cherry into second in a deep-looking handicap at York subsequently.
Sea King had seemed less effective over the same Haydock course and distance earlier in the season (on softer ground) but he always looked open to improvement. On his final start, he could never land a blow in the Old Rowley Handicap back over a mile-and-a-half on this course but it may have come soon enough after the Haydock run and, in any case, this trip seems best for him.
Prescott could have run in an easier race at Salisbury on Sunday, and Sea King is also entered for next week's Chester Cup, so take the hint.
Posted at 1835 BST on 06/05/23
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