Our form expert has three selections for Betfred 1000 Guineas day at Newmarket on Sunday.
The Verdict: Sunday May 3
1pt win Falakeyah in the 14:20 Newmarket at 5/1 (bet365, William Hill, 9/2 General)
1pt win Goblet Of Fire in the 14:55 Newmarket at 8/1 (bet365, 7/1 General)
1pt e.w Inis Mor in the 15:35 Newmarket at 20/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4)
Mor success for Menuisier in 1000 Guineas
Aidan O’Brien bids for his eighth success in the Betfred 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday and he has a strong hand with Precise and True Love holding strong form claims.
This could all be very simple if Precise turns up in top form, as she looked a league above her contemporaries in the Group 1 Fillies’ Mile at this track in October and if she improves on that she’ll be very hard to beat.
The thing that puts me off Precise is the setback she endured in late March, especially with the O’Brien team not firing on all cylinders this spring, so I think it’s worth taking a chance on one at a much bigger price each-way in a race that often throws up a surprise.
In all honesty you can make a case for plenty, but with a strong pace likely and a cluster of prominent racers drawn middle to high I do think this is going to be a really nice set up for David Menuisier’s INIS MOR.
She ran well in fourth in the Nell Gwyn last month, but she was a bit fresh and keen on her first start of the year and if anything travelled too well, but I’d imagine she’ll come on from that with the extra furlong looking in her favour.
By Galiway, out of a Deep Impact mare, she has a very interesting pedigree and might even get the Oaks trip, but there’s no doubt she has bags of natural pace and going the extra furlong in the Guineas can see her improve.
With Venetian Lace, Mubasimah and Timeforshowcasing drawn around her I think she might just get a lovely tow into this and if she switches off better with the Nell Gwyn run under her belt she can come home strongly.
Two years ago Menuisier ran the same owners’ Tamfana in this race after she had shaped encouragingly in her trial (the Prix Imprudence) and she ran a cracker in fourth, her final position not telling the whole story as she was really unlucky in the run.
She turned out to be top class and while Inis Mor has some way to go to become the new Tamfana, she has a very similar profile at the corresponding stage of her career and she can go well for Sean Levey, who won this race in 2018 with 66/1 shot Billesdon Brook.
The Verdict: Back INIS MOR in the 15.35 Newmarket
Falakeyah can bounce back in Dahlia
Earlier on the card Owen Burrows’ FALAKEYAH can bounce back to her best form in the Group 2 Betfred Dahlia Stakes over nine furlongs.
The daughter of New Bay looked a filly destined for the top table when she bolted up in the Pretty Polly at this meeting last year on just her second start but she didn’t get near that form in two starts subsequently.
Supplemented for the Coronation Stakes over a mile at Royal Ascot, she ran too free in the hands of Jim Crowley and then she was too free again before hanging away her chance dropped in grade in the Pride Stakes last October.
Things clearly didn’t go to plan at three, but the Pretty Polly performance is well worth remembering now this meeting has come around again and given time she can rekindle her career in this.
The Burrows team are going well and he’s whipped the hood off Falakeyah, a tactic he used to great effect with her half-sister Rowayeh and Fair Wind, while she might just enjoy the rhythm of the Rowley Mile again with a strong pace looking likely.
Saffie Osborne has been going great guns for Burrows with Crowley recovering from serious injuries, her record standing at 5 from 15 at 33% for the Lambourn trainer, and she might just improve that super strike-rate here.
The Verdict: Back FALAKEYAH in the 14.20 Newmarket
Henderson to find the key to Goblet
It could be a good day for Osborne as I fancy her mount GOBLET OF FIRE to go well in the Betfred Handicap over 1m6f for Nicky Henderson, too.
Henderson has a brilliant record when he runs one on the Flat in a Newmarket handicap, winning nine from 34 at 26.47% this century and they aren’t all Cesarewitch horses with three of those wins coming in the month of May.
He’s got a really good record with horses running second time back after wind surgery, as well, in both codes, so this looks to have been a target for the six-year-old following a tee up on the all-weather at Kempton last time out.
That was a really encouraging run, as he rallied to be beaten just three lengths over an inadequate 1m4f after getting outpaced a quarter of a mile from home and it should’ve brought him on suitably from a fitness perspective.
He’s won seven from 19 on the Flat, an excellent strike-rate, and he remains relatively unexposed over staying trips on the level after mixing it with hurdles last year.
I’d imagine he’ll be ridden prominently along with Align The Stars drawn next door and Osborne knows exactly what to do in this scenario, as she made all to win this race last year on Story Horse.
The Verdict: Back GOBLET OF FIRE in the 14.55 Newmarket
Preview posted at 16:00 BST on 02/05/26
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