Betfred 1000 Guineas preview: David Ord sets the scene

The weather forecasts aren't of a Sunday scorcher.

The wind shifts to be completely from the Arctic. 20 degrees becomes 14, the coat that has been gathering dust for the last three weeks shaken clean. You must be here though. You must see Desert Flower v Lake Victoria.

European racing’s two genuine superpowers clash in round two of the Classic season.

One filly is unbeaten in four races. The other in five.

Their weight adjusted Timeform ratings are 130p and 129p respectively.

Both head here first time out.

It’s a Betfred 1000 Guineas of fine margins.

Aidan O’Brien seemed to throw open the doors of Ballydoyle to the press every fortnight through the spring. And the initial reports on Lake Victoria were downbeat.

On March 24th he reported: “She had a longer break than the others because her year ran long. She went nicely last weekend in an easy piece of work and I’m not sure she’ll make the Guineas but we’re training her for it. If she doesn’t come in time, she’ll go to the Curragh the day after. Knowing her she’ll probably come in time, she’s that type of filly, and physically has done very well. She’s fast.”

April 14th and the security staff are waving the bus through again. Progress is being made.

“We stepped Lake Victoria up a couple of weeks ago and she is really coming to herself now. She could be there in time for Newmarket but if she wasn’t she could also go to the Curragh instead.”

April 23rd. Bulletin three. It’s good news again.

"We're looking at the Guineas at the moment for Lake Victoria. If we do run her, she's going to improve plenty from it, but it's possible she could go straight there. The thing with Lake Victoria is that she comes very quickly when you start waking her up a little."

And waking her up they have been.

She’s not only running. She’s a single dart.

And you watch the replays of those two-year-old victories which included three Group One triumphs over three different trips.

Seven in the Moyglare Stud, back to six for a Cheveley Park win that had the Timeform race reporter purring “looks a filly out of the top drawer” and a mile, in Del Mar Carlifornia, for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf.

She didn’t quite hit the figures she had at Newmarket but was dominant, proved herself at the trip and had you licking the lips for what was to come the following year.

But then you remember Desert Flower.

Four from four for Godolphin, baby steps at first but into pattern company for the May Hill at Doncaster and then the performance that suggested she, too, was out of the ordinary herself.

It came over this very course and distance, in the bet365 Fillies’ Mile.

There was style and substance here as she drew four further lengths clear of runner-up January then she had on Town Moor.

It was the way she lengthened her stride upon meeting the rising ground and hit the line that made you want to watch it again and again.

She’s taken the direct route to the Guineas herself. No bout of winter sun in Dubai. But the doors of Moulton Paddocks have been firmly locked all spring.

We’re relying on feel and a racecourse gallop before racing at the Craven Meeting.

Now these, stage managed, pieces of work rarely go wrong when they’re in front of the public.

And this one didn’t.

In truth it showed she had emerged from the winter in good health and little more, but it offered further match practice on the Rowley Mile.

Charlie Appleby admitted afterwards she isn’t a natural when it comes to the downhill section. It’s what happens next that’s explosive.

“She is a funny filly and if you are one of those people that sit on the betting exchanges from the three pole to two pole you would be getting a little bit twitchy,” he mused.

“She takes a little bit of organising, but once she organises herself, and finds that stride and rhythm, she sees it out well.

“I said to William (Buick) after Doncaster that with the dip here she might just lose herself a little bit in the Fillies’ Mile and at one stage you thought hang on a minute.

“But those that knew her thought if she just gets herself organised and hits the rising ground she will be away. She did it that day and I feel like she dd it again in the gallop.”

She might need to hit the line even harder to fend off or reel-in Lake Victoria and be the one to emerge with their unbeaten record intact.

Maybe there’s a lurker, waiting to spring forward at three and improve past the pair at the very first attempt.

All we can ask for is a clean fight. A field of ten offers hope that’s what we’ll get for all the two protagonists are drawn apart in one and seven.

It’s often said the Guineas are the last major two-year-old races for their generation.

Others see them as a springboard for the future, a chance to find an Oaks winner, a potential champion sprinter finishing down the field.

But the 2025 Betfred 1000 Guineas just looks an outstanding horse race.

Two potential superstars rolling up with tall reputations and the CVs to back them up.

Enjoy.

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