John Gosden reports leading QIPCO 1000 Guineas contender Indigo Girl to have "wintered well" but admits she is far from certain to contest the opening fillies’ Classic at Newmarket.
The Clarehaven Stables handler, who now shares a training licence with his son Thady, intends to also give the daughter of Dubawi an entry in the Listed mile and a quarter Betfair Pretty Polly Stakes, which forms part of the supporting card to the QIPCO 1000 Guineas on Sunday May 2.
After winning her first two starts, the George Strawbridge homebred, who is a general 10/1 chance for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, tasted defeat for the first time on her final outing last year when finding only Pretty Gorgeous too strong in the Group One bet365 Fillies’ Mile on the Rowley Mile in October.
Gosden said: "The plan is to go to Newmarket the first weekend in May and she will be in two races. She is in the 1000 Guineas but she will also be put in the Pretty Polly. We will just see how she is before making a decision but that is the weekend we are training her for.
"She has had a good winter and we are quite happy with her. She has only done half speeds so far and she hasn’t done any fast work yet.
"The deciding factor of which route we take will be how she is training at the time. If we have races like the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) in mind and we feel a mile and a quarter will suit her straight away, then we will go for that (Pretty Polly).
"If she is showing us the natural speed you want for the Guineas, then we would look at that instead."
Epsom option for Uncle Bryn
An outing in either the Group Three bet365 Classic Trial at Sandown on April 23 or the Listed Blue Riband Trial at Epsom Downs on April 20 is the plan for Derby entrant Uncle Bryn.
The Sea The Stars colt, owned and bred by Chasemore Farm, is unbeaten in two starts after following up his comfortable debut success at Kempton Park in September with an equally facile victory under a penalty in a novice contest at Wolverhampton in November.
Gosden said: "Uncle Bryn is looking towards the trial at Epsom or the trial at Sandown. Again, a decision will be made as to how he is going closer to the time but we would be looking at those two races for him as he has now won his maiden and his novice.
"He was still learning last year but he has learnt a little bit more around Wolverhampton, so therefore maybe we look at the Epsom race with him.
"We wanted to get him on turf last season but it was either firm ground or it never stopped raining so we went from quick ground to bottomless ground. The autumn was frustrating as we couldn’t get a lot of the two year-olds on the turf."
