Khalid Abdullah’s FRANKEL (Galileo [Ire]) will exit from stall one in
Saturday’s Two Thousand Guineas (Eng-G1) at Newmarket, where 12
rivals will line up in a bid to derail his faultless run. With his likely
pacemaker Rerouted (Stormy Atlantic) positioned widest away from him in 13, the
gifted Juddmonte homebred may be forced to make his own running — as Henry
Cecil suggested earlier in the week — with the stalls placed in the middle of
the track.
“Frankel is very well, he did his final piece of work on Tuesday morning and
I was delighted,” the Warren Place conditioner said on his website Thursday.
“He was lovely and relaxed in behind his
lead horse and I’d be very surprised if he’s not a better horse than at Newbury
(when winning the Greenham S. [Eng-G3]). He has come on a lot for his run. He hadn’t
been on the grass since last year, as it has been so dry, so I was thrilled he
was so well behaved.”
Frankel’s armor may seem impenetrable at present, with
forecasts stating he is likely to trade shorter than the 4-7 starting price of
the great Nijinsky II in 1970.
Silverton Hill Partnership’s PATHFORK (Distorted Humor) is next door and his
two-year-old performances were marked by a fast break from the gates, as was Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and the Sangster family’s
RODERIC O’CONNOR (Galileo [Ire]), who is drawn in post 3. Pathfork currently occupies the
position as clear second-favorite and represents the best Irish formlines after
wins in the Curragh’s Futurity S. (Ire-G2) in August and National S. (Ire-G1) in September.
“He’s the most relaxed horse with a wonderful temperament,” trainer Jessie
Harrington, who trained the great two-mile champion chaser Moscow Flyer,
said at her press day recently.
“He’s developed well over the winter and done
everything right, but is so laid-back we have to give him plenty of work. This
is breaking new territory for me. It’s exciting, but also a little bit
terrifying.”
Jockey Fran Berry was also on hand to pay tribute to the unbeaten
colt.
“He was only a shell of a horse last year and has thickened out well,”
Berry said. “He has great balance and should handle the downhill run at Newmarket
OK, but I suppose you never really know until they run there.”
With
Aidan O’Brien scratching Alexander Pope (Danehill Dancer [Ire]) and Master
of Hounds (Kingmambo) Thursday, the classic is made up of the smallest field
since Mark of Esteem (Ire) beat a dozen in 1996.
Standing his ground was Andrew Tinkler’s Spring Cup and International Trial S. winner
DUBAWI GOLD (Dubawi), who switches from Lingfield’s Polytrack back to turf in a
bid to provide his sire with back-to-back editions after the shock win of Makfi 12 months ago. Richard Hannon, Jr. was under no illusion regarding the task
of his three-time Guineas-winning stable’s representative.
“He’s done nothing
wrong this year and has improved, but we’re all fighting it out for the
places — I don’t see anything to beat Frankel,” he said. “I don’t even see
anything to really race against him. Dubawi Gold is settling much better now,
and if things go right for him and he gets cover, he could be in the four.”
Another outsider is the Eoghan O’Neill trainee BROOX (Xaar), who
boasts some smart juvenile form, having been fourth in the Prix Morny (Fr-G1) at
Deauville in August before winning the Prix d’Arenberg (Fr-G3) over six furlongs at
Maisons-Laffitte in September.
“Broox seems fine and he is ready to go,” said the French-based O’Neill, who
saddled Vital Equine to finish runner-up four years ago. “We are confident that he will stay the
mile. From his two-year-old form, you would say the trip might be a question, but
his pedigree says he will get a mile and the way we have trained him all spring
we think he will get a mile. We galloped him over the mile and that is not a
worry, but we are not confident that he will beat Frankel.
“His sire, Xaar, was
the Frankel of 13 years ago. He was a very warm favorite for the Two Thousand Guineas
and got turned over.”
Newmarket’s Clerk of the Course Michael Prosser is
expecting no break in the dry conditions.
“The Guineas ground has not been raced
on since October and I think it is very even,” he said Thursday. “I think that
the middle of the track is where it will unfold and I think the middle is as
good as anywhere on the track. The going is good-to-firm, good in places with a GoingStick reading of 9.2. The plan is to irrigate tomorrow, but we will gauge
how much after speaking with the meteorologists in the morning.”