Maybe O'Brien Has The Answer To Winning
The 1,000 Guineas
5/3/12 - The hugely progressive Maybe from
the Ballydoyle stable of Aidan O’Brien will go off for Sunday’s
1000 Guineas as a very warm order
favourite to win the opening Fillies Classic of the season and extend her
unbeaten record to six races. The daughter of Galileo can be backed at
around 6/4 but she is even shorter in places suggesting that punters might
look elsewhere for a better value option.
The trouble is that it might be
difficult to find an alternative as good as Maybe, as there is no question
that this filly has top class credentials having won the Group 1 Moyglare
Stud Stakes at the Curragh in her last outing as a juvenile. She comes to
Newmarket without a race so far this season, but that is not necessarily a
negative as six of the last ten winners were all making their seasonal
debut’s. It will also be her first run over a mile but she is bred to stay
longer so the trip will not prevent her from winning and besides 11 of the
past 13 winners were winning over a mile for the first time. The 1000
Guineas has also been a good race for favourites in recent years with three
winning in the last five years.
With the stats and the form all
pointing to a success for Maybe which of the remaining 20 entries could
better her?
Certainly there has been a lot of
support this last week for the Ralph Beckett trained Moonstone Magic who has
been supplemented for the race after two scintillating performances
including easily winning the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes a fortnight ago at
Newbury. A late starter she never ran as a 2 year old but she will love the
cut in the ground that she is likely to get on the Rowley Mile. She has been
backed into 6/1 with most Bookmakers but she can still be snapped up at 7/1
with Ladbrokes.
There is plenty to like about the
French Raider, Mashoora and given the recent French record in the race of
two wins and two places in the last four years, she deserves plenty of
respect. She is trained by Jean-Claude Rouget a classic winning trainer in
France who looks like she will improve a lot from her seasonal opener when
she won the Group 3 Prix Imprudence at Maisons –Laffitte in April.
Mahmood Al Zarooni trainer of 2011
Blue Bunting has two very useful looking fillies in the race, Discourse and
Lyric Of Light. They are both unbeaten, with Discourse winning twice as a
juvenile including the Group 3 Sweet Solera Stakes on this course back in
August. She is currently a best price of 8/1 while Lyric Of Light became a
course and distance winner when taking the Group 1 Shadwell Fillies Mile
last September. Before that she won the Group 2 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster
and is now unbeaten after three starts. Of the two it would seem that Lyric
Of Light has the better record and is rated 3lbs higher, but the betting
cannot separate them with them both being around the 8/1 mark. Punters are
probably advised to wait and see which of the two Frankie Dettori rides
before making any final bet, but on form certainly Lyric Of Light would seem
to be a very promising alternative to the short priced favourite.
The Fugue trained by John Gosden
will be partnered by stable jockey, William Buick who prefers him to
stablemate Starscope. The Fugue won his only start to date which came in her
maiden last October. She is said to have matured nicely through the winter
and being the daughter of Dansili she will have no problems getting the
trip. At 20/1 she might be the best option for each way backers.