Newmarket is the headquarters of British Flat horse racing
with good reason, given the number of Group races which take place on its
Rowley Mile and July courses. The two-day Future Champions Festival in the
autumn during October always throws up clues for punters looking ahead to
the following spring’s Classics as top two-year-olds take to the track.
The Group 1 races from that meeting, the Fillies’ Mile and
Dewhurst Stakes, are among the best trials for the next year’s 1000 Guineas
and 2000 Guineas respectively. Bookmakers are well aware of this, but it
isn’t necessarily the winners to take out of
these Newmarket events.
For evidence of that, look no further than the 2019
Fillies’ Mile. While Quadrilateral won the race, it was Love back in third
who trained on better the following season after landing a Classic double in
the Guineas and The Oaks at Epsom.
In the 2020 running, Pretty Gorgeous reversed Irish
Champions Weekend form from The Curragh after returning to a softer surface.
Joseph O’Brien has now trained two of the last three Fillies’ Mile winners,
and this one is now favourite for the 2021 1000 Guineas.
It is a young but talented team behind Pretty Gorgeous, a
daughter of Lawman. Some give in the ground looks the key to her with
up-and-coming
Irish jockey Shane Crosse enjoying his maiden Group 1 in the saddle.
Pretty Gorgeous held the staying on Indigo Girl from the
John Gosden stable by half-a-length to win. George Strawbridge’s daughter of
Dubawi might be better suited by stepping up in trip for The Oaks on her
pedigree with her dam winning a Group 1 over a mile-and-a-half.
The Dewhurst Stakes, meanwhile, usually crowns the
champion juvenile colt because of the prestigious roll of honour attached to the
race. Mill Reef, Nijinsky, Rock Of Gibraltar, Shamardal, Sir Percy, Teofilo, New
Approach and Frankel are among its most famous winners.
In the Dewhurst this year, the Aidan O’Brien trained
St Mark’s Basilica made a marked improvement on past form. Like Pretty
Gorgeous, he was able to turn the tables on rivals from Irish Champions Weekend
running on for a three-quarters of a length victory over stablemate Wembley.
Again, soft ground appears important to the son of Siyouni who is one three
horses made 8/1 co-favourites in next year’s 2000 Guineas
betting odds from MansionBet alongside
stable companion Battleground and National Stakes hero Thunder Moon.
Such a market at this stage, some six months or so out from the Guineas Weekend,
suggest the first Classic of 2021 is more open than recent years. A setback in
his training kept Battleground away from the Future Champions Festival and the
tail end of his juvenile season.
The 2000 Guineas picture becomes clearer still after the Vertem Futurity Trophy,
run at Doncaster towards the end of October. That Group 1 contest over the
straight mile has also proved a useful Classic trial in recent years, so the
ante-post market will develop further before 2020 is out.
