By Tom Frary
Even if Saturday's Newmarket Classic had a major twist in store, it was all about one horse beforehand whereas Sunday's G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas is open season especially given the way the Spring has gone for the Classic fillies. How will the likes of TDN Rising Star Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}) and Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) have fared during the wet and cold weeks leading up to this test? Many starlets have come here in the past with impeccable form credentials only to be lost in the crowd and the truth is we will only know when the contest is decided.
Ylang Ylang already has one flop on her record, having overdone it in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. but two starts later she was redeemed with a win in the G1 Fillies' Mile over this course and distance. It is hard not to feel that the absent Opera Singer (Justify) would have been Ballydoyle's first choice and there is the chance that this will represent too much of a speed test for her. “We think she'll stay further having won over a mile last year, but this was always where she was going to start,” Aidan O'Brien said. “She stayed on well, so we think she'll be staying on strongly.”
Angel Ready For Flight…
Fallen Angel had the subsequent G1 Cheveley Park S. heroine Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) well beaten in the Moyglare and is the chief Karl Burke representative despite the credentials of Newtown Anner Stud Farm's G2 May Hill S. and G3 Prestige S. winner Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}). “The mile holds no qualms, she should improve for the mile,” Burke said of Fallen Angel. “She'll probably stay further, to be honest. We think we're going to arrive there in good form. We've been lucky enough to win the French Oaks, we've been second in the English Derby and second in the 1000 Guineas with Laurens, so it would be fantastic to add a British Classic to the CV.”
Fallen Angel's jockey Danny Tudhope added, “I rode her in a racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting and she impressed me. She galloped with a sprinter and we went quick, but she picked him up very easily and then dossed when we got half a length up, which is just her.”
Two To The Dance…
Charlie Appleby has yet to win this, but following Saturday's action will arrive with confidence high in his pair of solid chances. The G3 Oh So Sharp S. winner and G3 Nell Gwyn S. runner-up Dance Sequence (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) is the clear number one ahead of the Listed Jumeirah 1000 Guineas scorer Cinderella's Dream (GB) (Shamardal), but she has to turn around a neck defeat by Pretty Crystal (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) from her seven-furlong prep. “Dance Sequence had a nice trial in the Nell Gwyn, where she still showed her rawness,” her trainer said. “With the step up to a mile and the experience she gained there I'm very confident she's going to be running a big race. Cinderella's Dream is four from four and gave us some entertainment at Meydan in the winter, where William had to take his feet out of the irons for half of the race but she showed her class in what she achieved. She's a tough little filly and she definitely deserves to be in the line-up.”
Burgeoning Star?
Julie Wood is a longstanding owner for the Hannons and a win for her live outsider Star Style (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}) would be well received. With only an impressive win in a seven-furlong debutantes affair at Newbury to her name, she will have it tough here but her trainer is expecting a bold show. “We are throwing her in at the deep end, without question, but whenever her owner Julie Wood has a chance of winning a big race she'll take it with both hands,” he said. “How she'll handle the track is unknown, but if she does she'll run a big race. She is a monster. She's massive, but she's quite elegant and quite adaptable.”
The Support Acts…
Newmarket's card also features the G2 Dahlia S., where the 2023 Listed Pretty Polly S. winner Running Lion (GB) (Roaring Lion) is tackled by Godolphin's G2 Cape Verdi scorer Silver Lady (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). This year's Pretty Polly, which is an important Oaks trial, features Juddmonte's 10-length course-and-distance handicap winner Kalpana (GB) (Study Of Man {Ire}) and a clutch of unexposed Epsom hopefuls including Sheikh Juma Dalmook Al Maktoum's Lunar Eclipse (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}). Off the mark on debut over seven furlongs here, the David Simcock-trained relative of Shamardal's sire Puissance De Lune (Ire) is one of the more interesting Classic prospects from the stable.
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