Moon to Thunder home for O’Brien Jnr
FROM Pinatubo last year to Frankel a decade ago, the Qipco 2000 Guineas (3.40pm) often features a short-priced favourite, who, according to the odds at least, is head and shoulders above his rivals.
Pinatubo was sent off at 5/6 last year, while the likes of Churchill (6/4), Dawn Approach (11/8) and Frankel (1/2) have all gone off at skinny odds too.
However, it’s a very different case this year with the 2021 renewal looking one of the most open in long time.
Aidan O’Brien has farmed the race in recent years, winning three of the last four, and the 10-time winning trainer once again looks to hold a strong hand.
Ryan Moore has chosen to ride WEMBLEY who is the one I like most of the O’Brien battalion at 4/1.
He hasn’t been seen since finishing runner-up in the Dewhurst – a display that can be marked up given he was wide throughout and had to cover more ground than the winner, St Mark’s Basilica.
The step up to a mile should suit and he looks primed to play a leading role.
He might have to play second fiddle to another Irish challenger, though, as THUNDER MOON could just be a star in the making.
It’s rare you see a horse display the turn of foot Joseph O’Brien’s colt did when winning the National Stakes at the Curragh last season, where he surged through the field like a knife through butter.
That performance marked the three-year-old son of Zoffany as one to watch and it was unsurprising he was sent off favourite for the Dewhurst on his next start.
He finished third that day, which on the face of it wasn’t a bad run at all given the soft ground blunted his speed.
With the rattling fast ground much more in his favour, he can give his trainer a second consecutive Classic at 9/2.
The World Pool, a collaboration between the Hong Kong Jockey Club, racecourses, racing bodies and betting partners including the Tote, returns on Saturday where punters can expect better odds as a result of the increased liquidity the pool generates.
There are a number of exotic bets in operation including the quinella (reverse forecast or exacta in the UK) and tierce (trifecta).
To complete the trifecta, I’m going to throw in Charlie Hills’ MUTASAABEQ who is the real unknown quantity.
Out of former 1000 Guineas winner Ghanaati, he’s only had two career runs, but he’s impressed in both, particularly last time at Newmarket.
He absolutely bolted up dismantling a solid field in a matter of strides, showing his liking for fast ground as well as Newmarket’s undulating track.
To win a Classic on just the third start of his career is no easy task, but he’s clearly very talented and is very much in the ‘could be anything’ bracket.
Bill Esdaile’s 2000 Guineas 1-2-3
- Thunder Moon
- Mutasaabeq
- Wembley