Curragh Tips: Racecard, analysis and betting preview for the Irish 2000 Guineas on Friday
THE Classics keep on coming and the Irish 2000 Guineas promises to be a cracker.
The big Group 1 has attracted a stellar field, with the Curragh feature due off at 6.40. Our man Jack Keene takes a closer look.
If you stick with Aidan O’Brien in the Irish 2000 Guineas, you won’t go far wrong.
The master of Ballydoyle has trained seven of the last 12 winners, and he saddles six runners this time around.
But it’s a Ger Lyons-trained runner who heads the market this year, with the hot favourite the unbeaten Siskin.
The big question going into the race is, ‘will he stay a mile?’ – and a look through his pedigree only offers minor encouragement.
His dad First Defence has proven more a speed influence while his dam was a pretty sharp two-year-old. However, she is related to Roger Varian’s middle-distance performer Barsanti.
He got upset in the stalls when withdrawn from the Middle Park in September, which is another concern, and just a brief glance at the breeding of the Ballydoyle team tells you that these boys are going to be beasts as three-year-olds.
Vatican City is beautifully bred, being a brother to Gleneagles, Marvellous and Happily. He was an impressive winner at Dundalk when last sighted and is very much one to file under the ‘could be anything’ category. He is greatly feared.
But the rock-solid one on form is ARMORY, and he can provide his record-breaking trainer with an incredible 12th win in this race.
He won the Futurity Stakes over 7f at this track last summer but was no match for Pinatubo when second in that National Stakes. He went on to finish a close-up third behind Victor Ludorum on Arc day before a distant second on bottomless ground in late October.
He certainly handles cut but this drying ground will be right up his street, while he has a bit of size about him so there is no reason why he shouldn’t train on.
And we’ve seen it plenty of times before – these well-bred Galileo’s just seem to come into their own at three. Plus, there is no Pinatubo or Victor Ludorum to contend with today.
Lope Y Fernandez isn’t out of this, with the step up to a mile also likely to suit him, while first-time blinkers could bring about some progress from Royal Lytham.
At a price, Free Solo is worth a close look for each-way purposes with the Jessie Harrington team off to a flyer.
'Race of the Day' weekly Profit and Loss (£1 Stake)
WEEK 1: +1.50
WEEK 2: -3