2,000 Guineas at Newmarket

a huge day´s racing today, with the final day at Punchestown, Goodwood´s opening day of the season, Thirsk´s Hunt Cup and much more, but the headline act is undoubtedly the first classic of the season. the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket at 16.50 CET. This has one of the best fields in its history and looks a real classic -perhaps up to the level of the famous Brigadier Gerard- Mill Reef clash in 1971. There are at least half a dozen potential champions in the line-up, including 4 unbeaten horses and the winners of almost all of last season´s top 2yo races.
Kingman (John Gosden/ James Doyle) is the obvious place to start as he is unbeaten, was an impressive winner of the Greenham last time, runs in the Frankel colours and is the hot favourite. He could well win, but we won´t be backing him as we feel there is no value in his price and there are some negatives: the no.1 draw is not good, his trainer had never won the race, and he is not certain to stay the mile- all his races have been at 7 furlongs.
The second favourite Australia (Aidan and Joseph O´Brien) is another one who does not appeal, as his form is not as good as some of the others. He is beautifully bred, by a champion who won the Derby out of a champion mare who won the Oaks, so that the mile could well be on the short side. O´Brien of course has won the race 6 times, and this one has a huge home reputation, but the stable have another fancied runner in War Command (Ryan Moore), who won the Coventry and Dewhurst last year, which makes us wonder a bit.
The Spanish runner Noozhoh Canarias (Christophe Soumillon) is supposed to be the best thing to come out of Spain since Penelope Cruz and has excellent form in France, but we cannot see this one lasting home over this straight mile, although he will almost certainly lead at a strong pace for the first 6 furlongs. He will set the race up for a strong finisher, which brings us to our 3 suggestions: Charm Spirit (Freddie Head/ Olivier Peslier), Kingston Hill (Roger Varian/ Andrea Atzeni) and Toormore (Richard Hannon/ Richard Hughes). Charm Spirit needs to improve on his win in the Prix Djebel -Bookrunner (Mikel Delzangles/ Christophe Lemaire) only inches behind- but his trainer knows how to win these top mile races and he has in our opinion the best big race jockey aboard. Kingston Hill and Toormore are still unbeaten and have done nothing wrong so far. The latter won the Craven over CD, while the former won the Racing Post Trophy and has been seen since.
Nobody will be surprised if Kingman or Australia wins, but in our eyes they still have a lot to prove., and we hope for an upset here.

Betting forecast:
1. Race: Rock Choir - Bold Sniper - Stand My Ground
2. Race: Pearl Secret - Sole Power - Hot Streak
3. Race: Trading Leather - Penglai Pavilion - Gospel Choir
4. Race: Kingman - Australia - Toormore
5. Race: Stars Above Me - Perfect Alchemy - Tanseeb
6. Race: Cloudscape - Postponed - Pinzolo
7. Race: Golden Town - Monsea - Born In Bombay