Sir Henry Cecil expects the step back up to a mile will be in Hot Snap's favour when she seeks to give the Warren Place trainer a seventh success in the Qipco 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday.
The daughter of Pivotal leapt to the head of the betting for the first fillies' Classic when winning the Nell Gwyn Stakes over seven furlongs in tremendous style at HQ on her reappearance. Her only previous start had come over a mile as a two-year-old, when she won a maiden at Kempton in September.
"The mile will suit Hot Snap better and hopefully the experience of the Nell Gwyn will have brought her on. She is coming in her coat but will always be a very tall filly with plenty of bone (and) not over-robust," the trainer told www.sirhenrycecil.com.
"I think she will get a mile and a quarter. The Oaks trip (of a mile and a half) is a slight question mark at the moment. We may consider the Musidora Stakes at York (May 15), but we will wait and see. The Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot could be the other alternative, but she will tell us which way to go."
North Yorkshire trainer Ann Duffield admits there are doubts as to whether Melody Of Love will stay a mile.
Winner of the Group Three Firth Of Clyde Stakes at Ayr last year, she was then fourth in the Rockfel behind Just The Judge and was a beaten favourite at Maisons-Laffitte on her final start as a juvenile.
The handler said: "She came through the winter well, she went home to her owner-breeders and strengthened up. There's obviously a doubt about the mile, but when she tried seven furlongs in the Rockfel on decent ground she ran well. In France it was heavy and she didn't get it (the trip), so we'd want good ground.
"A horse like her has very few options early in the season with a Group-race penalty, so we've nothing to lose. It means a lot to her owner to have a runner in a Classic."
