25th April 2017 - Rhododendron, the Irish-trained ante post favourite, is set to face a strong home contingent headed by Daban and Fair Eva in Sunday, 7th May’s QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse as 27 fillies remain engaged in the Group 1 event following today’s forfeit stage.
This one mile Classic boasts total prize money of £500,000 and is the second of 35 races that make up the 2017 QIPCO British Champions Series.
Trained by Aidan O’Brien, Rhododendron last ran in the Dubai Fillies Mile over the QIPCO 1000 Guineas course and distance in October, beating two possible Guineas rivals, Hydrangea and Urban Fox, into second and third.
The John Gosden-trained Daban will have the advantage of race fitness having defeated two more Guineas candidates, Unforgetable Filly and Poet's Vanity, in the Group 3 Lanwades Stud Nell Gwyn Stakes over seven furlongs of the Rowley Mile on 12th April.
Roger Charlton’s Fair Eva, winner of the Group 3 Princess Margaret Stakes last July, will, like Rhododendron, go to the QIPCO 1000 Guineas without the benefit of a prep race. Along with her Group 2 Lowther Stakes conqueror, Queen Kindly, Fair Eva is one of two daughters of Frankel among the remaining entries.
Gosden also left Saturday’s Group 3 Dubai Duty Free Stakes heroine, Dabyah, in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas. But she is in the same ownership as Daban, so is likely to avoid clashing with her stablemate by running in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches in France.
John Gosden trainer of Daban and Dabyah, said:
“Daban exercised at first lot this morning and I’m very happy with her. She physically came to hand very quickly but her win in the Nell Gwyn will have brought her along mentally and she now goes for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas.”
“It was good to get a Group 3 win into her so early in her career and she’ll make a lovely broodmare one day. As far as assessing her Guineas rivals, I greatly respect Rhododendron who, in my opinion, sets the standard.”
“Dabyah ran well in France last year and the plan is for her to return there to run in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches at Deauville. I’m going to leave her in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and if anything happened to Daban I’d switch her to Newmarket.”
“I was very pleased with her at Newbury and expect her to come on for the race.”
Frankie Dettori, rider of Daban and Dabyah, said:
“I rode Daban for the first time in the Nell Gwyn Stakes but I had heard that she had been working very well. For an inexperienced filly she showed good quality, travelling well – maybe too well – and handling the dip really well.”
“Only time will tell if she stays a mile but she wasn’t stopping at the end of the Nell Gwyn. It seems sensible to separate her from Dabyah, who won really nicely for me at Newbury and had a good blow afterwards – I couldn’t split the pair of them at this stage.”
Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to Prince Khalid Abdulla, owner-breeder of Fair Eva, said:
“I think that Fair Eva has done very well over the winter and we are very pleased with her progression, both physically and mentally. We had huge hopes for her after the Princess Margaret but it didn’t quite pan out as we had hoped – maybe she was growing and the later races came too soon for her.”
“Roger [Charlton, her trainer] has always thought that we should send her straight to the QIPCO 1000 Guineas and I am pretty confident that she will stay at least a mile. Her family suggests stamina and the way that she worked on Sunday did too as she galloped right to the line.”
James Doyle, rider of Fair Eva, said:
“It was very nice to get the call up to ride Fair Eva from Roger Charlton. I rode her in a gallop on Sunday over seven furlongs and the further she went the better she went.”
“When I got back from spending four and a half months in Australia over the winter, I didn’t think that I would be coming back to much so it’s great to have live chances in both the Guineas – it’s what we all do it for.”
