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Your support makes all the difference.Faydhan, the second favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, goes on trial for the first Classic in the Free Handicap at Newmarket on the opening day of the Craven meeting this afternoon.
A seven-length winner on his sole start as a two-year-old, the John Gosden-trained colt missed the second half of last season after suffering a leg injury. The runner-up in his Haydock race, Dutch Connection, subsequently won York’s Group Three Acomb Stakes before finishing two and a half lengths behind the Guineas favourite Gleneagles in the Group One National Stakes at the Curragh.
Owner Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum’s racing manager Angus Gold reports the son of War Front to be in good condition for his Classic campaign, which he begins with a similar profile to the stable’s champion miler of last year, Kingman.
“As far as I know his preparation has gone very smoothly,” Gold said yesterday. “At this stage we don’t want to get carried away as he’s only a maiden winner and he obviously lacks experience, but he is a horse of great potential.
“John always thought this would be a good starting point, and it’ll be good for him to get some experience on the track. He is second favourite for the Guineas on the back of one win and it would be very hard to go there with just one race behind him.”
Today’s seven-furlong test will not resolve the question of Faydhan’s stamina for the mile of the Guineas, but following the injury to the Godolphin purchase Richard Pankhurst he is the stable’s standard-bearer for the race.
Sheikh Hamdan, however, also has Zawraq, the winner of the Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial on Sunday, to factor into the equation.
In the Nell Gwyn Stakes Gosden runs another once-raced winner by War Front in Lady Correspondent, who faces a similar type in Godolphin’s Beautiful Romance, the nine-length winner of her sole start at Doncaster, who may not be suited by the drop in distance for this 1,000 Guineas trial.
Another of Gosden’s maiden winners, Golden Horn, contests the Feilden Stakes, where he is opposed by Puissant, a full-brother to Ballydoyle’s smart colt Adelaide and last week given a supplementary entry for the Derby. The race, however, has a poor record as a guide to the Classics.
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