Paddington winning the Irish 2000 Guineas
A great clash in prospect with the English and Irish Guineas winners plus the second from the French equivalent with a few other top prospects thrown in as well.
At Newmarket, on soft ground, Chaldean was a good winner beating Hi Royal 1¾L with Royal Scotsman a further ½L adrift in third and Galeron fourth. He reinforced the quality he’d shown as a juvenile. In five runs, he lost first time out, then won a Novice Stakes, a G3, a G2, and the G1 Dewhurst. On comeback this year Frankie Dettori was unseated leaving the gate in the Greenham, not the ideal preparation for a Guineas, yet despite this he still went on and won convincingly.
Paddington was also beaten first time out as a juvenile. He then won a Curragh Maiden by 5L in October and was put away for the year.
Kevin Prendergast’s Awtaad, prior to winning the Irish 2000 Guineas in 2016 had taken the Madrid Handicap and Tetrarch Stakes. Aidan O’Brien followed the same route with Paddington. The Madrid Handicap was a comfortable success as was his win in the Tetrarch Stakes.
The Guineas second, third, fourth, and eighth all travelled from England to the Curragh with Royal Scotsman going off 6/4F, expected to overturn the form with Hi Royal. He was disappointing, never threatening finishing a well-beaten ninth. Paddington won it in good style beating stablemate Cairo 2L with Hi Royal a further ¾L back in third with Charyn fourth and Galeron fifth. Largely you could say the form in England transferred well to Ireland. Charyn improving the most.
The French form is represented by Isacc Shelby who ran second in Paris to Marhaba Ya Sanafi who then went on to run third in the French Derby.
Cicero’s Gift didn’t contest the Guineas instead running in a Novice Stakes over 1m at Goodwood the day before. On good to soft, he was an easy winner, classy, with a turn of foot. The same can be said of Mostabshir who trounced the opposition in a Novice Stakes over 1m at York on good to firm ground.
Paddington ran a bit green in the closing stages at the Curragh bumping into Hi Royal a furlong out but then got into high gear and ran on strongly. It was a visually more impressive run than the Newmarket win of Chaldean who was more workmanlike. Mostabshir and Cicero’s Gift are definitely in the mix as well.
It promises to be an intriguing battle, Chaldean could be a bit of an iron horse, in the mould of a Rock Of Gibraltar, winner of this in 2002 and he could be hard to pass. Mostabshir will love the ground after the York win however when Paddington got serious in the last 100 yards at the Curragh he looked that bit classier than the others.
The Irish horse’s turbo might be the difference.
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