Millisle primed for Guineas test
JESSICA Harrington hopes to get her season off to a flying start when Millisle bids to justify favouritism in the Qipco 1000 Guineas at Newmarket today. Millisle was a surprise 16-1 winner of the Cheveley Park Stakes on her final outing last year. She was ridden by Shane Foley, but with coronavirus travel restrictions meaning he would have to quarantine for 14 days after making a trip to Britain, yesterday’s 2000 Guineas winner Oisin Murphy takes the ride.
Harrington said: ‘She’s done all her work and I’m very happy with her preparation.
‘She seems to be in good form and the great thing about her is she’s been to England already twice last year as a two-year-old and she more or less took it in her stride each time she went.
‘We were lucky enough to get Oisin – he’s never sat on her but look, she’s very straightforward and hopefully he’ll get on great with her.’
Millisle has won over five and six furlongs, but Harrington is not concerned by stepping up in trip.
She added: ‘If you look at when she won the Cheveley Park, she wasn’t going to win anything when they got into the dip and when she hit the rising ground, she stayed on very well and ran right through the line to the extent that Shane had difficulty pulling her up.
‘I trained her half-sister and she won over, I think, a mile and a half and she was placed in a Listed race over a mile and six. So I think there’s plenty of stamina in the pedigree. I hope (Starspangledbanner has put enough speed into her) so and she’s also a filly that will relax.’
Jason Watson expects second favourite Quadrilateral to make full use of her previous track experience. The Roger Charlton-trained filly was unbeaten in three runs last year, culminating in victory over the same course and distance as the Guineas in the Fillies’ Mile.
The daughter of Frankel had the reopposing Love back in third that day, while Boomer was fifth, and her big-race jockey believes Quadrilateral has the class to prevail on the biggest stage.
Watson said: ‘We are very happy with how she has progressed this winter. That task she was set at the end of last season was tough and she came out of it on top and she won it very professionally.
‘She knows the track now and that is very important to her. The ground was quite tacky the last day, which didn’t help her out.’
Aidan O’Brien relies on Love, winner of the Moyglare Stud Stakes last year, who has to find just short of two lengths with Quadrilateral on their Fillies’ Mile performances.
The Ballydoyle handler, who has won three of the last four renewals, said: ‘We’ve always liked Love, she’s a very straightforward filly and we’ve always thought she’d stay further than a mile.’
Raffle Prize was beaten a length and a quarter by Millisle in the Cheveley Park and Charlie Johnston, assistant to his father, Mark, is hopeful she will see out a mile with jockey Mickael Barzalona.
He said: ‘She has definitely changed a lot from two to three. She is certainly a taller, leaner filly and looks a lot more like a miler than she did last year, so physically there would be a bit more encouragement that she will stay.
‘Joe (Fanning) has ridden in all her work so far this spring and he has found her very easy to switch off and relax. Hopefully temperament and physique would indicate that a mile would be OK, but we will find out when she enters the dip.