The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Johnston hope shows real promise
Mark Johnston is keen to find out whether Faithful Promise could be Royal Ascot material after opening her account in impressive fashion at Musselburgh yesterday.
The daughter of Acclamation finished well-beaten on her racecourse debut at Wolverhampton last month, but raised her game to finish a close second at Ripon a couple of weeks later.
She was a 2-1 shot to make it third time lucky in the Weatherbys Bank British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes under Joe Fanning and there did not appear to be any fluke about her two-and-a-quarter-length success over 4-6 favourite Shobrom.
Johnston said: “I thought she ran very well at Ripon and to be honest I couldn’t understand why the other filly (Shobrom) was such a short price. I felt our form was at least equal to hers.
“It’s no surprise to see her win and you can see she’s crying out for another furlong. We’re hoping the best is yet to come.
“With any horse that wins a twoyear-old race at this time of year, you wonder whether they could go on to Royal Ascot or not.
“I don’t think she’s done enough to go there yet, but we’ll be looking for a stepping-stone somewhere to see whether she’s up to it.”
Johnston and Fanning went on to complete a quick-fire double with 13-2 chance Thomas Cranmer and Fanning finished the day with a treble after steering Les Eyre’s 5-4 favourite Cosmic Ray to victory. CHURCHILL can enjoy his finest hour by winning the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket today.
Aidan O’Brien’s colt is a hot favourite for the first domestic classic of the season, having last year been crowned champion two-year-old.
That said, there are plenty queuing up to take him on in the Guineas, not least because this season’s race looks bang up to scratch.
The opposition will also point towards him having a first outing for 210 days, not to mention the fact he has never been the most electrifying of horses to watch in full flow.
Churchill is, however, a thoroughbred that is all about substance over style.
He does not win by far, but he gets the job done.
And even if he is only slightly more forward than last season, that should be enough to win the Guineas.
Perhaps the only issue might be a perceived lack of fitness after having been off the track for so long.
And though many Ballydoyle horses have clearly been in need of a run this spring, one can implicitly trust O’Brien to have Churchill as ready as he can be for the big day.
DABAN can deliver in tomorrow’s Qipco 1000 Guineas Stakes.
John Gosden’s filly has looked seriously good in two career starts thus far and can take her game to a new level in the fillies’ classic.
The daughter of Acclamation was a little keen early on in renowned Guineas