Cayenne Pepper taken to upset Guineas favourite
Filly can extend purple patch for Harrington Eight decide to take on Pinatubo in Dewhurst
Quadrilateral is already favourite for next year’s 1,000 Guineas on the back of her nine-length win in a conditions race at Newbury last time out, but she may find the Irish filly Cayenne Pepper too much for her in today’s Bet365 Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket.
Traditionally, it is Aidan O’brien, represented by Love today, who has all the aces but thus far he appears to have a fairly average crop of juveniles by his standards.
Instead, it is Jessica Harrington, who was best known for her jumpers until Alpha Centauri won four Group Ones last year, who has cornered the market with the fillies this year and she is on the verge of a remarkable treble of Europe’s endof-season Group One races for juvenile fillies.
A fortnight ago she won the Cheveley Park at Newmarket with Millisle and last Sunday she took the Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp with Albigna, but stable jockey Shane Foley believes that the unbeaten Cayenne Pepper is the best of what is a very smart bunch of chestnut two-year-old fillies.
I dare say Foley cannot believe his luck. Back in January when this year’s two-year-olds were just coming on stream at Harrington’s County Kildare yard, his only formal role at the stable was as a work rider. “I remember driving away one morning thinking ‘I would love to be riding these horses this summer’,” he recalled, when it was becoming apparent that they were a decent bunch. “Three weeks later I was offered the job.”
Foley, 31, had already ridden two Classic winners – Jet Setting in the Irish 1,000 and Romanised in the Irish 2,000 – which is no mean feat when you are not attached to Ballydoyle, since he replaced Colm O’donoghue as the man in the hot seat at Commonstown Stables in February.
Last time out Cayenne Pepper won the Group Three Flame of Tara Stakes at the Curragh by 2½ lengths from So Wonderful.
“I love everything about her,” said Foley. “She is a strong traveller and stays. It would be a lovely way to cap the season.”
Another runner that should not be underrated is Powerful Breeze, who was supplemented for the race by Hugo Palmer after she won the May Hill Stakes in a fast time at Doncaster last month.
It is unlikely that Harrington is bringing Valeria Messalina, a hardfought winner of a 16-runner Naas maiden on her only start, for the Newmarket air when she contests the Godolphin Lifetime Care Oh So Sharp Stakes earlier in the afternoon (2.25).
Godolphin’s Pinatubo, the season’s star two-year-old colt, will face eight rivals in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes tomorrow, as he attempts to make it six wins from six starts. Four of those rivals, headed by the Ryan Moore-ridden Wichita, are trained by O’brien.