Trainer Peter Snowden has revealed that classy filly Guelph will arrive in Melbourne this weekend ahead of the Group 1 Thousand Guineas(1600m) at Caulfield next Wednesday.
Guelph is chasing her fourth win at Group 1 level in the Thousand Guineas at Caulfield next Wednesday. Photo by: Steve Hart
Guelph is now an odds-on favourite in Thousand Guineas betting markets, after her dominant victory in the Group 1 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick last Saturday, and Snowden told Sky Racing HQ that the daughter of Exceed And Excel has come out of the race in excellent condition and will make the trip to Melbourne on either Saturday or Sunday night.
“It will be on the weekend; either Saturday night or Sunday I haven’t decided yet,” Snowden said.
“She spent Sunday and half of Monday at the farm and she really enjoyed that and she has been back in her stable since Monday afternoon.
“She did her pace work this morning and she is excellent.”
Snowden believes that there is no such thing as a good thing in racing but admits that he is going into the Thousand Guineas full of confidence that Guelph will record her fourth win at Group 1 level.
“There is no such thing as a good thing in any race; racing is racing,” Snowden said.
“She is such a great filly to work with.
“Each run has been better than the run before and I feel that she is as good or better than last week.
“She has raced at Caulfield before, she has won there before and all things being equal she will be pretty hard to beat.
“She is in good order and hopefully everything goes to plan on Wednesday.”
There has been a great deal of speculation over whether Guelph will become the first filly to contest the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) since Samantha Miss in 2008 if she is successful in the Thousand Guineas and she is now on the fifth line of Cox Plate betting markets at odds of $15.
Snowden has not ruled out a possible tilt at the Australasian Weight-For-Age Championship but said this morning that he is not looking past next Wednesday.
“We just want to get to Wednesday first and whatever happens then we will talk about after Wednesday,” Snowden said.
“It has always been our focus, the Flight Stakes and the Thousand Guineas, and if we can get both those jobs done we will see what happens after that.”
Snowden is chasing his first ever win in the Thousand Guineas after Disputes (2011), Divorces (2010) and Portillo (2007) finished outside the placings in the Group 1 event.
