Magna Grecia out to make Irish Guineas statement

The Irish 2,000 Guineas is just around the corner and Ballydoyle have a typically strong hand in Ireland’s first Classic of the season.

The Irish 2,000 Guineas doesn’t look anywhere near as competitive as it’s Newmarket counterpart and a Guineas double looks like it could be on the cards for Magna Grecia.

There has been a lot of debate about whether there was a pace bias or a draw bias at Newmarket earlier this month when Magna Grecia bolted up the rail to storm out an impressive winner of the one mile Classic.

Draw or pace bias?

The interpretation that carries most weight would be that there was a pace bias when considering Silvestre De Sousa’s mount Shine So Bright had previously made all in a good time at the Craven Meeting over seven furlongs. The Champion Jockey perhaps got this one wrong, setting an unsustainable gallop that only benefitted the two that he towed into the race, winner Magna Grecia and runner-up King Of Change.

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While his rivals may get a little closer with a split less in the field less likely around the Curragh, there’s no doubting Magna Grecia’s dominance as he hit the line. His Group 1 form as a juvenile, winning what was known as the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster is solid and it’s hard to make a case for him being beaten.

However, at odds-on, he certainly makes the market for each-way punters to find something at a price that could finish in the money.

Each-way chances

The one it might be worth taking a chance on is Hillwalker. The demands a huge step forward for the son of Foxwedge on the bare form of his win last time out, but he’s entirely unexposed and he beat a subsequent Listed winner/Group performer in Aidan O’Brien’s runner Christmas. It may have been the plan to leave him fresh for this race, and he’s worth noting in the market, currently available to back at 100/1.

Featured image credit: Florian Christoph [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]