Betfred Guineas Festival Saturday Tips: Dragon to roar once again at HQ?

ITV are showing four races from Saturday's Betfred Guineas Festival at Newmarket, including of course the big one - the Group 1 Betfred 2000 Guineas, due off at 15:35. I'll leave a link below for anyone who wants to take in the accompanying ITV piece, examining all four in some detail and which also includes a look at the Listed fillies' race at Goodwood, and the Thirsk Hunt Cup - but I'm going now to examine three other races on the card from HQ, on this very special day.

Without further ado then - let's start at the very beginning, as the old song goes, with the 13:10.

Horse Racing Odds

Today's Horse Races

13:10 - Unequal Love @ Evens

The opener on 2000 Guineas day is a Listed 6f sprint, for fillies and mares. The race conditions favour the officially top-rated entry, a five-year-old by Dutch Art, out of a Pivotal mare; and that's who I'm firmly siding with myself.

Unequal Love is trained locally by William Haggas at Somerville Lodge, and races in the famous Cheveley Park silks. Regular pilot Tom Marquand is on board.

She's making her seasonal reappearance (after 196 days absent) but struck in this very contest last term after a similar break so evidently goes very well indeed when fresh.

A measure of her quality is the second-place finish (beaten a length) in last autumn's G1 Haydock Sprint Cup; and another fine effort when last seen in the G1 Champions Sprint at Ascot the following month, beaten under 5l when never being able to land a blow.

She's the class of the field for me and holds plenty of high cards. This Listed heat should really be devoured with relish for her in-form yard.

16:05 - French Master @ 13/8

More famous colours are on display - this time those of the Normandie Stud Ltd.

The four-year-old Frankel colt French Master is with Team Gosden close by, just off the Bury Road, at Clarehaven. He's only had the three career spins thus far so it's all about potential at this point - but what we've seen has been progressive, and very promising.

One maiden sighter on debut, then a novice win over this mile-and-a-half trip; and when last seen 204 days ago the best yet - an emphatic 6l stroll at Kempton in another novice stakes affair.

He makes his handicap debut off 95 and we're about to find out if that's accurate, or otherwise. There could/should be any amount of improvement to come and jockey Kieran Shoemark could be in for a very exciting ride.

He's out of a Sea The Stars mare too, so beautifully bred for the task in hand.

16:40 - The Dragon King each-way @ 13/2

Surely one of the trickier contests of the entire afternoon, and I'm delighted we're paying four places as I intend to play accordingly.

The selection is The Dragon King, a three-year-old Invincible Army gelding who's trained by Clive Cox in Lambourn and will be ridden by the mighty William Buick.

He's only been on board once before - when the horse was last seen 201 days ago, in winning form to boot, at this course in October (an authoritative score in a well-endowed auction stakes race worth over £90k to the winner).

This is a serious individual then - and we know he goes well here, and for William. He's also performed at his peak after a couple of admittedly shorter breaks in the past, so I'm not overly concerned about the seasonal reappearance factor.

Could be lots more to come from this fella, and owners the Middleham Park Racing CXII syndicate could be in for a very interesting and hopefully successful campaign.

**As for much of the rest of the Newmarket card, including the Betfred 2000 Guineas - you can find all four key ITV races, plus that pair from Goodwood and Thirsk that I mentioned, previewed in detail right HERE

Good luck, and thanks very much for your company. It's always greatly appreciated.

Horse Racing Tips from Betfred Insights.