Betfred Guineas Festival Sunday Tips: Ladies first on Super Sunday at HQ

Sunday sees the fillies take centre stage as the Betfred 1000 Guineas is the season's second Classic to be contested. Yesterday it was hats off to the brilliant 20-year-old Billy Loughnane, always championed in my columns since emerging just a few short years ago.

His startling success on the equally precocious George Boughey's Bow Echo in the 2000 Guineas was visually something to behold, and on the prevailing fast ground he absolutely sluiced up.

So - let's have a look at one of the ladies who'll be strutting their stuff this afternoon at HQ, and find another on the card that hopefully can go close for us too.

Enjoy Day 3 of the Betfred Guineas Festival.

Horse Racing odds

15:35 - Precise @ 9/4

Aidan O'Brien has saddled seven winners of the Betfred 1000 Guineas in his fairy-tale career. The market is presently speaking favourably about the prospect of that becoming eight soon after 15:35 on Sunday afternoon at Newmarket.

His Starspangledbanner filly Precise was beaten narrowly on debut at Fairyhouse in July, but proceeded to win her next four starts very impressively. Good ground and even good-to-firm seems to suit admirably, and though rain is forecast for the Newmarket area well before and during the afternoon, the ground was so relatively quick on Saturday one assumes it will just remove any jar and not be too consequential.

It's certainly something to take into consideration, but the selection has won one of her two G1 contests on yielding, so it's unlikely, touch wood, that the ground will be an issue.

Gstaad ran a blinder for the yard yesterday in the big one, finishing second with proverbially daylight in third; and that augurs well for Precise in terms of being straight enough to tackle a challenge of such magnitude first up.

Her sire was predominantly a high-class sprinter but did win a G1 at a mile in his native Australia, and there's plenty of stamina influence on the dam's side. Though she was a very modest performer herself, a maiden from nine starts, her sire was the fabulous Derby winner Galileo, one of the most influential elements for the breed in the last 20+ years.

Precise is drawn low in the two box, which looking at the 2000 on Saturday might NOT be where you need to be. The stalls will be positioned in the centre and I'm hoping Ryan Moore will be able to tuck in and plot a course around the central area of the field, then make his challenge later in the piece - rather as Billy the Kid did to such telling effect on Saturday.

She's just about the highest-rated filly in the field but of course needs to confirm all that two-year-old promise today, after 205 days away from the racecourse dreaming about this very assignment.

Big field (19 are expected to start), but Precise has won over this course-and-distance, when last seen in the G1 Fillies' Mile, and ticks plenty of boxes. The winner will be following in the hoofprints of some special talents - the likes of Oh So Sharp, Bosra Sham, Russian Rhythm, Miesque, Pebbles - it's another very long list of horses with extremely tall reputations.

We'll add one more to their number on Sunday.

17:20 - Sahara King @ 7/2

The Festival closer is a Class 3 handicap over 10f for three-year-olds.

A small but select field, and a very competitive betting market as I write. Our selection is Richard Hannon's twice-raced Too Darn Hot colt Sahara King.

Took a Wolverhampton novice last November readily enough at just in excess of a mile, and was promptly put away.

On seasonal reappearance in a good Newbury novice 16 days ago at this trip Sahara King ran on well to be beaten just a length, back in fifth. The winner Maltese Cross is now rated 96 and Group-entered at both Chester and York's upcoming gatherings this month (plus the Epsom Derby).

That experience will have been priceless, as he's still the most inexperienced in this field but then arguably has huge potential scope for improvement. This opening handicap mark of 94 means the assessor isn't taking any chances, but in the colours carried to victory by yesterday's 2000 Guineas hero Bow Echo this promising colt can do the business on the track where his sire won the Dewhurst eight years ago.

Sean Levey (21% strike-rate in the last 14 days) has the riding assignment.

NAPS table with Betfred Insights.