Colin Phillips
At the Start
Racing Post today:
Simcock has ground worries for Dream Ahead
BY PETER SCARGILL 10:50AM 29 MAR 2011
DAVID SIMCOCK is convinced Dream Ahead can show his true colours in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on April 30, but will not run his stable star "if the ground is on the fast side of good."
The Diktat colt, who ranges from 12-1 to 16-1 in the Guineas betting, won the Group 1 Middle Park on soft ground last season and Simcock said : "I really, really want to run in the 2,000 Guineas, but if the ground is on the fast side of good he won't go.
"It's a very important race but he's a young horse and has his whole career ahead. There's more likely to be cut in France or Ireland so they'd be alternatives."
Owned by Khalifa Dasmal, Dream Ahead finished fifth behind Guineas favourite Frankel, whom he topped the juvenile world rankings with, in the Dewhurst, but had impressed in winning the Prix Morny and Middle Park.
Simcock believes the Middle Park - two weeks before the Dewhurst - took the edge off Dream Ahead, who "puts everything" into his races.
"He puts a tremendous amount in and he's a horse where the longer between races the better," Simcock said at an open day at his Newmarket yard on Tuesday.
"After the Middle Park he seemed to be showing all the right signs but they were probably all the wrong signs. He was a little fresh early and it just was not him."
He added: "He looked light in the paddock and I know Channel 4 commented on it. He got best turned out and I couldn't see why. He was a different horse to the one that won the Prix Morny and Middle Park."
Another Newmarket trainer with his eye on the 2,000 Guineas is William Haggas, who could be represented by the unbeaten Fury.
As short as 20-1 for the Classic, Fury could make his seasonal reappearance at the Craven meeting.
Haggas, speaking on At The Races, said: "He's very well and we adore him. He's on schedule to make the Guineas if he's good enough. He will have a trial - perhaps in the Free Handicap as he's rated 103, though I'm also tempted by the Craven.
Simcock has ground worries for Dream Ahead
BY PETER SCARGILL 10:50AM 29 MAR 2011
DAVID SIMCOCK is convinced Dream Ahead can show his true colours in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on April 30, but will not run his stable star "if the ground is on the fast side of good."
The Diktat colt, who ranges from 12-1 to 16-1 in the Guineas betting, won the Group 1 Middle Park on soft ground last season and Simcock said : "I really, really want to run in the 2,000 Guineas, but if the ground is on the fast side of good he won't go.
"It's a very important race but he's a young horse and has his whole career ahead. There's more likely to be cut in France or Ireland so they'd be alternatives."
Owned by Khalifa Dasmal, Dream Ahead finished fifth behind Guineas favourite Frankel, whom he topped the juvenile world rankings with, in the Dewhurst, but had impressed in winning the Prix Morny and Middle Park.
Simcock believes the Middle Park - two weeks before the Dewhurst - took the edge off Dream Ahead, who "puts everything" into his races.
"He puts a tremendous amount in and he's a horse where the longer between races the better," Simcock said at an open day at his Newmarket yard on Tuesday.
"After the Middle Park he seemed to be showing all the right signs but they were probably all the wrong signs. He was a little fresh early and it just was not him."
He added: "He looked light in the paddock and I know Channel 4 commented on it. He got best turned out and I couldn't see why. He was a different horse to the one that won the Prix Morny and Middle Park."
Another Newmarket trainer with his eye on the 2,000 Guineas is William Haggas, who could be represented by the unbeaten Fury.
As short as 20-1 for the Classic, Fury could make his seasonal reappearance at the Craven meeting.
Haggas, speaking on At The Races, said: "He's very well and we adore him. He's on schedule to make the Guineas if he's good enough. He will have a trial - perhaps in the Free Handicap as he's rated 103, though I'm also tempted by the Craven.
