Icebuster And Shahdaroba At Newmarket On 2000 Guineas Day

It's great that the yard is doubly represented at Newmarket on 2000 Guineas day and hopefully both Icebuster and Shahdaroba will put up good shows, despite the handicapper making life much harder after recent wins.

Icebuster thoroughly deserved his head victory at Haydock last weekend after his narrow Kempton defeats, although its debatable whether he deserved a six pound rise. He's dropping back in trip once again to nine furlongs and with a few front runners tomorrow, he should get the strong pace he needs. Although he stays further, the straight track is ideal for Icebuster as even if he's slow to stride and at the back of the field, without a bend, he shouldn't be too far off the pace. He also likes to have space at the end of his races, which he should be able to get tomorrow and there is certainly plenty in his favour. It doesn't look the most competitive of races for £45,000, with only Danchai, Rye House and Whispering Warrior unexposed enough to be much better than their current mark. The first two are making their seasonal return and probably want further, while the Simcock horse has won some very weak AW races in the context of this handicap and needs to improve. With Icebuster in very good form at the moment, hopefully he can pick up some of the decent prize money that's on offer.

After a slightly disappointing fourth on his return at Doncaster, we felt that a mark of 87 could be on the high side for Shahdaroba but he proved us wrong when winning at Newmarket's Craven meeting. It was a slightly strange sprint in that few got involved and he ended up winning quite comfortably. The handicapper stuck him up seven pounds for his course and distance win and has ended up with top weight tomorrow, giving at least five pounds or more to the rest of the field. The form of his win hasn't worked out great, with the third and sixth well beaten in a similar race at Sandown, although the eighth did win at Wolverhampton. He faces some unexposed sprinters, such as Secretinthepark and Robot Boy, so it's a very tough ask. However, he surprised the yard when winning last time, so let's hope he does it again!