Some potential 2000 Guineas clues could emerge from the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, which is the feature race at Newbury on Saturday afternoon at 3:15pm. Attracting a plethora of exciting juveniles, the Mill Reef Stakes is set to be a hugely competitive affair and our in-house tipster Steve Chambers previews the race and picks his 1-2-3 here.
POWERFUL GLORY
(Oisin Murphy/Richard Fahey)
Richard Fahey’s Powerful Glory produced a scintillating display on debut as the Cotai Glory colt roared to a five-and-a-half length victory at Pontefract in maiden company. Having dwelt early on he then kicked comfortably clear of his rivals that day to win with aplomb and the Fahey team are now ready to unleash him Pattern company. This is a notable step up in grade, but he’s shown he has the talent, so has to be respected towards the head of the market.
SHADOW OF LIGHT
(William Buick/Charlie Appleby)
Charlie Appleby is looking to saddle his first winner of the Mill Reef Stakes, but in Shadow Of Light he has a very classy juvenile, who has already impressed on the track. With three runs under his belt this son of Lope De Vega will have experience on his side and he showed when finishing second in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York last time out that he can certainly hold his own at this level.
DEFENCE MINISTER
(James Doyle/Hamad Al Jehani)
Purchased from the breeze-up sales, Defence Minister is another unbeaten colt taking his chance here and having won at Newmarket on debut he then followed up at Haydock. He was pulling clear nicely at the line that day, so is entitled to try his luck here, but it’s going to be tough in what looks a really competitive renewal this year.
THE FIELD
Adrian Keatley’s Symbol Of Strength was third in the Gimcrack two starts ago at York and then followed that up with a Group 3 win in the Sirenia Stakes, so he’s certainly one that has to be on the shortlist, while the seven-times raced Brian was third in that aforementioned Sirenia Stakes, but did win at Newmarket the race before that. Andesite was an eye-catching winner on debut and was well fancied for the Gimcrack, but could only finish seventh, so is on the comeback here, while Sarab Star and La Bellota add more depth to the contest on Saturday afternoon.
VERDICT
A race full of potential, but while Powerful Glory was impressive on debut he will need to take a big step forward and it could be the more experienced SHADOW OF LIGHT has too much class for his market rival and can land this prize. Symbol Of Strength has shown huge consistency and can chase the pair home.
2024 Mill Reef Stakes Predicted 1-2-3
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