Jim Crowley: “I think Montatham comes here with a good chance”

Coral ambassador previews his rides on 2,000 Guineas day at Newmarket

Newmarket 15.00 – Al Aasy

I start 2,000 Guineas day on Al Aasy, who had the one run last year, at the back end of the season here at Newmarket. The ground was probably just on the soft side for him that day, but he still ran a lovely race full of promise.

He’s by the great Sea The Stars, has been working well, and is a horse we really like, not just for here, but for the rest of the season.

The favourite (Waldkonig) is another very well-bred horse who won his only start well for Mr Gosden, and could be hard to beat, but I’m really looking forward to this ride, like so many at the delayed start to this season, we’ll know a lot more about him after this.

Newmarket 15.35 (Qipco 2,000 Guineas) – Cepheus

It’s great to pick up a ride in the season’s first Classic, he’s another by Sea The Stars, who of course was a brilliant winner of this race 11 years ago.

He was a big-priced winner of his one start last year, and will be a big price here, but his trainer Brian Meehan is not the sort to be running them for the sake of it. We’ve seen big -riced runners run into the places here before, and if this fellow could do that, it would be a great result.

Pinatubo is clearly a worthy favourite, he was an exceptional two-year-old, and if he’s trained on, he’ll be very hard to beat here,. However, no horse is bombproof, and this extra month could have given some of his rivals time to catch up. He’s not an overly big horse, so it will be interesting to see how he’s done physically over the winter.

Newmarket 16.10 – Montatham

Montatham won twice early on last season, and seems to handle all types of ground and the all weather. We were perhaps a little bit unlucky at Kempton on his final start last year, and I think he comes here with a good chance.

William Haggas has his horses in good form, in fact all the yards that train for Sheikh Hamdan seem to have started well, which is a great boost in these unusual circumstances.

Newmarket 17.20 – Huraiz

Huraiz is having his first start since being gelded, he was another who won his first couple of starts last season, showing plenty of speed, and with Mark Johnston also in form, he’d have a chance in an open looking contest.

Jim