By Tom Frary
Juvenile group 1 winners Ylang Ylang (GB) (Frankel {GB}), Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) and Porta Fortuna (Ire) (Caravaggio) head a field of 16 fillies for Sunday's G1 QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket. TDN Rising Star Ylang Ylang, winner of the course-and-distance G1 Fillies' Mile, will be the sole representative for Ballydoyle and is drawn 12 next to Godolphin's G3 Oh So Sharp S. winner and G3 Nell Gwyn S. runner-up Dance Sequence (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) in 13, while Clipper Logistics' G1 Moyglare Stud S. winner Fallen Angel is in stall five and the G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Porta Fortuna is one from the wing in 15.
Karl Burke has never had a stronger hand heading to the Newmarket Classics and believes both Fallen Angel and Newtown Anner Stud Farm's G2 May Hill S. and G3 Prestige S. winner Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) are closer together than most believe. “Fallen Angel deserves to be favourite on form and she'll relish the mile starting off this year, but there's not a lot between her and Darnation, if at all,” he said on Friday during racing on the rain-softened surface. “If it's soft or heavy it will be very interesting, as Darnation relishes that. At the moment, with this rain the owners will be pretty keen to run but it can dry up quickly here.” Darnation's jockey Clifford Lee was also hoping that the forecast stays wet. “She has a good chance as long as it keeps coming,” he added. “It stops others, but she gets through it quite nicely.”
A second TDN Rising Star in the line-up is the G2 Prix Robert Papin and G3 Prix du Bois winner and G1 Prix Morny runner-up Ramatuelle (Justify), who was only second again in her prep, the G3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville last month. “She is a filly with a lot of energy, so it was good to give her a prep run,” trainer Christophe Head said of the French representative who races from stall 11. “She has a strong heart. On her comeback at Deauville, it was very heavy ground and she still stayed on well and finished her race, which was a good Guineas trial. She is also strong mentally and easy to deal with, so travelling is not a problem.”
“We think there is something special about this filly and that Newmarket will suit her, although we can't be 100 per-cent sure. Of course, this is my first Guineas, but from what I see in the morning and her profile, I have the feeling Newmarket should suit her. The start of the race is important and I think she will be up there in the early stages. Her jockey Aurelien Lemaitre has ridden there before and knows the filly well, which is a great advantage.”
Other notables include Jeff Smith's Fillies' Mile third See The Fire (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in two, Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum's Nell Gwyn scorer Pretty Crystal (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) in stall one and last year's G3 Prix Miesque scorer Tamfana (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}) who followed home Romantic Style (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) and Ramatuelle when third in the Imprudence.
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