Rizeena firmly on track for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas at Newmarket
Rizeena is one of 71 entries in the QIPCO 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday 4 May.
Last Updated: 05/03/14 12:15pm
The evergreen Brittain, 80, has already won the 1000 Guineas on two occasions, including with the never-to-be forgotten Pebbles some thirty years ago. His other winner of the race came with Sayyedati in 1993.
Currently third favourite for the QIPCO 1000 Guineas on Sunday 4 May behind overseas contenders Miss France, trained by Andre Fabre in France, and Tapestry, trained by Aidan O'Brien in Ireland, she is the only one of the top three with a Group 1 victory under her belt.
That race was the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh where she defeated Tapestry by almost a length.
Brittain said: "Plan A is to run at Newmarket in the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, but I have given her an entry in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas and she's also in the French 1000 Guineas. The thinking is that you've got the options there if you want them.
"She's in very good form at the moment and I'll be guided by her whether or not to run in a trial. Her weight is coming down from what it went up to during the winter and she has developed so well physically.
"She started very early as a two-year-old because we wanted to win the Queen Mary, so she had three races before Royal Ascot.
"We knew we had a good filly early on, but didn't know how good she was and she turned out to be a Group 1 filly. Giving her a chance to develop through the winter has been a good plan, I think.
"The Breeders' Cup never entered my mind, because I felt we had seen all we needed to see with her and knew how good she was.
"We've been beaten twice at Newmarket, in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and, of course, the Shadwell Fillies' Mile, but sadly the filly that beat us in the Fillies' Mile [Chriselliam] won't be there. She franked the form at the Breeders' Cup and the third [Ihtimal] has also shown in Dubai how good the form is by winning their Guineas and Oaks in outstanding fashion.
"We haven't done any serious work with our filly yet, but what I've done with her she is doing so easily. She's got a certain grace and strength about her that makes me believe we can go on."
There are plenty of others with sound claims in what is currently a wide open contest.
They include another possible French raider, Vorda, victorious in the Group 1 Connolly's RED MILLS Cheveley Park Stakes over six furlongs on the Rowley Mile last autumn, Kiyoshi, who has been beaten by both Rizeena and Vorda but showed a lot of class for trainer Charlie Hills at Royal Ascot, Godolphin's Ihtimal, currently doing well in Dubai, the George Margarson-trained Lucky Kristale and a interesting horse from Ireland, the John Oxx-trained My Titania, who won the Group 3 C L Weld Park Stakes and is from the first crop of Oxx's QIPCO 2000 Guineas winner, Sea The Stars.
Michael Prosser, Head of Racing, East Region for the Jockey Club, said: "Entries for both the QIPCO Guineas are up on last year, which is very pleasing. They have attracted an international entry of the highest class, underlining the importance of the first Classics of the year, races which will provide the bedrock for the 2014 flat racing season."