Andrew Balding is happy to go straight to Newmarket with his star Kameko whenever the 2000 Guineas meeting is rescheduled after the first Classic contest of the season was postponed.
The Group One contest along with the fillies version of the race and the Epsom Derby will all have to be rescheduled if they are to go ahead this season due to the ongoing situation the nation is dealing with.
Like much of the racing world, especially handlers, Andrew Balding is keeping the runners in his yard ticking over and is very apprehensive for the start of the season.
(Credit At The Races) He said: “We’ve got a very strong team this season and, in any other year, would have plenty on the go around now.
“However, we’ve got to wait for a resumption to racing before we can get them going properly, as we don’t want them to boil over before the season begins.
Superb performance – Kameko wins the Group 1 Vertem Futurity Trophy under champion jockey @oismurphy for @AndrewBalding2 at @NewcastleRaces pic.twitter.com/ypO69a9XXT
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) November 1, 2019
“We haven’t pressed the button with any of our two-year-olds at this stage and will bring them in to work later than usual, so we don’t really know where we are with them at the moment.”
Kameko hit the headlines at the back end of last season when winning the Group One Futurity Stakes at the rearranged venue at Newcastle and since that run his trainer has been has had the Guineas as his top aim.
Balding said: “Kameko is obviously the one who is carrying a lot of our hopes this season. It’s great to have a horse of his calibre to go to war with and the 2000 Guineas – whenever that may be – will be his first target.
“He was great last year, ending his season by winning the rearranged Group One Vertem Futurity Stakes at Newcastle in November.
“He’s a big, strong horse who we’ve always hoped would make a better three-year-old, and he’s wintered well. We’ve just started to pick up his work and we’re excited to get him back out again.”