ITV Saturday Newmarket, Thirsk And Goodwood Preview

The Suffolk Stakes over 1m1f comes next and with a big field heading to post we have picked out Maydanny.

The Mark Johnston trained and Shadwell owned Maydanny, who has shown glimpses of star ability and hopefully this season can stay consistent.

The five year old is lightly raced for his age being seen eight times during his career to date, racing between a miles and 10 furlongs.

Having started his career as a three year old, he finished second on both his first two starts and then got off the mark at the third time of asking over a mile at Yarmouth on rapid ground on his first start as a four year old a year later.

He then went to Royal Ascot in the silver Royal Hunt Cup and was a decent seventh of 22 runners, but could not back it up at Newmarket in July when tailed off in a mile handicap.

Johnston decided to step him up in trip at Glorious Goodwood and on his first start at 1m2f he gave a career best outing to land a good handicap by an ever growing five lengths.

He struggled in both his events after that and now having time to freshen up and back to a mark of 100, he can show how good he really is.Needs to bounce back, with the trainer in smart form.

The only race of the day from Goodwood sees the Listed Fillies' Stakes over a mile and we can't look past the favourite Lilac Road for trainer William Haggas.

The three year old filly has been seen five times during her career, putting in some mighty efforts in defeat in some good races and getting weight in this field makes her a big player.

Having needed her debut in August last term, she then stepped up to a mile on good to firm at Doncaster and got off the mark in fine style.

She was then stepped up into Group Two company back at Doncaster and finished a close fourth behind the likes of Inigo Girl, Dubai Fountain and Zabeel Queen which looks good form.

The yard think very highly of her and on her final run last season she was put into the Group One Fillies' Mile and a combination of the class of runners and soft ground went against her and she ran no race.

Back as a three year old this term, she made her seasonal debut over a mile at Kempton when taking on short priced favourite Kestenna and dispatched her in taking fashion.

She steps up into Listed company for this event and gets weight off both the main dangers in the race.

Tough to beat.

The first big event of the day is the Group Three Palace House Stakes over five furlongs and the Charlie Appleby trained Lazuli looks the most obvious winner of the race.

The four year old son of Dubawi has won four of his nine events to date and has also gone on to place in two more events, with his speed at five furlongs making him a force to be reckoned with.

Having won his first two events as a juvenile over six furlongs, he was seen once more in a Group Three event over five and learnt a lot for the experience.

Back for another season he finished a good second in a handicap before getting back to winning ways at Sandown in the Listed Scurry Stakes over 5f.

He was then tried in the Coral Charge and Prix Moonlight Cloud at Sandown and Deauville and just found a few sprinters to good, but still ran credibly.

Back in England he landed his biggest scalp to date when landing a smart Group Three at Newbury in September on good ground.

Given some time off after that, he returned for the first time this year in January when third in a valuable handicap at Meydan, only being seen off by the progressive Equilateral and Mutaraffa.

That looks some stand out form and having had a recent run it could play to his strengths.

Thirsk host one race on ITV on Saturday and it sees the Hunt Cup Handicap over a mile and Astro King for the inform Sir Michael Stoute could have a big say.

The four year old is a very consistent son of Kingman, racing five times and not finishing outside the top three on all of his runs, going on to win three times.

Having won twice on the all weather over a mile as a three year old, he came back this season and made his seasonal debut at Nottingham and managed to land a classy event.

The colt went on to beat Finest Sound for Simon & Ed Crisford and Nugget for Richard Hannon and the form of the race has worked out really well, with both of those horses winning next time out.

He takes on Nugget again here receiving 2lbs off the favourite and if Astro King can improve for his fist run like the others then he will be sure to go close in his hat-trick bid.

The Group Two Jockey Club Stakes looks an extremely classy event over 1m4f with the return of the smart Pyledriver and it also features the 2019 St Leger second Sir Ron Priestly.

However, the horse we are siding with is the William Haggas trained Al Zaraqaan who is stepping up a fair bit in class, but looks to be the most progressive in the field.

The son of Golden Horn heads into the event looking for a five timer having landed his last four events in taking style and although facing his toughest test to date, he looks to be very progressive and should take it in his stride.

Having bombed out on debut at Newmarket back in 2019, he was given some time off and returned in June of last year at Doncaster.

Stepping up to 1m2f he was a superb winner on quick ground in a Novice Stakes and he then backed that up next time out at Kempton when a very short price over 1m3f.

He entered his first handicap event in December at Lingfield off a mark of 90 and beat a decent field by a length, with the second going on to win at the same track next time out.

The colt went up 5lb for that to a mark of 95 and still had an abundance in hand when winning a decent handicap with ease in March.

That was a very taking performance with the way he quickened away from the field in the final stages being electric and this now looks a perfect opportunity to see how good he is.

The feature event on the day is the Group One 2000 Guineas and it sees the first Classic of the season, with 15 runners heading to post we believe to have found the winner.

The Aidan O'Brien trained Wembley, who is the choice of number one rider for the yard Ryan Moore is set to revel stepping up to the mile.

The three year old was seen more frequently than most of the runners heading into the race and he has been fairly consistent to date in his six runs, winning once and placing in all of his other five starts.

Having got off the mark three starts ago at Roscommon it looks as though soft or heavy ground could be the best surface for this colt.

However, he has been versatile running well on good ground aswell having finished second behind Thunder Moon two starts ago in the Group One National Stakes at The Curragh and last time out gave another career best in the Dewhurst Stakes when a narrow second to stablemate St Mark's Basilica.

He has shown that he handles Newmarket well and will benefit for the extra furlong in the Guineas, we think he is a big each way player with Galileo having a superb record as a sire in the race and he is the only runner in the race from that sire.