Elm Park to target QIPCO 2000 Guineas

Elm Park on his way to a comfortable success in the Racing Post Trophy. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

Leading Classic contender Elm Park has been assigned the QIPCO 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday 2 May for his seasonal reappearance.

The Andrew Balding-trained three-year-old, who was an impressive winner of the Racing Post Trophy in 2014, will contest the British Classic en route to the Investec Derby at Epsom later in the 2015 QIPCO British Champions Series.

Balding said: “The intention is for Elm Park to make his seasonal debut in the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, he wouldn’t run beforehand.

“He is a Group 2 winner over the course and distance and we are all in agreement that the Guineas is the best first race for him – it ticks a lot of the boxes.
 
“He is a quality horse who has already won a Group 1 over this distance and he has a very high cruising speed. That is not to say that I don’t expect him to come into his own over longer distances later in the year.
 
“He is proven on all types of ground, but he handles slower ground better than most and I suppose that would be in his favour as it would be more of an inconvenience to many of his rivals.
 
“I am delighted with him. He has developed well physically over the winter and has been cantering for a while now.”

Vision.ae Middle Park Stakes 1-2 Charming Thought and Ivawood, as well as Dubai Dewhurst Stakes champion Belardo, all remain engaged in the British Classic.

Royal Ascot winner The Wow Signal also joins the Coolmore-owned stars Gleneagles, Highland Reel and Hootenanny in contention for the Rowley Mile contest.