No stopping Run Thatcher Run

WAYNE DaCosta’s unbeaten RUN THATCHER RUN again faces a massive challenge from the rival barn of Anthony Nunes, whose SUPREME SOUL and EARN YOUR STRIPES he had turned back in December’s Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes.

Nunes has added two other prongs to this afternoon’s 2000 Guineas attack, TRICKY ONE and dangerous TOONA CILIATA, who upstaged stablemate EARN YOUR STRIPES to win the seven-furlong Prince Consort Stakes, rallying to overpower speedy FATHER PATRICK in the stretch run.

All the fancied runners have sparkled at exercise, especially FATHER PATRICK, who clocked a mile in 1:41.4 last Sunday morning. Though he should not get an inch over six furlongs, being a Nuclear Wayne half-brother to CRUCIAL APPEAL, FATHER PATRICK should not be taken lightly, certainly not with Trevor Simpson’s track record of stealing big races from in front.

COMFORTABLE DRAW

Hardly any of the riders can complain of a bad draw, not even SUPREME SOUL, who is widest at stall 14, which will suit his running style, staying out of traffic while giving Shane Ellis an important bird’s-eye view of rivals down the backstretch.

Omar Walker should be equally comfortable against the rail with RUN THATCHER RUN, again alongside EARN YOUR STRIPES, a flashback to the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes when they were at post positions two and three, respectively.

FATHER PATRICK and TOONA CILIATA, the horses who battled out the Prince Consort Stakes, are also alongside each other, smack in mid-pack, with four furlongs to run before the half-mile marker intervenes.

TOONA CILIATA might have overpowered bred-to-sprint FATHER PATRICK in the Prince Consort, winning by a length and a half, trainer Ian Parsard has publicly stated, and the evidence is there at exercise, that the most serious training the speedster has had to date was saved for his Guineas run.

MOST IMPROVED

Meanwhile, TOONA CILIATA could be the most improved of Anthony Nunes’ quartet. Since fitted with a visor, he first got within three-quarter length of FATHER PATRICK at six furlongs before rallying along the rail to beat him at seven in the Prince Consort.

The jury is still out on EARN YOUR STRIPES, who shares Nuclear Wayne as a speed sire with FATHER PATRICK. He lacked fight at seven furlongs in the Prince Consort, unable to catch FATHER PATRICK and TOONA CILIATA.

However, EARN YOUR STRIPES wired SUPREME SOUL at exercise Monday morning, 1:13.2 to the stayer’s 1:14.2, a five-length rule of thumb, which doesn’t bode well for the Jamaica Two-Year-old Stakes runner-up, unless the pace absolutely collapses.

RUN THATCHER RUN is without doubt the horse with the toughest prep run under his girth coming into the Guineas. He easily tracked a ridden-to-lead JAMAI RAJA, before moving simultaneously with an already-in-flight SARATOGA SIGHT, running very wide off the turn and enduring a bumping match, which almost turned him sideways, then quickening to hold a charging MASTER OF HALL at bay to win by a head, allowing the closer seven pounds.

The acceleration shown by RUN THATCHER RUN, when pounced on by SARATOGA SIGHT, an open allowance horse, who had slipped back to overnight, suggests his turn of foot will be too lethal for his three-year-old peers, as was the case on his second outing in the Jamaica Two-Year-Old Stakes.