| Strong Suit bids to get back on track • Trainer hails brilliant gallop by one-time Guineas favourite• Colt was rusty when meeting defeat last time in IrelandRichard Hannon will test his belief that Strong Suit, the Royal Ascot Coventry Stakes winner, is still the best juvenile in his yard on Saturday when the one-time favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas is expected to line up in the Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury.Hannon is also likely to field two runners in the Tattersalls Millions Auction Trophy at Newmarket the same afternoon, a race from which Sir Michael Stoute, who is his main rival this year for the trainers' championship, has removed all nine of his eligible runners.Strong Suit was the first name to reach the radar for the 2011 2,000 Guineas when he came from an apparently impossible position to edge out Elzaam in the Coventry, but lost his unbeaten record in the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh last month, when only third to Zoffany. He is currently top-priced at 12-1 for the Classic, two points behind the market leaders, Saamidd and Frankel."I have spoken to Julie Wood [the colt's owner] and we have decided to run Strong Suit rather than Zebedee [the winner of Saturday's Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster], who will now wait for the Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot," Hannon said on his website."Strong Suit worked brilliantly on the grass up at Everleigh the other morning, and he is now back in the sort of form he was before winning the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot. I blame myself for his defeat in Ireland as I think he went there a bit rusty."I remain convinced that Strong Suit is a very good horse and though he will have to carry a penalty in the Mill Reef, we hope the race will put him back on track and prove the ideal confidence-booster."Hannon, who has finished as the champion trainer only once before in a 40-year career, will see the race as an important opportunity to put further distance between himself and Stoute at the top of this year's table. Stoute has just one entry at Newbury on Saturday, in the opening maiden, and only three on the card at his local track, Newmarket, the same afternoon, all of which are in handicaps.Hannon is now odds-on to win his second championship, but Richard Hughes, his stable jockey, still has plenty of ground to make up on Paul Hanagan if he is to finish the season as champion for the first time. Hughes had a chance to close the gap today, with four rides at Brighton while Hanagan was forced to sit out a suspension, but drew a blank, leaving him still 13 winners adrift.Poet's Place, who came late to win the Portland Handicap at Doncaster two days ago, is one of 173 remaining entries for the Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday, and also one of 28 guaranteed a run this weekend.Hawkeyethenoo, the favourite for the race prior to Poet's Place's impressive success, is on the current cut-off point with 9st 2lb, which suggests that there may be no more than 9lb between the eventual top and bottom weights. However, Roger Charlton's Definightly, an easy winner of a Listed race at Goodwood, needs 10 horses to come out in order to get a run.Horse racingGreg Woodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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