Five horses to follow at Newmarket on Saturday

Tipster: Danny Archer and Dave Nevison.

Best odds: 10-11.

Danny says: Double Rush hosed up on debut for Andrew Balding over course and distance in April, and a 5lb higher mark (he's set to go up another 8lb) might not be enough to stop this upwardly mobile four-year-old from striking again. He's my best bet on Saturday. 

Dave says: Double Rush is set to be 8lb higher in future races which, by my calculations, looks an extremely generous assessment of the demolition job he performed at the Craven Meeting two weeks ago.

The Andrew Balding-trained sprinter races under a 5lb penalty here and that puts him extremely well in at the weights and he is simply unopposable in this Heritage event.

He has only ever raced over six furlongs and clearly Newmarket’s Rowley Mile suits him well, so even though he will be very short, it is difficult to see him beaten and I imagine he will be the number 5 in many punters Union Jack bet (if it still exists!).

Tipster: Dave Nevison.

Best odds: 4-1.

Mister Winston is another of Andrew Balding’s who comes here from the Craven meeting with a penalty. I see no reason to desert him given the way he made all to win.

He was expected to improve physically from three to four and certainly looked to have done well over the winter and was always in control in that mile event and though nothing has come out from that race I am happy to take it as strong form. He was keeping on well at the line and I very much doubt the extra furlong will be any issue(he was placed in a 10f maiden early last season).

Tipster: RaceiQ (Andy Stephens). 

Best odds: 9-2 (Advised ante-post at 12-1).

Having put up Distant Storm as ante-post bet at 12-1 after his win in the Tattersalls, I'm not inclined to look elsewhere. He still gets the vote in an open renewal.

Charlie Appleby has landed three of the past four editions of the Guineas and it has been fascinating to watch him move his puzzle pieces around this spring.

Talk Of New York and Hidden Force were in the mix before their runs at the Craven Meeting, where they had mixed fortunes. The former was quoted at a general 7-1 after his success on the first day of the meeting but is considered surplus to requirements.

That must be viewed as a positive for Distant Storm and King’s Trail, who instead had racecourse gallops at the meeting (like the stable’s Coroebus before he won the 2022 renewal) and are on course to take part, with Appleby’s summaries after those gallops suggesting Distant Storm is his No 1. William Buick’s choice of ride will be intriguing.

Distant Storm signed off last season by finishing third behind Gewan and Gstaad in the Dewhurst, with Zavateri,Oxagon and Alparslan all behind.

That form has been franked this spring – he had the Craven and Greenham winners behind him - and whether Distant Storm was even at his best is questionable, given he had romped home by almost five lengths in the Tattersalls Stakes just 16 days earlier.

Winners of the Tatttersalls are subsequently rarely sighted in the 2000 Guineas but the acceleration he showed in the final two furlongs was electric, with nothing else in the field able to get near the 11.11sec and 12.28sec closing furlongs that he was able to post.

Tipster: Andy Stephens.

Best odds: 4-1.

Highest Ever Speed: 41.77mph. Fastest 0-20mph: 2.38sec. 

Maximum stridelast time: 7.99 metres. 

Sovereign Spell put up the best performance on the clock when winning at the Craven Meeting, getting a Time Index of 8.9 when the average was 6.8. RaceiQ had him winning in a time 1.72 seconds quicker than their Par. 

He’s gone up 6lb and some of those who chased him home will fancy their chances of turning the tables, but he won with a bit in hand and more improvement is on the cards. 

Tipster: Martin Dixon.

Best odds: 9-2.

A three-year-old trained by Grant Tuer, I saw him when he ran at the Craven meeting over this course and distance 16 days ago, and that was a particularly pleasing comeback run considering, looking at him in the paddock beforehand, I thought he would improve for the outing. 

He travelled very strongly throughout the race and I thought, for a long way, he was going to win, but he just tired late on. He has a marginal pull at the weights with Sovereign Spell, who beat him on that occasion. 

With that slight adjustment in weights, and fitness being on his side this time, I would make him a strong selection at the 9-2 on offer. He's my nap of the day on Saturday. 

Rachel says: This looks likely to be one of the most open renewals of the Kentucky Derby this century, in which one of at least five horses could end up going off as the post time favourite in the US at a price as big as 5-1. 

#6 COMMANDMENT rides a four-race winning streak into the Derby, having closed out his prep campaign with three straight stakes victories at Gulfstream, which has cemented his status as the most reliable classic contender this year. He ticks a lot of boxes – a win in the key Derby prep in which he had to get his elbows out to make room for himself, he has won at Churchill Downs already and breeding-wise he looks one of the few horses in this race guaranteed to see out the ten furlong distance. He may also go off a bigger price then he should because Irad Ortiz Jr has jumped ship.