Richard Hannon Guineas Meeting Stable Tour

When it comes to winning the Betfred 2000 Guineas and 1000 Guineas trainer Richard Hannon has been there, done it and got the T-shirt, or in this case the perfect print. 

First up was Night Of Thunder, who produced a day Hannon will never forget when storming to glory in the 2000 Guineas during his first season training in 2014, before Billesdon Brook added the 1000 Guineas to his CV in 2018. 

While there are no Classic contenders for Hannon at this year’s Betfred Guineas Festival there is still plenty for the Group One-winning handler to look forward to across the three-day meeting at Newmarket, which starts on Friday. 

And despite being without a runner in either of the opening two Classic contests, Hannon has offered his thoughts as to who he expects to be adding their name to two of horse racing’s most historic rolls of honour. 

Hannon said: “I think Field Of Gold won the Craven Stakes well. They went very quick that day, but he did win impressively and I was impressed with him. 

“If he improves on that then I do think he is the one they have to beat. 

“Put it this way, if I was a jockey he would be the one I would want to be on and if you could train any horse in the race then it would be him. 

“In the 1000 Guineas there is plenty of talk about Desert Flower and they say she is a very good filly, so she is likely to take plenty of beating. 

“As for the team we are sending up there we have some nice handicappers amongst some hopefully exciting younger horses with bright futures ahead of them.” 

Here's what Hannon had to say about his Newmarket runners. 

I love this horse and he has been going very well. I loved his first run at Newbury. I would rather go here than the Dante with him. 

He was very impressive in his only start at two at Newbury. He has been working like he has a bit of speed, but I thought he needed a trip. 

It will be interesting what happens on Friday, and we will learn a lot about him over what is pretty much a straight mile and a quarter. 

I do think he will be one for Royal Ascot, but he is in the German Derby and the Irish Derby. He is a horse that will get better as the season goes on. 

He is a little bit different to the others as he is quite impressive when you stand and look at him. He looks a bit of a star and working wise he hasn’t let us down. 

He is a big horse and he showed he likes soft ground. It will be pretty quick at Newmarket and he will have to run on ground like that at some stage as that is what it will be like all summer.” 

I want to run him here. He was a little bit star struck and green when we asked him to knuckle down at Kempton on his first run since being gelded. 

When he put his head up the winner had gone, but he ran on and I thought he was the horse to take out of the race. I do like him. 

I think he will win some nice handicaps. It will be his first run on grass, but that will be no problem at all and he might even be better on it. 

His form is pretty solid. He has got better the further he has gone. 

She has a few entries coming up, but this should be ideal for her, and she will go very well. 

She has looked like winning the last three times, but I’m not sure she has got the trip over seven furlongs so I’m hoping dropping back in trip will make all the difference. 

I think I might well run him in the £100,000 handicap on the Saturday at Newmarket. He has finished second on all three of his starts this season, but don’t worry about his integrity as he is a gorgeous horse that will win a big sprint race this year. 

He is a big, strong lad that is very talented. 

Last time he was beaten by a very well handicapped horse, but he beat all the others. He will love the fast ground up at Newmarket and I expect him to go very close. 

They keep putting him up for not winning, which is the only unfortunate thing. I might go back and claim weight off him as well. 

He has loads of ability and he should be a nice horse this year for those smart staying handicaps. At Ascot and Newbury on his final two starts he showed he didn’t really like soft ground. 

I’d love to think he could make up into a horse for our team at Royal Ascot. If he could get there then both myself and the owners would be delighted. 

This race is over a mile and a half, but we might just stretch him out over that first time up as he is quite economical with his efforts. If he is there in front with a chance he will give it everything. 

He is a very sound nice horse to go to the nice tracks with. He is not going to win every time, but he will hit the target this year. 

He has an entry at Goodwood as well, but I might well end up going here with him as the people that own him live up near there. 

The horse is just thriving on his racing. He has been a pleasure all winter and I don’t see any reason why we won’t take our chance. 

He has been a model of consistency and he has been a lovely horse to have about. Anyone can ride him at home. We don’t need to gallop him at home as he does it all himself on the track. He has been running extremely well. 

He was coming back at the line on his last start and the straight mile here will suit him. He has run there before and they always go quicker on that straight track so you probably need to stay a mile and a quarter.

Harry’s Girl has the option of running at Salisbury on Sunday as well. She can go either place as she is a pretty good filly. 

She was good at Newmarket on her debut so it might be the sensible place to go. She enjoyed that ground there last time. She won very well and has improved for that. 

The plan is to go up to York for the Marygate at York afterwards. I didn’t expect to see her win like that last time. She worked four days before her last race, but she was pretty big going to Newmarket and I thought she would improve for it. 

She looked like a smart filly to me in the way she picked up, having given them all a start, before looping around the whole field. 

She would take a lot of beating in whichever race, but her Derby is the Super Sprint at Newbury. 

Tahalel I think is a very useful filly. We will see how she is over the next few days before making a decision if we run her here, but she wouldn’t take Harry’s Girl on. 

She can be a bit of a madam at home, but she has done some lovely bits of work. “Sometimes when you shake the reins at them they don’t find anything off the bridle, but that doesn’t look the case with her. She has been working lovely. 

Slay Queen is a lot better than she showed last time and I’m quite keen to put that right. She did it all wrong and wasn;t quite there in her coat. We ran her there to bring her on, which it has done.” 

French Affair is a nice horse, but a race will bring him on as he is a very laid back character. He is a good moving horse and he is very much like his sire Mehmas. I think he probably wants six furlongs, but I thought that about Mehmas. 

He is very laid back and does what he has to and nothing more. He belongs to Brighton & Hove Albion player Georginio Rutter and a friend of his. He is genuinely into his racing and he has also got a nice Starman filly with me so it is nice to have him on board. 

Arjack is a lovely horse, but he is not quite there in his coat yet. I was tempted to take him to Ascot on Wednesday. He has always been a really professional two-year-old type and he belongs to some nice new owners. 

If you are a new owner he is exactly the sort of horse you would want as he has a bit of speed and he goes about his work in a very committed way. You hardly notice he is there. I’m in no rush with him yet, but he is nice.