2,000 Guiness - Haafhd

[The Saint]

Available @ 7/1, Betfair following todays victory in the Craven Stakes. In all honesty, I didn't follow the 2yo form as closely as I used to but for me that perforamnce today was v v impressive. This was surely the best Craven (quality wise) since Marju won in 1990ish..... Holds the 7f course record @ Newbury for 2yo and has finished 3rd in 2 Gp 1s before todays win. Didn't even see the racecourse until August last year suggesting that he could be a late developer and was perhaps imature when being placed in the Dewhurst and Champagne Stakes last year. Also beat Milk It Mick by 5l (received 5lb) before being defeated at Newmarket by this horse. Could have been over the top in that race. Stuffed a possibly below par Three Valleys today but had too much speed for this one at 6f and Three Valleys is being touted as a possible Champion Sprinter.... Stays the mile really well and taking this form literally gives Haafhd the beating of One Cool Cat. I am waffling, and I don't kno much about the opposition, but what I do know is that 7/1 seems more than fair to me... Surely an Each-Way bet to nothing at least? We shall see!:o

[Aykay1]

2,000 Guiness - Haafhd Heres some comments after the race saint.... He did it well. Last year in the Dewhurst lack of pace was really his downfall. He wasn't quite right at Doncaster and he had a mucky throat in one part of the year, but he's run back to what he was at Newbury last year [when he broke the track record] and the way he worked with Pablo the other day it was on the cards he would win. I took him down to Lingfield to sharpen him up a bit. He's a good horse and always has been. He will get a mile and a quarter eventually. There is a lot to look forward to. Hopefully Sheikh Hamdan will want him to run in the 2,000 Guineas. I've trained horses like Tap OnWood, Distant Relative and Distant Music but I think this horse is as good as I've had over a mile - Barry Hills,trainer; I didn't pinch it today. If you lookat the sectional times, they'll show I gradually stepped it up from three out. I wanted to pick it up gradually because I wanted the horse to learn something - we didn't go slowand then quicken it. He's the type of horse that you could make it on if there was no pace, but you could sit in if they went a good pace. He's quite an easy horse to ride, very much like his mother - Richard Hills, jockey