MORE BREAKING NEWS…

My wife is three months pregnant with our first child…I wasn’t expecting to report that during Guineas week!
Talking of which, we will both be in attendance on Saturday at Newmarket with my in-laws, who I introduced to the delights of a ‘hog roast’ at the July Course last summer - start as you mean to go on, that's what I say. Should be simple enough on Saturday tipping them the winners for the 2,000 Guineas and 30-runner sprint handicap!

The last few years have been busy times indeed for the lad Myers as I got married 12 months ago whilst writing Racing Trends Revealed – well, not actually in the church or on honeymoon of course. Though I was actually tempted to ask the father at the church if he had stats on how many of the last ten couples had a baby within the first year, but my wife quickly reminded me to forget about trends for the day. A similar occurrence developed at the scan for the baby last week as I wanted to ask the nurse how accurate were the ‘future pointers’ concerning the due date as we were told it was Halloween – think of my surname!

Anyway, getting back to Newmarket for the two-day Guineas meeting this weekend and there are seven races in the book to muse over, most of which will include big fields. I mentioned in a reply to a comment left here last week that it is tricky sometimes nailing the right horse from the trends shortlist, but it helps sometimes to cover two or three horses. If generous prices are on offer then a level stakes approach can be applied, but if the shortlist includes a 6/4, 9/2 and 12/1, then a staking system can help depending on how much you allocate per race. This may all sound very obvious, but the simple things are often the most effective and can help avoid the frustration of missing a winner.

Finally, here are the weekend’s performance ratings - most of which were par ratings.

GORDON RICHARDS STAKES
Ask 79

SANDOWN MILE
Major Cadeaux 75

CLASSIC TRIAL
Centennial 69

LEICESTERHIRE STAKES
Captain Marvelous 72