Caulfield Guineas / Sarah Peatling / 05 October 2010 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

As the Spring Racing Carnival officially gets underway, Sarah Peatling sees all heads turning to the running of the prestigious Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m) this Saturday.

A race of this calibre always attracts a high class field of three-year-olds.

However, two early stand-outs appear in the Rick Hore-Lacy-trained Toorak Toff and Sydney visitor Ilovethiscity.

Following the barrier draw, a bullish Hore-Lacy believes the son of Show A Heart, who saluted in this stallion-making race in 2000, is on target to win his second Group 1 this season.

"Ollie should be able to get some cover (from barrier 8) and be one off the fence. Barriers and luck in running play a very important part".

On Toorak Toff's scintillating win in the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill on August 28, where he beat Ilovethiscity by a short neck, Hore-lacy acknowledged he was lucky to beat the Grahame Begg- trained colt on that occasion but believes his horse was still the run of the race.

"Ilovethiscity is a high-class horse and will be hard to beat on Saturday but Toorak Toff was the best run of the Golden Rose. Although Grahame's horse had an interrupted passage, he only had to sustain that run for 200m whereas mine had to sustain a 700m run around the field."

Rich Hore-Lacy trained champion sire Redoute's Choice to a win in the 1999 Caulfield Guineas.

In-form Sydney-based trainer Grahame Begg has never had much luck drawing ideal barriers with the Magic Albert colt, however, he wasn't too bothered at drawing gate 11 for this weekend's feature event.

"He likes to relax in the early part of his races and challenge in the finish, so 11 shouldn't worry us too much.

"It will be his first time racing this direction, and at Caulfield, but we feel he's pretty tractable. He galloped well and handled the turn this morning.

"Having Glen Boss on board is valuable because he rode him at Newcastle (in the Group 3 Spring Stakes) so he knows what the horse is capable of. We've set our horses for the whole Spring Carnival in Melbourne this year."

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Click HERE for the Barrier Draw for the Guineas.