Precise holds her place in 22-strong 1000 Guineas field Ante-post favourite Precise is one of 22 fillies to stand their ground for the Betfred 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday. The daughter of Starspangledbanner won four of her five juvenile starts, including Group One wins in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh and the Fillies’ Mile over the Guineas course and distance on the Rowley Mile. A spring setback threatened to derail plans to return to Headquarters on the first Sunday in May, but trainer Aidan O’Brien was upbeat when asked about her participation at a press morning last week and she was left in the first fillies’ Classic of the year at Monday’s confirmation stage. The Ballydoyle handler has also confirmed the unbeaten Diamond Necklace, but she remains more likely to wait for the French Guineas so long as Precise is given the green light to head for Newmarket. Speaking on Monday, O’Brien said: “That’s what we’re thinking at the moment, without it being written in stone.” True Love and Venosa complete the trainer’s quartet. The home team is headed by the Karl Burke-trained Venetian Sun, who was impressive in winning her first four starts at two before finishing third behind Precise on her final start in Ireland. Burke has an interesting potential second string to his bow in Evolutionist, who made an impressive start to her season in the Prix de la Grotte in France. Paul Curran, racing and bloodstock manager for Evolutionist’s owners Forz Europe Ltd, said: “She’s in great order and she’s come along nicely the last couple of weeks. We were up at Karl’s the other week and Shane (Foley) our jockey sat on her and he’s really happy with how she came out of the race in France. “We’re just sitting and waiting. We’re not going to make a decision until midway through the week about which Guineas we go to, but we’ll assess the ground and assess what Karl thinks and put all the information together and make the best decision we can. We’ll probably wait until Wednesday/Thursday and then take a look, but she’s doing well at the moment. “It was a nice trial run in France and she won well, she didn’t do anything wrong and she’s bounced out of the race really well. “She’s very fit, that run will stand her in good stead for whichever Guineas she will go to and it was the right decision to give her the run there.” Kempton winner Abashiri is Charlie Appleby’s sole hope of claiming back-to-back 1000 Guineas wins following Desert Flower’s triumph 12 months ago, while the Godolphin silks could also be carried by Andre Fabre’s potential French raider My Highness. Other contenders include the Owen Burrows-trained Fred Darling runner-up Touleen, Ed Walker’s lightly-raced filly The Prettiest Star, Stuart Williams’ shock Nell Gwyn winner Azleet and the unbeaten Darn Hot Gallop from James Tate’s yard.
