Wake Up Maggie On Course For Stan James 1000 Guineas

Wake Up Maggie, trained in Newmarket by Chris Wall, has 'wintered very well' and is all set to line up in the £330,000 Stan James 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday, May 7.

The winner of two of her four starts in 2005, including the valuable Tattersalls (Ireland) Sale Stakes at The Curragh, Wake Up Maggie finished last season with a cracking effort in the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket in September, going down by a neck to Donna Blini. The daughter of Xaar is currently a 25/1 chance with Stan James for the mile Classic.

Wall revealed today: 'Wake Up Maggie has wintered very well and, although she is not the biggest of fillies, she has strengthened up a lot, and, up to now, everything has gone to plan.

'The idea is to go for the Stan James 1000 Guineas and it´s just a question of whether or not we give her a run beforehand. We´ll see how she is, what the weather is like and how the ground is shaping up - I wouldn´t be averse to going straight to the Guineas with her, although a prep run wouldn´t do her any harm.'

Wake Up Maggie, who has yet to race beyond six furlongs, would be Chris Wall´s first ever runner in the Stan James 1000 Guineas, and the trainer is expecting her to take the step up to a mile in her stride.

He continued: 'We´re very hopeful that she will stay the Guineas distance. Of course you never know until they actually run, but Alan Munro, who rode her in her four races last year, said that she would get further, so that´s encouraging. She´s a filly who relaxes easily enough - she´s not a buzzed-up sprinting type - so she must have every chance of getting the trip at Newmarket.

'I wouldn´t want to run her on very soft ground, as she is only a small filly with a good action, so I don´t think that sort of surface would bring out the best in her. I´d be looking for good to firm or good ground but we have no influence on the weather so we´ll have to take what we get!'

Wall has another contender for the Stan James 1000 Guineas in the shape of Expensive, conqueror of Flashy Wings in the Watership Down Stud Sales Race at Newbury in September, although she is not certain to take her chance on the NatWest Rowley Mile on May 7.

Wall said: 'Expensive would only be a possible runner at this stage - I´d say she is more likely to head for something like the German 1000 Guineas, although if she does well I may consider running her as well. At the moment Wake Up Maggie is definitely my number one hope - she´s a lovely filly, has got the Group One form in the book, and in an open year has every right to take her chance.'

Latest Stan James prices for the Stan James 1000 Guineas: 4/1 Rumplestiltskin, 6/1 Nannina, 9/1 Flashy Wings, 10/1 Silca´s Sister, 16/1 Race For The Stars, 20/1 Donna Blini, Quiet Royal, Queen´s Best, 25/1 La Chunga, Alexandrova, Chenchikova, Wake Up Maggie, Scottish Stage, Pearls Girl, Alexander Alliance, 33/1 Nidhaal, New Girlfriend, Kitty Hawk, Star Cluster, Innocent Air, Short Dance, Silver Touch, Queen Cleopatra, Sindirana, Sandglass, Royal Proposal, 40/1 Waterways, Confidential Lady, Modeeroch, Mostaqaleh, Nasheej, Eilean Ban, Violette, Tiana, Bouboulina, 50/1 Bar

The Stan James Guineas Festival takes place on the NatWest Rowley Mile course at Newmarket on Saturday, May 6 and Sunday, May 7. Both the Stan James 1000 Guineas and the Stan James 2000 Guineas are worth a record £330,000 in 2006.