Watson heads straight to Newmarket Winker Watson will have his unbeaten juvenile status tested for the first time in the Stan James 2000 Guineas on May 3rd after Peter Chapple-Hyam announced the colt will head to Newmarket without a prep race. The Classic contender has not been seen since notching his third win of the campaign in last summer´s July Stakes and is a 12-1 chance for the Guineas with William Hill. His Derby-winning trainer said: "Winker is in great form and will go straight to the Guineas, so we can keep the dream alive! "I am always changing my mind so he could possibly go to the Craven but at this stage he will go straight to the Guineas and have a few gallops at the racecourse before then. "He would have to carry a penalty in the Craven and I am not a fan of the Greenham as it often turns into a sprint. "He has done a lot of growing since last year and would be a hand bigger now." Explaining Winker Watson´s absence from the course towards the end of last season, Chapple-Hyam continued: "I wasn´t happy with his action so we X-rayed his knee and he had a shadow on it, which meant something might happen so I stopped with him. "We have X-rayed it twice recently and it is all fine now. "I would have loved to run him in the Middle Park and Dewhurst last year as I think the Middle Park was there for the taking. "I think this will be a very good year, though, as there were some very good two-year-olds last season, and we´ll have to see if he is good enough. "On breeding he is not certain to stay a mile but I believe he has a laid-back attitude and that he will stay."
