Eminent's trainer Meade fears Churchill

Martyn Meade fears only hot favourite Churchill as Eminent bids to emulate his sire Frankel by winning Saturday's Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Frankel memorably blitzed his rivals in the mile event back in 2011 and he will have two sons in contention for the first Classic of the season.

Saeed bin Suroor's Dream Castle turned in a promising effort when beaten in the Greenham, but it is Meade's Craven Stakes hero Eminent who the bookmakers believe is more likely to give Frankel a landmark win as a sire.

Meade was delighted with Eminent's effort in winning the Craven, but believes a mile would be the minimum trip for his colt already.

"He's come out of the race very well, so I couldn't be more pleased with him at the moment," said Meade.

"I didn't have him absolutely primed for the Craven, but he was obviously in the right condition to run, hence the way he did run, which was very pleasing.

"The mile is the absolute minimum distance he wants and I'd like to be able to step him up from that as soon as possible, but at the moment he's going to take his chance again over a mile.

"It's a tough ask to beat Churchill. There are lots of other horses, but Churchill is obviously one that I am concerned about. He has won on the track before when winning the Dewhurst, but we haven't seen him out this time.

"It's difficult to form any more opinion than the bare form at the moment. He's similar to our horse in so far as that he'll most likely get further and he'll need a bit of pace in the race. One obviously has to be concerned, he's a very good horse.

"He's matured a lot. We were very lucky to get a run in to him last year. He's a big, big horse that needed time to mature and we had to wait until September or October before we could give him a run.

"He managed to do very well then and then we turned him away for a few weeks, brought him back and he has strengthened up, not only physically, but mentally too. He's going exactly the right way."

While many of the Frankels on the ground bare little resemblance to the great horse, Meade believes Eminent is a fine representative of his famous father.

He said: "He seems to me to be very similar. I had nothing to do with Frankel but a couple of the lads here in the yard, particularly Glenn (Osborn, Eminent's lad), were involved with Frankel when he was up at Warren Place and they feel he has lots of similar characteristics.

"I think of all the Frankels I've seen, he does actually look like him and has similar markings. Characteristic-wise, he just wants to be a winner, so I suppose that's got to be important."

Eminent and Churchill feature in a field of 10, with the latter Aidan O'Brien's leading hope after winning the Dewhurst Stakes in fine style last term.

O'Brien also runs Lancaster Bomber, second in the Dewhurst and last seen finishing fourth in the UAE Derby, and Spirit Of Valor.

Dream Castle and Barney Roy, second and first in the Greenham, renew their rivalry at Newmarket, with both sporting the Godolphin silks.

Barney Roy's trainer Richard Hannon also runs Larchmont Lad, with Bin Suroor double-handed with Top Score.

Al Wukair, trained in France by Andre Fabre and owned, like last year's winner Galileo Gold, by Al Shaqab Racing, is also unbeaten.

James Tate's Law And Order completes the field.

The O'Brien-trained Peace Envoy and William Haggas' Group One winner Rivet were not declared.

Rivet was runner-up to Eminent in the Craven and now heads for the French 2000 Guineas at Deauville.

Haggas told At The Races: "I thought the winner (Eminent) was impressive, so I can't see the point of taking Churchill and others on at a track like Newmarket, which I'm not saying doesn't suit, but I think Deauville will suit him better.

"He didn't race in the Craven. He ran like a hare with his ears up, having a good look."