Guineas Beckons For Amadeus

Amadeus Wolf gained a memorable win in the Shadwell Stud Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket on Friday to leave his connections dreaming of Classic glory.

Although the colt´s one-and-a-quarter-length verdict over Red Clubs hardly caused a ripple in the betting for the 2000 Guineas - he is a top-priced 33-1 chance - his trainer Kevin Ryan is keen to have a go at the race back on the Rowley Mile next spring.

Ryan said: 'You have to give the Guineas a go and he won´t run again this year. He´s bred to get the mile.

'He´s learned how to race properly, he´s learned to relax and you can put him anywhere in a race now. In his first couple of runs he was trying to do everything too quickly.

'We´ll have to have a go at the Guineas and if he doesn´t stay he doesn´t stay, but my gut feeling is he will stay.

'I have never had a Classic runner before and to get a horse like this is unbelievable.'

Ryan and his jockey, Neil Callan, were tasting victory at the highest level for the first time.

The Hambleton, near Thirsk trainer, and Callan have formed a highly-successful partnership over the last two years and this Group One win was the icing on the cake for the duo.

Ryan was very relieved when his colt held on, in a race in which Always Hopeful was third, a length ahead of 2-1 favourite Ivan Denisovich.

He said: 'The last furlong felt like a mile.

'He travelled good and picked up well but I thought that winning line was never going to come.

'Neil said he was going to be positive on him - he wasn´t going to hang about. There was plenty of pace in the race and I left it up to Neil how to ride it. They went a good gallop and he picked up good.

'I´m really proud of the horse. He´s improved as the year has gone on. He´s been getting stronger. I gave him a nice break after York and he´s come on for it and he´s proved he´s a very good horse.

'To get a horse like this is fantastic.'

Callan added: 'Hopefully he´ll be back next spring for the Guineas and I´m pretty confident he´ll stay.

'I was really confident today and I think he´s a live Guineas contender. It´s been a fantastic year and that´s 131 winners now.

'It´s a special moment for me - it´s the biggest win of my career.'

The second and third could renew rivalry in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes.

Hills said: 'He´s run a very good race. It´s no good making excuses after the race, but he´s a horse that needs ground with a bit more life in it.

'If he runs again this year it will be in the Dewhurst, otherwise that will be it.'

Eoghan O´Neill, who trained Always Hopeful, said: 'He´s run a super race.

'Ivan Denisovich was fourth, so we´ve turned it around on him from France.

'The ground was fine - any ground will do him, so no excuses. I´m very happy with him.

'We might run him in the Dewhurst. We´ll see who is going to show up there. He´s had a long season, so we might call it a day.

'Really today was the day.'

? PA Sport