Irish Raiders in the 1000 Guineas Sunday will see the second British Classic of the year being run at Newmarket as the fillies take centre stage for the 1000 Guineas on the Rowley Mile. A field of 10 runners were declared on Friday morning, with headline acts Desert Flower and Lake Victoria standing their ground for Charlie Appleby and Aidan O'Brien respectively. O'Brien's hat-trick of wins from 2019-2021 took his tally to seven 1000 Guineas winners and his contender here is joined by the Ger Lyons runner Red Letter in representing Ireland. We look at the two Irish-based contenders for Classic glory at Newmarket on Sunday. 1000 Guineas Betting Offer If you already have a Midnite account, check out more of the best betting sites and casino bonuses Lake Victoria (Aidan O'Brien/Ryan Moore) Frankel filly Lake Victoria looked a high-class prospect after winning a perfect five-from-five in her juvenile campaign. She improved with every outing after winning a 7f good-ground Curragh maiden in June. Her winning spree included the Sweet Solera Stakes over 7f on good-to-firm here in August and the Cheveley Park Stakes over 6f on soft ground in September back in Newmarket. That win was sandwiched between victories in the Moyglare Stud Stakes in Ireland and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in November, a contest in which she had some subsequent big-race Stateside winners well fended off. She's top-rated off 119 coming into the 1000 Guineas, enough to put her 2lb ahead of her perceived main rival on paper, Appleby's unbeaten Night Of Thunder filly Desert Flower. O'Brien admits there will be improvement to come from his filly after this seasonal bow, but he says she doesn't require a lot of stoking up at home before a race. "The thing with Lake Victoria is that she comes very quickly when you start waking her up a little," he said upon suggesting Newmarket would be her first port of call. Red Letter (Ger Lyons / Colin Keane) Also a daughter of Frankel, Red Letter runs in the famous silks of her sire for Juddmonte and is Newmarket-bound attempting to give Ger Lyons a first Classic win in Britain. The Glenburnie, Co Meath based handler has won some big races at home and abroad and would dearly love to add a UK Classic to his CV with his impressive stable jockey Colin Keane. The pair know all about Lake Victoria. Red Letter was behind the Ballydoyle filly on debut in that Curragh maiden last June, finishing second-best and beaten only a head. She stepped up to easily win her own maiden over the same course and distance in July and had just one more run, when fourth behind Lake Victoria in the Moyglare, again, over the 7f Curragh trip. Lake Victoria was anchored last in that five-runner contest and came widest around runners to score with something in hand under Wayne Lordan, with Ryan Moore having plumped with odds-on jolly Bedtime Story and faded to finish last after making the running. Red Letter and Keane were scraping the paint throughout and had to bide their time, attempting to switch inside at the furlong pole only to have come back to the rail to get a clear run. That sort of trouble in the run could have made a telling difference and the Lyons filly has plenty of scope for improvement at three so her connections will be full of hope going to Newmarket.
