Racing 2,000 Guineas preview: Ground conditions more akin to Punchestown in December than the Curragh in summer could yet play havoc with today's Boylesports Irish 2,000 Guineas and its star attraction George Washington.
A half inch of rain in the early hours of yesterday morning sent the going description on the Classic track back to "heavy" and the course executives were last night praying there won't be a repeat.
"We have had two and a half inches of rain this week, which is normally the average for the entire month of May. If we get another belt like we did last night we could be looking at a very difficult situation where the racing itself might be in trouble," said the Curragh manager Paul Hensey.
The more upbeat news was that the Met Office were forecasting a maximum of 2mms of rain overnight but either way, the opening classic of 2006 looks like taking place on the worst ground since Flash Of Steel won the Guineas 20 years ago.
That is something of a nightmare scenario for Aidan O'Brien and his hopes of George Washington becoming just the fifth horse to complete the English-Irish Guineas double in modern times. The charismatic colt was brilliant at Newmarket and, although used to working on soft ground at home, it will be a very different matter against 10 opponents in a Classic.
"Working on it and running on it are very different. He is not a soft ground horse," O'Brien said yesterday before stressing that he wants to run George Washington. "The plan is to run him but we will have to see what happens. The first thing is that they race, and if they do, then we will see what we will do. We will look at it when we get there. That heavy rain they got has caught everyone by surprise."
The Ballydoyle maestro, aiming for a fifth 2,000 Guineas success, reported that George Washington has been ticking over nicely since that spectacular defeat of Sir Percy but a wet surface can knock established form on its head.
George Washington would still be impossible to oppose as the likely winner if he does run but if he doesn't, it could allow the door open for his stable companion Hurricane Cat who has almost five lengths to make up on Decado from last month.
However, O'Brien also reported yesterday that last year's Horris Hill winner has improved for the run and despite being by Storm Cat, and from the family of Dayjur, Hurricane Cat has won twice on soft ground. In the circumstances Decado might do well to confirm the form.
The going will be of little worry to Miss Sally, who won well at Cork on her first start of the season and can follow up in the Group Three Weatherbys Ireland Greenlands Stakes.
A valuable Group Two bracket looks to be readily available in the Ridgewood Pearl Stakes and while Sweet Treat might not be in the same class as her stable companion Soviet Song, who won the race last year, she does look to have a decent shout in this company.
