Belardo Faces Gleneagles Challenge

There were no surprises as the draw was made for Satuday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas, with the May 2 G1 2000 Guineas hero Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) set to race from stall two under Ryan Moore as he bids to become the eighth to complete the Guineas double. One who is poised to upset the script is Godolphin and Prince Faisal's Belardo (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}), who is looking to rebound from a disappointing effort when eighth in the Apr. 18 G3 Greenham S. at Newbury. On ground contrasting with the easy surface he encountered when winning the G1 Dewhurst S. at Newmarket in October, last year's champion 2-year-old never threatened in that seven-furlong prep for the Guineas but is re-fitted with the hood in which he excelled on Future Champions Day. Trainer Roger Varian is full of hope he can get back on track. “He did some very nice work on Sunday morning, so the plan is to run him on Saturday,” he said. “You have to keep faith in these horses and you can't write them off after one run, especially as the ground was very quick at Newbury and he just never let himself down. He didn't have a hard race, so he's a fresh horse. His work had been excellent leading up to that race and has been excellent since. He doesn't want it too quick and ground easier than good is favorable, so we just hope it doesn't dry out too much. We'd be very confident that, provided the ground isn't too quick, we've still got a very good horse on our hands.” The going at the Kildare venue is currently good-to-yielding, with the forecast leading up to the race mainly dry. That will play further into the hands of Gleneagles and make life even more difficult for the remainder, although faster ground than is currently the case will also suit Khalid Abdullah's Tombelaine (First Defence). Just three-quarters of a length behind Gleneagles and a head in front of Convergence (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) when second in Leopardstown's G3 Tyros S. over seven furlongs in July, the Dermot Weld trainee returned to win the Listed Tetrarch S. over that trip in testing conditions here May 4.