2026 Newmarket Guineas Meeting Sunday Tips – DS
2026 Newmarket Guineas Meeting Sunday Preview
A miserable day on Saturday. Brian ran okay but he probably needs it softer these days. Ain’t Nobody ran an absolute stinker and was either as unfit as me (which is very unfit) or else he must have had a physical issue Our Guineas selections weren’t good enough. The fillies take centre stage on Sunday, our 2026 Newmarket Guineas meeting Sunday tips are below.
1.45 Newmarket – Pretty Polly Stakes (Listed)
It looks like we are on a dreaded losing run but we were overdue one to be fair. It can happen at our price point but the only thing to do is to keep on trying and hopefully, the tide will turn sooner rather than later.
Sunday kicks off with this Listed race for the fillies and Esna, a fine fourth in the Prix Marcel Boussac last year, is the 7/4 favourite. There’s loads of stamina on the dam side of her pedigree so she could stay, but her sire Starman’s two previous runners at this sort of trip have been beaten. A small sample size admittedly but worth noting, nonetheless.
Lots of these lack a recent run so I’ll take a chance on the racefit Kameko filly, Spinning Lizzie. A maiden winner at two, she made a winning reappearance in a class 2 conditions race at Kempton (1m). Slowly away, she met trouble in running but she found daylight just in time and managed to get up to win.
Last time out she was dropped back to 7f and stepped into G3 company at Newbury. This time, William Buick decided to go from the front and I’m not sure those tactics suited. She eventually faded into eighth but I think she is capable of better if ridden more patiently.
Now that she steps up in distance, hopefully Rossa Ryan can get her settled out the back early. She doesn’t look an obvious candidate for 10f on breeding but the way she won at Kempton suggests she is well worth a try at the trip. Bar the fav, who is rated 107, this looks an open race on paper and at odds of 28/1, hopefully Spinning Lizzie is held up and produced late to nick the place money.
2026 Newmarket Guineas meeting Sunday Tip: Spinning Lizzie e/w @ 28/1
2.20 Newmarket – Dahlia Stakes (Group 2)
Ed Walker is in sizzling form and he is represented by American Gal here. Another daughter of Kameko, we backed her on her seasonal return in the listed Snowdrop Stakes at Kempton but I’m not sure she was trying her hardest that day. She raced very wide and got tired late on and in hindsight, it looked like a prep run for something else.
She has already proven herself a stakes filly, having finished a neck second behind Chesire Dancer in a Group 3 at Ascot (1m, good) last July (Chantilly Lace and Jancis behind) and she also won a Listed race in Chantilly earlier in the season.
Rated 99, she hasn’t got a whole lot to find with most of these bar the top two and Tom Marquand (2/5 for the yard this year) takes over in the plate. On that piece of Ascot G3 form she is no 33/1 shot, so back American Gal e/w.
2026 Newmarket Guineas meeting Sunday Tip: American Gal e/w @ 33/1 (4 places)
3.35 Newmarket – 1000 Guineas Stakes (group 1)
I’m not a fan of long-distance flat races so we move onto the big one, the 2026 1000 Guineas. I said yesterday that the 2000 Guineas looked a bit weak and open, then the favourites went and dominated. This looks between the top rated fillies, so hopefully we get a boil over!
At the head of the market here we have Precise, a daughter of Starspangledbanner who has won her last four starts. Last sighted beating Venetian Lace by over 3l in the Fillies’ Mile in October over C&D (good), she also took the scalp of Venetian Sun at the Curragh on her previous start and her yard has an outstanding record in this race.’
Ballydoyle also run True Love, who is rated 115, just like her stablemate. Overlooked by Moore, Wayne Lordan is an able deputy but whether she’ll stay 1m is up for debate. She’s by the speedy No Nay Never but her dam won at 1m1f so she may well get the trip and if she does, she’ll be a danger to all.
Spice Up Your Life
Having looked at all of the outsiders, the one I ended up coming down on was Spicy Marg. Like the fav, she is by Starspangledbanner but unlike the fav, she is totally unproven at this trip.
She was campaigned exclusively at 5f and 6f last season, winning three of her seven starts. Her best performance came on this track on her final start of 2024 when she came from the back to pull clear and lower the colours of Azleet in a 6f Group 3. Outpaced early, I liked how she knuckled down when coming under pressure and she gave the impression that 1m might be within her compass.
She’s a half-sister to two 1m winners, which is encouraging, and while her dam was a sprinter, she is a half to 1m2f winner Jungle Cove so there is cause for optimism in her pedigree regarding the suitability of this longer trip. At odds of 40/1, Spicy Marg is the e/w selection.
