SANDRINE and Quick Suzy are vying at the top of the betting in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.

A clash of the two-year-old speedsters will be a highlight of the Cambridgeshire meeting, with the Andrew Balding-trained Sandrine enjoying three straight wins at the start of her career: a debut success at Kempton Park in May was followed by the Group Three Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, before cruising home in the Group Two bet365 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes at Newmarket in July, so BBC Sport

Speaking recently, Balding said: “Sandrine looks very good and I’ve been thrilled with her last two runs (Albany Stakes and Duchess of Cambridge Stakes). She will probably run in the Lowther (York) then all eyes will be on the Cheveley Park. She will carry a penalty (in Lowther) but we didn’t want to wait until Newmarket to run her again. She seems to be very versatile ground wise. She is a very smart filly and is an absolute pleasure to train.

“I think both of her two Group wins are equally as impressive as the other as they were under two very different conditions. It was nice to see her do it on the quick ground in the Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and prove she is not a one trick pony and that she has got the ability to handle different conditions. That form has been given a boost which is always nice to see.

“She had worked well on fast ground before the Albany so we thought she would handle it. We were worried going into the Albany with the ground going as soft as it was but she managed to cope with it. She looks good on any surface.”

Quick Suzy impressed in Ireland before heading over to Royal Ascot and winning the Queen Mary Stakes. While jockey Gary Carroll was required to keep the horse up to her work, she travelled well throughout and was going away from Twilight Gleaming at the finish – a performance in a Group Two deemed good enough by connections to target a Group One for her follow-up. She was expected to race in the Keeneland Stakes at the Curragh – a race won by Ebro Rover – but the Gavin Cromwell-trained filly was instead lined up for a trip to France for the Prix Morny ahead of the Newmarket clash.

The plans for Quick Suzy are moving at speed with connections eyeing a trip across the Atlantic after Newmarket for a crack at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar, reports Wacky Races and a horse betting site William Hill (according to odds).

The two at the head of the betting will not have it all their own way with the leading entrants all expected to lock horns again in the 1000 Guineas next year. One trainer who knows all about winning the 1000 Guineas is Aiden O’Brien, his recent training record reading five wins in the last six renewals of the second classic of the season.

Therefore, any entrant in the Cheveley Park from Aidan O’Brien should be looked at carefully, and he has Heart to Heart and Tenebrism joining the Irish raiding party for the six-furlong clash. Tenebrism is a first-season sire of Caravaggio, and while she will only be contesting only her second race, a price of just 8/1 is a clear indication of the confidence there is in her ability.

THE sprint superstars of Great Britain and Ireland normally fight it out for the honours in the Group One Coolmore Nunthorpe on day three of York Ebor Festival, but this year it’s the potential of an overseas clash that is whetting the appetite.

Wesley Ward is planning to bring Golden Pal over from the States for the five-furlong full-throttle affair on the Knavesmire to face the French raider, Suesa, winner of the recent King George Qatar Stakes.

Suesa’s turn of foot was clear for all to see at Goodwood, with a crushing win over her competitors which included the horse that was expected to make a bid to claim a third Nunthorpe in succession, Battaash, the Charles Hill-trained seven-year-old hanging up his racing plates in the aftermath of his seventh-placed finish, reports BBC Sport

But Suesa is going from strength to strength and has been working on the all-weather track at Deauville and on the beach, with connections of trainer Francois Rohaut hinting that a tilt at the £350K feature of the York Festival is very much on the cards.

While the Prix de l’Abbaye is the priority for the three-year-old filly, any softening of the surface at the Yorkshire track will be in the French horse’s favour, and may persuade Rohaut that it is too good an opportunity to ignore, despite coming just 21 days after her Goodwood win.

Among those expected on the field in York will be a few horses that have followed the French raider in King George, so the main competition will likely come from opponents who did not make it to Goodwood.

Golden Pal falls into that category and while an easing of the ground at the Knavesmire may play into Suesa’s hands, or hooves if you prefer, the reverse is the case for Wesley Ward’s three-year-old.

The flamboyant trainer is still sore about his last entry in the Nunthorpe, Lady Aurelia, who looked to have won the race in 2017 only to lose it by a nose to Marsha. Jockey Frankie Dettori was on board Lady Aurelia that day, and the Italian will ride Golden Pal for the first time at York, reports Wacky Races.

Ward said: “I’m relying on my old buddy Frankie Dettori again so we can right Lady Aurelia’s defeat. He’s (Dettori) had so much success for me in the past, is a great friend and an unbelievable talent.

“With the French filly in there too it makes it a truly great race.”

It won’t be the first time Golden Pal has made the trip to English shores, the colt was runner-up to Lir Jet in a tight finish to the Norfolk Stakes last year. However, he followed that by winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland in November, and only an early-season injury prevented him returning to Royal Ascot in July.

Ward is clearly keen to test a horse he says is the “best I’ve ever trained” against Europe’s finest sprinters, and both Golden Pal are hovering around the 3/1 mark on current betting.

The British challenge is led by Archie Watson-trained Dragon Symbol, who finished runner-up to Suesa at Goodwood, who is trading at odds of 5/1 with some horse racing sites.

Owned by Mrs. Patricia Pugh and trained by Nicky Henderson, in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire, Altior is the second-highest rated steeplechaser in training, according to Timeform. Indeed, the ten-year-old son of Montjeu has won 15 of his 16 starts over fences, including ten at the highest, Grade One level. He recorded back-to-back victories in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival in 2018 and 2019 and, in 2020, was aiming to become the first horse since Badwsworth Boy, in 1985, to win the two-mile steeplechasing championship three times. However, having pulled up lame with a hitherto dormant, or inactive, splint – an injury to one of the small, slender splint bones between the knee and the fetlock – on the Sunday before the race, he was withdrawn.

In a season that Henderson later described as ‘a disaster’, Altior suffered his first and, so far, only defeat over fences, when stepped up to 2 miles and 5 furlongs for the first time, in the Christy 1965 Chase at Ascot, on his reappearance in November. Henderson later admitted, ‘He shouldn’t have run at Ascot in the first place’, but Altior could make no impression on his only serious rival, Cyrname, in the closing stages and eventually finished second, beaten 2¼ lengths. Nevertheless, Henderson recently reported Altior in ‘great form’ and announced that he will be reverting to a ‘tried and tested route’ for his 2020/21 campaign, starting with the Tingle Creek Chase at Sandown Park, scheduled for Saturday, December 5, 2020. Altior is second favourite for the 2021 Queen Mother Champion Chase, behind only Chacun Pour Soi, and, if he makes it to the Festival this time ’round, he will be seeking his fifth victory, having previously won the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle in 2016 and the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 2017.