Friday, May 25, 2018

Elarqam - a Classic winner for Frankel?

Elarqam pleasantly surprised me in running 4th in the 2000 Guineas. That was the Frankel colt's only third run of his life and he responded admiringly against seasoned milers from the Classic crop. He is the deserving favourite of the Irish 2000 Guineas on Saturday and if he runs to form, he should tower over the rest of the field. The 2 dangers should be Gustav Klimt and Zihba. The former carries the main flag for the Ballydoyle team and thus cannot be under-estimated. The son of Galileo came within a length of Elarqam at Newmarket and is entitled to give a better performance, although Elarqam is the one with more scope for improvement.  Zihba is unbeaten in 3 starts and looks like a smart colt in the making but might be stretched out against some Group 1 level colts at a mile after only 13 days rest.

The Champions League final takes center stage in the football world on Saturday as Real Madrid and Liverpool battle it out in Kiev. I have gone against Madrid the past couple of years and obviously the results have gone the other way. Real Madrid are deserved favourites here as they have the better team on paper. But the Kops will pose them problems with their terrific forwards and Klopp is a master at these kinds of matches. Liverpool will have to keep it tight in defence if they are to have a chance beat the Spaniards. Sitting on the fence on this one but enjoy the match.

Win: Elarqam


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