Claims Five: Why punters shouldn't go bananas about the Cherry Hinton

Did you see Memory win the Cherry Hinton at Newmarket on Wednesday? Wow, there was an inspiring performance. Held up by Richard Hughes, she ran out of room approaching the final furlong and had to be reined back and switched around the second-last horse to get a clear run. At that point, I have to admit that I gave up on my bet. Ugh, another good horse beaten by the hold-up tactics, was my train of thought. But, incredibly, she picked up so quickly that she was past her rivals with the race secured several strides before the line. I'm not quite sure that this makes Hughes a hero who judged the race perfectly, as one or two TV presenters seemed to think. But it definitely makes Memory a resilient filly with a brilliant turn of foot. And yet. She is now alone at the top of the betting for the 1,000 Guineas, no bigger than 8-1 for a race which is 10 months away and which will almost certainly feature strong contenders that have not yet been seen on a racecourse. What we need is some context and the plain fact is that the Cherry Hinton has produced just two Guineas winners in 35 years, Sayyedati and Attraction. What follows is my list of the five recent Cherry Hinton winners that promised most and delivered least. Shockingly, none of these horses won another race after their Newmarket victories – though one of them may still get more chances. It may be that Memory is better than all of these, but anyone considering a bet on next year's Classics should remember how quickly the bloom of two-year-old talent can wilt after the summer. Silent Honor Incredibly, Silent Honor had got as low as 10-1 for the 1,000 Guineas before she ran in the 2001 Cherry Hinton, having been the easy winner of a Newmarket maiden the previous month. Trained by David Loder, who was pretty good at getting two-year-olds ready, she had bounded four lengths clear of Lady High Havens on that racecourse debut, looking very classy indeed. She was sent off at 30-100 for the Cherry Hinton but gave her backers kittens, failing to go clear and allowing Lady High Havens to close her down to a short-head in the final strides. Few winners of this race can ever have got bigger in the Guineas market as a result, but that's what happened to Silent Honor, with Ladbrokes offering 25-1 in the immediate aftermath. Loder pointed to the lack of early pace and the good to soft going as reasons why his filly had appeared to regress. She was favourite again for the Lowther at York the following month, but her limitations were ruthlessly exposed by Queen's Logic, who beat her by two and a half lengths into third. That was the last we saw of Silent Honor. Soft ground prevented her from running in the Cheveley Park, while an "epiglottic entrapment" ruled her out of the Guineas. That must have been frustrating for all at Godolphin because, just before the condition manifested itself, Silent Honor beat Kazzia in a private trial in Dubai. Kazzia then won the Guineas and the Oaks, so Silent Honor may have made a very useful three-year-old, if only she could have made it to the track. Instead, after what we assume was a series of setbacks, she was retired to life as a broodmare in September 2002. Red Carnival Another short-head winner of the Cherry Hinton, Red Carnival was given quotes of 20-1 for the Guineas after her 1994 success. She didn't race again at two and was only third in the Nell Gwyn on her first run the next year, three lengths behind Myself, who'd been third in the Cherry Hinton. A setback ruled her out of the Guineas and she didn't race again until the autumn, when she was placed twice. Kept in training at four, she seemed to have gone backward and was well beaten in lesser company. The horse we should have taken from the Cherry Hinton was the one that got pipped on the line. Harayir won the next year's Guineas, as well as three other Group races. Misheer Last year's Cherry Hinton was Misheer's third success from four starts, her only defeat coming in the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, when she chased home the speedy American filly Jealous Again. She had reportedly been held up by a back problem before Ascot, so there was reason to hope she could do better at Newmarket and she was impressive in pulling three lengths clear of the favourite, Habaayib. Misheer seemed pleasingly tough and genuine, but the fact is that she has not won again. Though a respectable second to Special Duty in the Cheveley Park, she was last of this year's 17 Guineas runners and has not been seen since. You'resothrilling An arguably unlucky loser in the Albany at Royal Ascot, where she fly-jumped out of the gates and met traffic trouble, You'resothrilling had a clearer run in the 2007 Cherry Hinton, when she was one of only four runners to race up the stands-side rail. That was surprising, given that it had seemed the right place to be in earlier races, but jockeys' tactics can be as hard to predict as anything else in this game. Four lengths off the far-side pace at one stage, You'resothrilling finished strongly to win by a length. Despite the suspicion that she may have raced on the best part of the track, she was shortened to 10-1 for the Guineas. Any takers must have been kicking themselves after she ran ninth of 10 in the Lowther, albeit after being hampered. The money was comprehensively lost when Aidan O'Brien ruled her out of the early part of her three-year-old season, following a winter setback. She raced just twice more, running fourth in the Matron at Leopardstown and eighth in the Prix de l'Opera at Longchamp. Sander Camillo "She's as good a two-year-old filly as I've ridden in my life," said Frankie Dettori after Sander Camillo had scorched five lengths clear in the Cherry Hinton of 2006. Punters and bookies clearly caught the euphoric mood, as she was cut to 6-1 in places for the Guineas. Well, you can hardly blame a jockey for getting carried away after winning a televised Group Two and she could not have been more impressive. Maybe it would have been a good idea to press on with her while she was in such a rich vein of form, but she didn't run again at two years, missing the Cheveley Park because the ground was too soft. Her three-year-old year was a string of disappointments. She was down to 9-4 for the Guineas and working really well, according to reports, when she got turned over at 4-7 in the Nell Gwyn. She then missed the Guineas after coming into season shortly before the race and was tried instead in the French equivalent, where she flopped in eighth. Her trainer, Jeremy Noseda, thought that sprinting might be her game and ran her in the July Cup, but she was last of 18 and she rounded off her career by once more failing to beat a single rival in a Group Three at Goodwood. That didn't put off the bidders at Tattersall's December sales later that year. Sander Camillo fetched an astonishing 3.2m guineas as a broodmare prospect, signed for by Sheikh Mohammed's advisor John Ferguson after stiff competition from Coolmore. She's going to have to produce some zippy foals to justify that.