Canford Cliffs' sparkling workout lifts Richard Hannon's Guineas hopes

Canford Cliffs delighted his connections yesterday morning with his last serious piece of work before the 2,000 Guineas on Saturday, for which he is the 8-1 third-favourite. The colt will be seeking to redeem himself in the Newmarket Classic, having failed to win since his exhilarating success at Royal Ascot last June, but it appears that he is reaching peak form at just the right time. "He did a super bit of work this morning," said Richard Hannon Jr, who assists his father, also Richard, at the Wiltshire yard where Canford Cliffs is trained. "We were delighted with him and I'm not just saying that. He worked a lot better than he did before the trial." The trial in question was the Greenham Stakes at Newbury nine days ago when the three-year-old was beaten at odds-on by his stablemate, Dick Turpin, after making most of the running. Part of the point of yesterday's work was to teach Canford Cliffs to adjust to a more restrained style of racing and Hannon Jr reported that the horse "settled well" when dropped in behind another. "He's turned himself on a lot since the trial, you can see it in the way he's grabbing the bit," Hannon Jr said. He added that Canford Cliffs kept a straight line, in contrast to the Newbury run, when he hung markedly to his left inside the final furlong, having shown a tendency to hang in earlier races. "He's always run straight as a gun barrel at home, so that's a mystery to everyone, why he keeps doing that. But Richard Hughes [his jockey] is aware of it and if he hits the front in the Guineas and then hangs, we'll just have to deal with it." Hannon Jr said that Dick Turpin, a 16-1 shot who holds alternative entries in the French and Irish Guineas, was also likely to be left in Saturday's race at today's entry stage. "He's working very well. We'll have a final chat with the owners this week and see if he runs. "I would think it's fairly probable he'll run if we get some rain. He goes on any ground – it was fast at Newbury – but he definitely goes on soft and that would slow some of the others down." A soft surface, however, seems unlikely. The going at Newmarket was good, good to firm in places yesterday, with a dry forecast for the next three days. Course officials may irrigate the track today and again, if necessary, at the end of the week. Following their success with Chabal in Sandown's Classic Trial on Friday, Godolphin rounded off a good weekend with a brace of Group Three successes at Longchamp. Anna Salai, who won the Prix de la Grotte, and Simon De Montfort, who added the Prix la Force, both showed impressive acceleration from the rear in the final two furlongs. "They are two nice horses," said the Godolphin spokesman Simon Crisford. "The filly will now go for the French 1,000 Guineas while the other will probably go for the French Derby, though I haven't spoken yet to [their trainer] André Fabre." Crisford said there was no reason why the pair might not race in Britain at some point this summer, though their immediate targets are in France. Presvis and Ryan Moore got going too late in their attempt to follow up last year's victory in the QE II Cup at Sha Tin, Hong Kong. Presvis, trained by Luca Cumani, was settled at the back of the field and quickened well inside the final quarter-mile but had too much ground to make up. He finished fifth, beaten less than two lengths. The race was won by Viva Pataca, who won a Listed race at Pontefract in 2004 under his former name, Comic Strip, when trained by Sir Mark Prescott. He has added eight Group Ones at Sha Tin since moving east. Eskendereya, the former favourite for Saturday's Kentucky Derby, will not run after swelling was discovered in a foreleg.