Newmarket - Craven 3.35 - this is seen as a major Guineas Trial and market is headed by a pair of Godolphin Horses, Royal Marine trained by Bin Suroor and Zakouski trained by Appleby, I am not convinced by either, Royal Marine has good 2 year old turf form but was disappointing in Meydan, the trip over there for the winter is seen by some as an advantage as the horse effectively gets "2 summers" on its back in the year but a lot of travelling and upheaval may mitigate that. Zakouski won an AW race at Kempton in fine style, but the form has yet to be franked and The Rowley Mile is as far removed from a naff AW Track as you can find.

 

The horse with obvious Course form on turf and a horse who was a late developer last season, given time by a clever Trainer who rarely exposes his 2 year olds too soon (unless precocious)  is SKARDU he was weak in the market but most impressive on debut here in the Autumn, he has more of a 1 mile profile than that 7 furlong race (out of 2 high class winning milers) and at around 5/1 offers some each way value. I think the more experienced Watan could be a genuine dark horse here for Hannon and Moore - the key will be to settle him and if he has matured mentally over the winter and runs with more restraint could outrun Odds - may be worth a play in running after 2 furlongs if the signs are he has been restrained.