Caspar books his 2000 Guineas ticket

The admirable Caspar Netscher, a tough as teak juvenile last season who took his trainer Alan McCabe to all the big meetings throughout last summer and autumn, has carried on this year where he left off last by proving he has trained on in style in impressively winning the Group 3 AON Greenham Stakes at Newbury, in the process booking his place in the line-up for the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on May 5, writes Elliot Slater.
A winner last term of both the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes at Newbury over six furlongs and the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York over the same trip, Caspar Netscher had arguably been very unlucky in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket in October when repeatedly denied a run inside the final two furlongs, eventually finishing full of running in being beaten just over a length in a blanket finish behind the Aidan O’Brien-trained Crusade.
Not disgraced when coming home eighth behind Wrote at Churchill Downs in November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf over a mile, Caspar Netscher, a son of Dutch Art, had reportedly done well over the winter and arrived at Newbury with hopes high amongst horse racing betting tips that he would give a good account of himself.
Although he had never before raced on genuinely soft ground, any fears that McCabe’s charge would struggle on the testing surface were soon allayed as he travelled well under Shane Kelly before switching to the stands rail approaching the final furlong where he came through to take it up off Boomerang Bob and Bronterre before drawing away to win by a length.
Bookmakers reacted by trimming the Newmarket-trained colt to best racing odds of 25/1 for the 2000 Guineas having been available at 50/1 prior to his pleasing Greenham win. The likelihood is that the rock solid Caspar Netscher will finish with more horses behind than in front in the first colts’ classic of the 2012 campaign.