Aidan O’Brien has sent out 15 British Classic winners since Mark Johnston’s last success in one of the Flat’s showpiece events for three-year-olds, with Attraction in the 1,000 Guineas in 2004.
The Malton trainer seems likely to offer the main resistance to O’Brien’s three-strong team for this year’s 1,000 Guineas on Sunday, however, as Lumiere, the Cheveley Park Stakes winner, goes up against Minding, who took the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket last October by four and a half lengths.
Lumiere steps up an extra two furlongs on Sunday, but there is no obvious reason in her pedigree why she should not get a mile.
Whether she has the raw brilliance to cope with Minding, though, is another question. Ryan Moore’s mount has several pounds in hand on ratings, is proven over track and trip and may face her sternest challenge from her stable companion who is named after their stable: Ballydoyle.
