Expert Eye seen working at Newmarket earlier this week. Pic: John Hoy (Courtesy of Jockey Club Racecourses).

Horse Talk with Simon Jackson:

Top horse-racing tips and the latest news.

EXPERT EYE is fancied to justify his place at the head of the betting by landing the £500,000 Darley Dewhurst Stakes on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket on Saturday.

The unbeaten son of Acclamation bids to extend his winning sequence to three in the Group 1 contest and is reported to be in good order ahead of his belated return to the track.

Expert Eye will be having his first run since impressing with the manner of his emphatic victory in the Group 2 Vintage Stakes at Goodwood on August 1.

The four and a half length success followed a comfortable win in a Newbury maiden on his debut and the colt worked well on Al Bahathri gallop in Newmarket earlier this week.

“Expert Eye seems in good shape,” trainer Sir Michael Stoute said.

“I was contemplating going to The Curragh with him but then we found a bit of an infection when we scoped him which knocked that plan out of the way. It was not so irritating, however, as I would not have wanted to run him on very bad ground in Ireland anyway.” 

“I have had precocious two-year-olds in the past but I don’t seem to get them nowadays. It’s an imbalance I don’t desire but it’s a fact.”

“Now this fellow has come along and I am very happy to have him. He’s naturally precocious, very well-balanced, well developed and mature.”

“You would have to say that he’s the best two-year-old that I have had for quite a while. He’s been pretty natural from the beginning.”

“Before we ran him we knew that he was pretty smart as he has always shown speed and been very athletic. And then, when we were preparing him for Goodwood, we began to realise just how good he was – we knew that he would win there but you can never be sure about the opposition and we didn’t know that he would win in the style that he did.”

“The form has worked out but this is quite a while later. We have had plenty of time to prepare him for this so there will be no excuses.” 

“The Darley Dewhurst looks a tough race. In the past we never had to go up against a battalion like Aidan’s [O’Brien’s], it’s quite incredible really.” 

“Let’s just see what happens on Saturday, when Andrea Atzeni will again be riding him, but I would be surprised if he gets beyond a mile as a three-year-old.”

“I am having a resurgence. I am very happy with the way that the summer has gone – my whole team has done a great job.”

Horse Talk with Simon Jackson. Showcasing horse racing in London and the south east.