Tom Segal with a Guineas horse who 'really took the eye' at Newmarket last week

The most important 2,000 Guineas trials last week took place on the Rowley Mile course, but they were almost certainly not in a race. Instead, they were in the gallops before racing.

Silver Knott stuck his hand up to be Godolphin's main Guineas hope in his gallop on Thursday, with Noble Style looking far from convincing, but it was Roger Varian's Sakheer who really took the eye in his work and the form of his Mill Reef romp was given a boost of sorts on a couple of occasions last week.

On his style of racing there is some doubt about Sakheer staying a mile but he really should get home on pedigree, although I think a 2,000 Guineas winner has to stay a mile really well as the race always gets into top gear about half a mile from home.

One thing we can be sure of is that the Coolmore team are going to make it a test of stamina with their main hope Auguste Rodin already proven over a mile. Consequently, while I'm Sakheer's biggest fan, I do wonder if he'll get the finish run out of him.

What was clear at both Newbury and Newmarket was that the colts' two-year-old form held up well, so I don't see anything coming out of left field to stir things up in the 2,000 Guineas next month.

The opposite was the case with the fillies, because two once-raced maiden winners won both trials and that makes me think that last year's juvenile form might not have been that strong. Both Mammas Girl and Remarquee appeared to win with plenty in hand and are clearly potential Newmarket winners, especially if Tahiyra doesn't make the journey over.

Karl Burke: horses in fine formCredit: Edward Whitaker

One factor that seems to have been missed was how well the Karl Burke-trained horses ran at both tracks. Indestructible will have to take another big step forward to win the 2,000 Guineas, despite winning the Craven pretty comfortably, but maybe more relevant was how well his two fillies ran.

Secret Angel was 40-1 and raced prominently into a headwind but stayed on to be third to Mammas Girl, while Swingalong filled the same spot behind Remarquee despite running on the unfavoured part of the track.

Not for one minute do I think either of them can be a factor in the 1,000 Guineas, but Burke has stated all along that his filly Electric Eyes was his number one hope and the fact that Swingalong and Secret Angel ran so well last week can only make the Burke team more positive about her Classic claims.

Electric Eyes was no match for Commissioning in the Rockfel, but she shaped really well given that was only her second run and she stayed on strongly through the last furlong. She reminds me an awful lot of another Burke-trained filly in Laurens, who he saddled to be second in the 1,000 Guineas, and Electric Eyes has vital track experience and should have no problem staying the mile well.

Still keen on Calyx as a sire

Anyone who has ever been unlucky enough to see my dress sense will know that I'm not a dedicated follower of fashion. So I do find it funny how some stallions only have to send a horse to a sale and everyone wants them, while plenty of others go untouched, despite having a similar profile.

Blue Point could be a sensational sire and there is no reason to think he won't be. I get he had remarkable longevity as a racehorse, but he's made a similar start to his stallion career as Calyx, yet there were queues ten deep to buy his progeny at the breeze-ups last week, while the vibes aren't anywhere near as strong for Calyx as a sire currently – it must be the way their progeny look.

Calyx only saw a racetrack four times but he looked a world-beater on three of them and to my eyes he has made just as promising a start at stud. Calyx's daughter Persian Dreamer was seriously impressive at Newmarket last week, and he's yet to have a two-year-old finish out of the first four.

It's early days I know, but Calyx is different from most of these sprint sires, Blue Point excepted, in that he's bred to be a star and if Persian Dreamer is as good as I think she can be then Calyx may well be back in fashion before we know it.

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