Style set to skip Greenham date due to Newbury ground

Noble Style is set to miss Saturday’s Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes, with trainer Charlie Appleby favouring a racecourse gallop at Newmarket over a run in soft ground at Newbury.

The Kingman colt won each of his three juvenile starts, completing his hat-trick in the Gimcrack Stakes at York before a bout of colic ruled him out of the Middle Park in the autumn.

Appleby considers Noble Style as a likely contender for the Qipco 2000 Guineas and had hoped to give him a trial run at Newbury this weekend.

However, with testing conditions forecast in Berkshire, the three-year-old looks set for a more low-key workout on the Rowley Mile, just as Coroebus did before providing Appleby with his first 2000 Guineas success last season.

“Noble Style is in great form. I made the entry for Newbury, but I might be giving that a swerve because of the conditions,” said the Moulton Paddocks handler.

“It’s two weeks to the day from that race to the Guineas and the question mark over him is the trip. We saw the speed he showed when he won the Gimcrack and that form has held up. Pace is not a worry, it’s whether he will see out a mile and that is why I would have liked to have gone to the Greenham and stepped up to seven.

“But if the forecasts are right and it is going to be soft, I’ll give it a swerve and give him a racecourse gallop here and go straight into the Guineas.”