Shelir lined up for Irish 2000 Guineas tilt

Racing365
May 7, 2019 10:02 am

Shelir’s win in the Coolmore Churchill Irish EBF Tetrarch Stakes at the Curragh will now see him pitched into the Irish 2000 Guineas.

The Dermot Weld-trained three-year-old grey followed up his debut win at Navan in March with an impressive showing when stepping up to Listed class under the guidance of Chris Hayes on Monday.

Shelir came up from the midfield with two furlongs remaining and battled through to finish a length and a quarter ahead of Eclipse Storm. The performance was enough to persuade Weld to take him to back to the Curragh for the 2000 Guineas on May 25.

He said: ‘He did it very nicely and is still a horse with plenty to learn about racing. I was always confident over the last furlong that he was going to get there.

‘He’ll obviously appreciate a mile, which he won over in Navan, and the logical thing is to come back here for the Irish 2,000 Guineas.

‘He was a little bit keen in the early part of the race and then settled. It’s just his second start, and most of the other horses had a lot more experience than he had. He’s a work in progress and I think there is a nice bit more to come from this horse.

‘I purposely ran him over seven today, just to see would he have the pace for a Guineas, and you saw there that he does and is entitled to run in the Irish Guineas and represent us well.’