Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes |
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| Group 3, Newbury 14:00 £100,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 7f, Class 1  |
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1 Alparslan 9/1
2
Zavateri 5/2
3
Albert Einstein 9/4F
8 ran Distances: 1l, ¾l, ½l
Time: 1m 24.92s (slow by 2.12s)
ALPARSLAN proves much too good in the Greenham! 🤩@NewburyRacing | @SkySportsRacing pic.twitter.com/6s8VjldIOA
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) April 18, 2026
Alparslan thrust himself firmly into the 2000 Guineas picture with a front-running display of both control and resilience.
Market attention centred on Aidan O’Brien’s Albert Einstein and Eve Johnson Houghton’s Group One winner Zavateri, but Karl Burke’s colt, a previous sales race winner who had finished behind Zavateri in the Dewhurst, was allowed to dictate matters from the outset under Clifford Lee.
Setting an even tempo, he travelled fluently in front and, when pressure was applied, found enough to repel the late challenges of his more vaunted rivals. Both Albert Einstein and Zavateri loomed as threats approaching the final furlong, but Alparslan (9-1) always had a measure of control, pulling out extra to score by a length, with Zavateri finishing well for second despite meeting trouble in running.
Burke said: “I thought we were coming here under the radar and he was always entitled to improve off his three starts last year. They are trials at the end of the day and you never know what might pop up, but I think he’s beaten the right two horses there.
“He didn’t really like the undulations when he went to Newmarket for the Dewhurst, although that could just have been two-year-old immaturity. It was his third quickish run and he came back sore, so the track might not be an issue but it is a question mark.
“Clifford said he is a big, heavy, gawky horse so whether racing round a bend at Longchamp would be his cup of tea I don’t know and the Curragh might suit him well having won there. But he does have time to go to both the English and Irish if we wanted to.
“I’m sure there is another gear, the trip (mile) would be the question mark, but I think he’s answered 90 per cent of that question here today. It would give me a lot of hope.”
Zavateri, one of last season’s standout juveniles, emerged from the race with his reputation intact, finishing strongly once in the clear and shaping as though still firmly on track for a return to Group One company.
Johnson Houghton said: “I think he’s run a lovely race and was a bit fresh. He had nowhere to go off a slow pace and Ryan (Moore) did his job on Albert Einstein and put him in a pocket.
“He’s picked up nicely when having the opportunity and we’ve finished behind a lovely looking horse who has clearly done well over the winter. However, I can’t be disappointed in my boy.
“I don’t know which Guineas we’ll go for and we’ll make a decision next week. France would be least likely, so it would probably be between the other two.”
Albert Einstein, in contrast, left connections with a different set of considerations after finishing third in what developed into a steadily-run contest that may not have suited ideally.
Coolmore representative Kevin Buckley said: “I think it was a bit more like it today and he’s run a creditable race in a muddling race, so we have to be happy with that.
“We’ll let Ryan speak to Aidan who couldn’t be hear today and then Aidan will speak to the owners and we’ll make a decision which route we’re going to do.
“Ryan didn’t want to commit until he had spoken to Aidan and I suppose we could still go either way. We’ll chew over it and he’s run a good race.
“He was still in the mix there and when Ryan asked for him he went for him fine. He was happier back on this surface, so we’ve learned something from today and probably more than we think once we start to digest it overnight.”
As trials go, this was both informative and instructive, with Alparslan emerging as a colt on the rise while his rivals head towards the Classics with their credentials still very much intact.
Greenham Stakes
£100,000 guaranteed, 3yo only, 7f, Class 1
8 ran
Going: Good, Good to Firm in places
