Swelter stakes Classic claim

Juddmonte's three-year-old Kingman filly Swelter mastered some significant peers to take Leopardstown's Gr.3 1000 Guineas Trial Stakes on Sunday (30th March).

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 31st March 2025, by Tom Frary:

Off the track since scoring over a mile in July, the daughter of the Gr.3 Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Hot Snap was fine-tuned to perfection by Dermot Weld and after swooping a furlong out readily held Ballydoyle's Exactly (Frankel) to score at 6-1 by a length and a quarter, with Cercene half a length away in third.

Weld has the Irish 1,000 Guineas in mind for the winner, who was emulating her dam in winning a Classic trial on only her second start. "I'd say it was a good renewal of the race, a very competitive Group 3. She won over a mile here last year and my concern was that seven might be a little too sharp for her," he said.

"My reason for running her was that she would learn a lot from it and I thought she came home very nicely. We'll see how she comes out of the race, but my present thoughts would be to head for something like the Irish 1,000 Guineas. She is a filly that will hopefully get ten furlongs as the season progresses.

Aidan O'Brien said of Exactly: "They went very hard and ours have only been half-speeding at home, so she would have found that a little bit strange and she'll love going up to a mile. We were very happy and the winner looked a very smart filly."