Cat all set to lick Classic cream

One Cool Cat so impressed Aidan O'Brien as a two year-old that he threatened to knock a door into his bedroom to keep him near but today he gets the chance to break through into 2,000 Guineas history.

Despite a pair of runners from Godolphin, home threats like Haafhd and Salford City as well as his fellow Irish hopes Grey Swallow and Azamour, it's hard to escape the feeling that the first classic of the season looks to be about the Storm Cat colt.

At $3.1 million, One Cool Cat was the top-priced yearling of his crop and nothing has happened since moving to Ballydoyle that prevents him looking a true leader of his generation.

Form calculations might have allowed Grey Swallow be crowned the top two-year-old in Ireland last year but One Cool Cat put two Group Ones on to his CV and left the impression that a lot better was to come.

The quandary today is that we haven't, as yet, this year seen if those impressions are correct. While Haafhd (Craven), Salford City (Greenham) and Grey Swallow (Leopardstown) were winning their preps, O'Brien was keeping One Cool Cat characteristically close by.

Significantly, the Ballydoyle trainer didn't need warm-up races to win the Guineas with King Of Kings (1998) and Rock Of Gibraltar (2002) and while he is much too reserved to start making bullish noises about his potential new superstar he isn't exactly talking him down either.

"He has done very well physically from two to three and has done a couple of canters away from home. Everything he has done we've been happy with. Anyone who has ever ridden him says the trip shouldn't be a problem," O'Brien said.

Kieren Fallon (Three Valleys) is one man who rode One Cool Cat last season and he has already nailed his colours to the mast by saying he shouldn't be beaten, while Michael Kinane (Azamour) doesn't hesitate to describe his former mount as the one to beat.

Three of the last six Guineas have been won by Irish-trained colts and Dermot Weld relies on Grey Swallow to try and follow in Refuse To Bend's hoof prints of last year.

Weld has already claimed he thinks today's race is coming too early and yesterday he admitted: "Nothing has changed. His run at Leopardstown was workmanlike and it was of benefit to him."

One change, however, is in Grey Swallow's ownership, with the legendary English gambler and businessman Terry Ramsden buying a share in the colt in the run-up to the big race.

Azamour's chance might have been harmed by the recent rain that has taken some of the sting out of the ground but there will be real interest in the effects of the draw with the stalls in the middle of the course.

One Cool Cat is in box 13 of 14 and theoretically could be left exposed on the outside. Jockey Jamie Spencer was hampered by a bad draw on Hawk Wing two years ago but his first Classic mount as number one rider at Ballydoyle looks an entirely different prospect.

Tomorrow's 1,000 Guineas is the one British Classic yet to fall to O'Brien and this time he relies on the Moyglare winner Necklace, who is also having her first start of the season.

This race has in the past been something of a starting point for Ballydoyle fillies and Necklace could be more of an Oaks type. Red Bloom represents last year's winning team and must be respected but an each-way option could be Phantom Wind whose trainer scored with Lahan after a flop in Newbury's Fred Darling.