City Style sharp for Craven start

City Style, fresh from a pair of sharp scores in Dubai, is the in-form horse in Thursday's Group 3, $96,000 Craven Stakes, a course-and-distance prep for the 2000 Guineas on Newmarket's Rowley Mile.

A gelded son of City Zip, City Style won the Sunday Silence Stakes at Louisiana Downs before finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf when he was trained by Cheryl Asmussen. He was 2 for 2 for Godolphin at Nad Al Sheba this winter, taking allowance races at 6 1/2 and 7 1/2 furlongs. As a gelding, however, he is ineligible for the 2000 Guineas as well as all of the other European classics.

A race like the seven-furlong Jersey Stakes at Royal Ascot could be City Style's next stop, but Delegator may be Guineas material. A Dansili colt trained by Brian Meehan, he won his maiden going seven furlongs at Newmarket before finishing a somewhat unlucky fifth in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, just two lengths behind the victorious Intense Focus. Two others to watch are Pure Poetry, the winner this past Saturday of the listed Easter Stakes on the Kempton Park Polytrack, and Imperial Guest, who landed the listed Doncaster Stakes at 50-1 in his latest start on Oct. 25.

On the same card, Twice Over will use the 1 1/8 miles of the Group 3, $96,000 Earl of Sefton Stakes as his 4-year-old debut. The winner of last year's Craven, he has also won the Group 2 Prix Eugene Adam and was second by six lengths to New Approach in the Group 1 Champion Stakes. Trained by Henry Cecil, will be tested by the improving two-time listed race winner Virtual.