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It is unusual to see a potential Guineas prospect on the Tapeta at Southwell in March, yet Night Raider was shortened to a general 10/1 after an easy success in the Boost Your Acca At BetMGM Novice Stakes on Wednesday.
An impressive nine length winner over seven furlongs on debut in December, Karl Burke's Night Raider returned to the scene of his successful debut and recorded another facile success.
Sent to the front by jockey Danny Tudhope, the Dark Angel colt turned up the tempo from two furlongs out and kicked clear to score by five lengths, despite drifting left in the closing stages.
It was an exciting victory for his trainer Karl Burke, who has just completed a course of chemotherapy for cancer.
In an interview with Sky Sports Racing, he said: "He's a horse of huge potential, we know that and he's not fully wound up by any stretch of the imagination.
"His weight was identical to first time out and all of ours improve for their first time out. Nadir who leads him up said he has taken more of a blow tonight than he did the first time.
He was a second and a half faster this time and I don't know if that is down to ability or the track riding faster.
"I don't think I would take 8-1 (about the Guineas), but the 40-1 I had a couple of months ago is a bit better! Lets hope he is an 8-1 shot and he's obviously a very good horse and his future is in front of him.
The Guineas isn't the be all and end all for him and he's a horse with a big future."
Night Raider could be seen again before the 2000 Guineas, but the timings could make a run tricky.
"The idea was to go to the Guineas with a racecourse gallop at the Craven meeting – I don't want to go a mile or go for the Craven itself and if we went for the seven-furlong race at Newbury (Greenham), that only gives us two weeks before the Guineas – or there is a seven-furlong conditions race for horses that haven't run more than twice, and I have to speak to connections, but if we do go anywhere, I would be pointing that way.
"Danny just said there he could do with another run. He's still green in front and was lugging away up the straight. Another run is probably the right way to go.
"Laurens was pretty good in her first two runs, but he's a lovely horse with a great temperament and there's a lot of scope there, so we've just got to look after him, do the right thing by him and hopefully he reaches his full potential."
