Racing...Only Bettor: Joseph O'Brien Flat season special 2021

For this week's Racing...Only Bettor podcast special Betfair Ambassador Joseph O'Brien talks to Kevin Blake about his strong team for the upcoming Flat season ahead.

Guineas hopefuls Pretty Gorgeous and Thunder Moon lead the charge while Joseph's second Melbourne Cup winner, Twilight Payment, fly's the flag for the older generation.

There are also several stoutly breed two-year-olds which he signposts as horses to follow in this start of season special.

Listen to the podcast and get Joseph's key quotes below.

On the season ahead

"I'm really looking forward to it. I think we have a nice team of animals to go to war with. Obviously we have just had a couple of meetings and it's a very exciting time of the year."

On 2000 Guineas hopeful Thunder Moon

"I'm very pleased with how Thunder Moon has come through the winter. Everything has gone pretty smooth so far and he looks fantastic, we are very pleased with him. He did nothing wrong last year and it fantastic to have a horse of his stature in the yard."

"I thought his run in the Dewhurst was very good. Obviously when you get beaten you are down in the dumps a little bit but when you sit back and see how the ground was, there was quite a bias to the opposite side of the track to where we were that day in Newmarket. If you pause the race inside the 2 furlong marker he's travelling like the winner. It was a really good run when you break it down."

"I'd say at this stage Thunder Moon will go straight to Newmarket. Without saying with absolute certainty that he's not going to run in a trial, I would say that it's most likely that he will go straight to Newmarket.

"I'd be quite comfortable saying that Thunder Moon will be able to get a mile as long as the ground isn't too soft. He settles very well and he does have a very good turn of foot so I'm quite comfortable with the fact that we can go a mile. I wouldn't say with any confidence that we could go much further than that at his stage to be honest but I think a mile will be within his range."

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On 1000 Guineas contender Pretty Gorgeous

"She ran with credit every time she went to the races last year. She held her form very well. She won the fillies mile, was very brave that day and is another exciting filly to have in the yard. It's fantastic to have a Guineas prospect like her.

"She was always a very big strapping two-year-old filly and always look the type that would at least be as good, if not better, as she got older.

"It looks as though we'll probably more likely to go straight to the Guineas than take in a trial but again I wouldn't be completely ruling it out. I'm please were we are with her. She's a big gross mare so there is the option of having a run in the trial but I'd say it more likely at this stage she might go straight to the Guineas.

"I'd be hopefully that at some stage we could try her going 10 furlongs but I don't think she is going to be an Oaks filly. I do think that she will go beyond a mile at some stage."

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On My Generation as a Guineas contender

"She won very impressively in the Patton Stakes at Dundalk. We didn't expect her to win a race of that nature on her second start when she was quite green on debut but she really stepped it up from her first run in Dundalk and won very impressively. There's a good chance that she will go to Leopardstown for the 1000 Guineas trial depending on the ground conditions."