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Ger Lyons feels his decision to bypass the Etihad Airways Irish 1,000 Guineas this weekend with Lightening Pearl will be vindicated in the long run.
The Marju filly provided the County Meath handler with his first Group One winner as a trainer when collecting the Cheveley Park Stakes as a juvenile last season. Lyons believes she failed to see out the mile in the Newmarket version and he will now wait for the tyregiant.com Summer Stakes at York in July.
"She's in great order and is very fresh at the moment. She was last off the bridle in the Guineas. In the group chasing the winner, nothing was going better than her two out but she emptied very quickly," said Lyons.
"It was a bit of a mess of a race with what happened at the start, but it was the same for everybody.
"Maybe she didn't stay, that's the big question mark. In my opinion, we are better off missing the Guineas because her sectionals suggested she is all speed.
"We'll go for a Group Three at York in July over six furlongs. The programme for three-year-old sprinters isn't great but they do have a very good record in that race, I think the last three winners have all been her age.
"She won't have her Group One penalty and it looks a lovely race to start her back in.
"I just wasn't able to give Sheikh Fahad the guarantee that she would stay a mile in the Guineas and hopefully it will take a good one to lie up with her at York."
