Rhythm beats the blues in Guineas triumph

KIEREN FALLON pounced to win his third Sagitta 1000 Guineas at Newmarket yesterday as Russian Rhythm showed why some rumours are best ignored.

Sent off a 12-1 chance, Russian Rhythm had been half that price with the bookmakers only a fortnight ago before gossip started to circulate that all was not well with her. But she silenced any doubts with an emphatic success, beating the luckless French challenger Six Perfections, the 7-4 favourite, by a length and a half with her compatriot Intercontinental (5-1) a further one and three-quarter lengths back in third.

Drawn in stalls one and two on the inside of the field, both Fallon and Thierry Thulliez, the rider of Six Perfections, would have expected to meet trouble in running as they attempted to negotiate a path through their 17 rivals.