Swing strikes trial gold

Arch Swing, trained by John Oxx, just kept her stablemate Four Sins at bay to maintain her unbeaten record in the Dimitrova 1000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown.

Four Sins set the pace with Arch Swing close up in third place in the early stages.

The evens favourite got a dream run up the inside under Mick Kinane and swept into the lead about a furlong out, but Four Sins battled back for Fran Berry and only failed by a short head to get back up. The Aidan O’Brien-trained Theann was third.

William Hill cut Arch Swing to 8-1 from 11-1 for the Stan James 1000 Guineas at Newmarket while totesport left her unchanged at 10-1.

Totesport trimmed Theann to 20-1 from 33s for the same race and make Four Sins 25-1 from 40s for the Vodafone Oaks.

Oxx said: "I wanted to get a run into her as she only had two run last year. She’s a big, masculine filly who takes a lot of work. It would have been nice to see her win easier but she came on from her first to second run last year and hopefully she will improve for that again.

“Mick said the ground felt slow on her although it’s lovely ground but she has matured and maybe she needs it good to firm now.

“I need a good run for the next four weeks (before Newmarket) and she needs to improve.”

Of the runner-up, Oxx added: “She may be a possible for the Cheshire Oaks.”