Jim Crowley is going flat out for Guineas glory

Ray Cochrane set a precedent that Jim Crowley will hope to follow at Newmarket on Saturday.

Cochrane realised early on that he wasn't cut out to be a jump jockey, so changed codes and went on to taste Classic success in the Oaks, Derby and 1,000 Guineas.

It took Crowley, who rode more than 300 winners over fences, a little longer to fathom that the career of a National Hunt rider has a limited timespan.

Now in only his third full season on the Flat, the 30-year-old Irishman has his first ride in a Classic aboard the Karl Burke-trained Lord Shanakill in the 2,000 Guineas.

A son of Speightstown, the top-rated sprinter in America in 2004, Lord Shanakill will make his seasonal debut on the Rowley Mile, having missed his intended prep in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury with a fever.

Though it will be his first run beyond seven furlongs, Crowley thinks that punters shouldn't dismiss the colt.

Officially rated 3lb superior to favourite Delegator, Lord Shanakill signed off his juvenile campaign when beaten a nose by Intense Focus in the seven-furlong Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket last October.

"Lord Shanakill probably has the best form in the book," said Crowley. "He was third in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot, won the Mill Reef at Newbury and would have won the Dewhurst in another stride."