Racing: Niche carves her claim to Classic credentials: Sayyedati's best days may be behind her but Lester Piggott's touch is as sharp as ever. Richard Edmondson reports from Newmarket

THIS IS the time of the year when Flat reputations established in a two-year-old season routinely shrivel in the glare of a Classic build-up.

The phrase for this in racing is 'burst bubbles' and at the Craven meeting the bubbles explode with the frequency that comes when a cat climbs the Christmas tree.

Six days after the eclipse of Zafonic, the ante-post favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, his female counterpart, Sayyedati, was the first to flounder away her reputation at Newmarket's first meeting of the year.

Clive Brittain's filly, who was third to the Lester Piggott-ridden Niche and Zarani Sidi Anna in the Nell Gwyn Stakes, has now been overtaken for 1,000 Guineas favouritism by Elizabeth Bay, who is trained in France by Andre Fabre.

The script seemed predictable enough for much of yesterday's race as Sayyedati cruised in behind the leaders, but when the field met the rising ground there was also an increase in problems for Walter Swinburn, the favourite's jockey.

'Two furlongs out I thought it was a matter of how far,' he said. Moments later he was asking how come, as Sayyedati failed to accelerate.

Clive Brittain, who prepares Sayyedati, considered that jockey, trainer and horse had been jolted by this experience.

'She was cruising two out, trotting along like it was a morning gallop, but she didn't find anything off the bridle,' he said. 'One of the dangers when you have a filly like her who works so well at home and does it all on the bit is that when they come off the bridle it's a bit of a shock. 'She certainly surprised Walter in the race and she also surprised me.'

Piggott's capacity to shock remains undiminished, and the bare statistic of a 57-year-old trying to win his 31st Classic when Niche contests the Guineas seems less improbable when he is that figure.

Many in the sport continue to be dismayed when horses apparently fail to transfer their form from two to three, but Piggott himself has been aboard enough of these under-achievers to accept them as a fact of life. Sayyedati's eclipse did not surprise him.

'Last year she was only just a little bit better than the others,' he said. 'You could never say she was a world-beater.'

Richard Hannon now has two strings for the first Classic, which will be the first port of call this year for Niche's gallops partner, Lyric Fantasy.

'I've been working them both behind the colts just to get them to settle,' Hannon said.

Lyric Fantasy will have to relax hugely if she is to eke out her doubtful stamina, though her trainer sees less problems than others in this area.

'I honestly don't believe staying is going to be a problem with her because she is not a tearaway,' he said. 'I'm very pleased with both my fillies and the only difference is that Niche has actually come out and done it.'

What no filly has actually done since Oh So Sharp in 1985 though is win both the Nell Gwyn and the 1,000 Guineas.

The suggestion yesterday was that if this race had thrown up a Classic winner the most likely candidate was probably Michael Stoute's Zarani Sidi Anna, who made stealthy late progress to take second place on the line.

There was quiet confidence in Stoute's words after the race. 'Mine's a filly who will stay a mile and a mile and beyond, and the run of this race didn't suit her,' he said. 'So she must be in with a chance in the Guineas.'

1,000 GUINEAS: (Newmarket, 29 April): Coral: 5-2 Elizabeth Bay, 3-1 Sayyedati, 7-1 Niche, 10-1 Zarani Sidi Anna, 14-1 Stella Mystika. Ladbrokes: 7-2 Elizabeth Bay, 4-1 Sayyedati, 6-1 Zarani Sidi Anna, 8-1 Niche, 10- 1 Wixon, 12-1 Stella Mystika, 14-1 Lyric Fantasy. Hills: 3-1 Elizabeth Bay, 7-2 Sayyedati, 7- 1 Niche, 10-1 Zarani Sidi Anna, 14-1 Stella Mystika, 16-1 Dayflower & Queens View.

(Photograph omitted)