sport news What a great way to ADVERTISE £20m horse palace!

There is a lot riding on Advertise in Qipco 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, much more than the laudable feat of landing the first Classic of the season.

Victory would be the biggest in the career of trainer Martyn Meade. It could also provide the extra impetus to Meade's dreams of bringing the glory days back to the historic stable on the Manton Estate in Wiltshire.

Meade spent £20million to buy 1,000-acre Manton in 2017, saving a base steeped in racing folklore from being broken up and sold piecemeal by its previous owner.

Victory for Advertise at Newmarket would be Martyn Meade's biggest success

Victory for Advertise at Newmarket would be Martyn Meade's biggest success

Gallops where over 50 Classic winners, including Alec Taylor's 1873 2,000 Guineas winner Gang Forward, have be trained were being ploughed up, barns in danger of becoming residential developments.

The work Meade has subsequently undertaken will make his initial investment 'considerably more than that when it is finished'.

But the high spec finishes are all for the horses' benefit as Meade has turned a derelict farm into a horse palace, putting his stamp on the training centre from where the late Football Pools magnate Robert Sangster once hoped to dominate racing until he ran out of money.

It was in Sangster's colours that a Manton horse last won the 2,000 Guineas - Peter Chapple-Hyam-trained Rodrigo de Triano under Lester Piggott 1992-while the last British Classic winner trained on the estate was John Gosden's Lahan, who won the 1,000 Guineas in 2000.

Businessman Meade, previously based in Newmarket, says he can make Manton viable.

Meade dreams of bringing the glory days back to the Manton Estate in Wiltshire

Meade dreams of bringing the glory days back to the Manton Estate in Wiltshire

With its surrounding farmland and vast array of gallops that are also used by Brian Meehan, Manton's other resident trainer, Meade's aim is to make the centre self-sufficient - but he also needs to produce a stream of successful and marketable horses.

Meade, whose 2017 Group One Prix de la Foret winner Aclaim is now a stallion at the National Stud, said: 'Clearly you have to be

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