WILTSHIRE-TRAINED Illuminate may have her Qipco 1000 Guineas credentials tested with an outing in the Dubai Duty Free Stakes at Newbury a week on Saturday.

Trainer Richard Hannon has earmarked the Group Three prize as a potential starting point for the three-year-old if the ground is in her favour.

Should Illuminate fail to line up in the seven-furlong event, better known as the Fred Darling, the Marlborough handler will instead send her for a racecourse gallop.

He said: "Illuminate is in great form and I've been very pleased with her. Sean Levey rode her the other day and said she felt a million dollars.

"She will probably go for the Newbury race, but she won't run in it if it is soft ground. I like to give mine a trial run as often they need that. If she didn't do that she would certainly have a racecourse gallop.

"She has done very well and she never was a big filly, but the boys all tell me she feels bigger underneath. She is a lovely mare, with lots of speed."

Although the Guineas remains the early-season target for Illuminate, who was last seen finishing down the field in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies' Turf, Hannon has aired concerns over her ability to see out the mile trip.

He said: "I think the mile is an issue and we have got to ride her to get a mile and ride her like we did at Royal Ascot by dropping her out a little bit.

"If she doesn't get the trip we can always come back, that's what is so good about the Commonwealth Cup (at Royal Ascot)."