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GUINEAS CONTENDERS: BEST OF THE REST
Oxagon, the Craven Stakes winner, definitely deserves a mention in this category, if only because a. it’s a trial over the Classic course and distance and b. John Gosden, his trainer, still needs a 2,000 Guineas winner to complete his set of the five English Classics. It looked like a sub-standard renewal of the Craven, though, and a couple of interesting contenders were late non-runners.
The runner-up there was Avicenna, one of a handful of horses owned by the Godolphin operation stabled with Roger Varian in Newmarket, and he is trading at around 25-1 to give his trainer a debut success in the Classic, while William Haggas’s Needle Match is also attracting some each-way support. He was only fourth in the Greenham Stakes behind Alparslan – who is a late non-runner in the Guineas – but was doing all his best work at the finish and looks sure to be suited by this step up in trip.
2.20 NEWMARKET RESULT: Erzindjan leaves it late
1. ERZINDJAN 17-2, 2. Fifth Column, 3. Tycoon.
Off and running in the 2.20 at Newmarket …
They’ve split into two groups, Mister Winston leads on the far rail … centre group making ground now though … Fifth Column moves past Bullet Point … they’ve into the final furlong and now here comes Erzindjan, he’s finishing best of all and gets up for the win …
GUINEAS CONTENDER: KING’S TRAIL
Charlie Appleby’s (apparent) second-string arrives with a very similar profile to his 2024 winner, Notable Speech, who did not race as a juvenile and arrived at the Rowley Mile having won three minor events on the all-weather at Kempton. King’s Trail has even less experience, having had just two starts so far, though he did make it onto the track as a juvenile – just – in a novice at Kempton in December. He followed up at the same track 117 days later, finishing a length clear in a strong time, and would presumably not be running here if he had not been showing Appleby plenty at home. James Doyle, successful on an Appleby second-string in Coroebus in 2022, will fancy his chances of repeating the trick.
There’s a non-runner in the 2,000 Guineas: Alparslan, Karl Burke’s Greenham Stakes winner, has been taken out due to the ground.
2.20 NEWMARKET, HANDICAP, 1M 1F
Much more competitive fare in the second handicap on the card, and a whole host of possibilities to ponder over this somewhat unusual trip. Bullet Point was a winner first time up last season and is attracting plenty of support for the William Haggas/Tom Marquand combo, while Mister Winston arrives with a similar profile to Double Rush in the previous race, having won a one-mile handicap at the Craven meeting last month. Fifth Column has not been sighted in three starts since winning an ultra-competitive event at York’s Ebor meeting last summer, but is clearly expected to improve for his seasonal debut and is third-pick in the betting at around 7-1. Botanical has a fair chance on his fourth-place finish in the Lincoln Handicap at Doncaster, while Erzindjan would also have a squeak if back to the form of his close fourth in the Cambridgeshire Handicap in September off a 1lb higher mark.
SELECTION: MISTER WINSTON
GUINEAS CONTENDER: DISTANT STORM
Charlie Appleby has won three of the last four runnings of the 2,000 Guineas and this son of Night Of Thunder is his leading contender from two runners today according to both the bookies and the jockey booking, as William Buick will be holding the reins. His last two races last season were both over seven furlongs at this track, and he was close behind Gstaad when third in the Dewhurst Stakes. His previous race, in the Tattersalls Stakes, was his standout performance, as he travelled like a dream before finding a deeply impressive turn of foot to pull nearly five lengths clear of his field.
On a strict reading of the Dewhurst form, he has a little to find with Gstaad, but he has always been seen as the type to keep improving through his career by Appleby and a fourth win in five is no forlorn hope.
1.45 NEWMARKET RESULT: Double delight for backers
1. DOUBLE RUSH 4-6 fav, 2. Addison Grey, 3. Apollo One.
Off and running in the 1.45 at Newmarket … Double Rush was a shade of odds-on at the off …
1.45 NEWMARKET, HANDICAP, 6F
In a normal year, this is one of the most competitive races on the card, but this year’s renewal revolves squarely around Andrew Balding’s Double Rush, who bolted up in a similar event over track and trip at the Craven meeting in April. He looked very much destined for Pattern company there, coming home nearly five lengths clear, and he has just a 5lb penalty today. He is well clear on Timeform ratings and currently priced up at around even-money, a price that many backers will be happy to leave alone without necessarily feeling a need to find an each-way alternative.
SELECTION: DOUBLE RUSH.
GUINEAS CONTENDER: BOW ECHO
The favourite for today’s Classic until he was displaced by Gstaad a couple of days ago, and one of only two unbeaten runners (Charlie Appleby’s King’s Trail is the other). George Boughey’s colt will bid to give 20-year-old Billy Loughnane his first Classic success, having posted the best performance of his juvenile campaign in the Royal Lodge Stakes, over the Guineas track and trip, in September.
That is a Group Two, a rung below the championship events contested by the likes of Gstaad and Distant Storm, but a strongly-contested event all the same and his Timeform rating is just 1lb off the top. George Boughey, his trainer, has a Guineas-winning pedigree with Cachet in the 1,000 Guineas in 2022, and Bow Echo will set off at around 4-1 to complete the set of Newmarket Classic’s for his trainer.
2,000 GUINEAS CONTENDER: GSTAAD
Aidan O’Brien’s sole runner in today’s Classic is bidding to end a run of 13 straight losers in the race for his trainer, which is an unexpected losing streak to say the least as O’Brien holds the all-time record of 10 wins. He is three clear of John Scott, whose seventh success came all the way back in 1862, and the only modern-day trainer to come close to O’Brien’s total is Sir Michael Stoute, with six. Gstaad had quite a busy time of it as a juvenile, running six times and winning three, and got closer than any other rival to the Dewhurst winner, Gewan.
He rounded off his campaign with a smooth success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar in November …
… and sits atop Timeform’s ratings for today’s race, albeit only 1lb in front of Bow Echo, with Distant Storm another 3lb behind. He has not seen a track since, but hit the headlines a few weeks ago when an apparent computer meltdown at Ballydoyle saw him taken out of the race in error. It cost £30k to get him back into the field, and he has been steadily backed over the last few days down to 5-2 favourite.
1.10 NEWMARKET RESULT: Flora Of Bermuda leaves it late
1. FLORA OF BERMUDA 7-2, 2. Rosy Affair, 3. Sayidah Dariyan. Won by hd, 1 3/4.
Rosy Affair leads, Flora Of Bermuda close behind, Sayidah Dariyan also chasing the pace … they’re into the Dip … Rosy Affair still leads with half a furlong to go, James Doyle getting a strong run from Flora of Bermuda … inching closer … it’s a photo but it looks like Doyle got there !
Going into the stalls for the Ellen Chaloner Stakes …
… and they’re off and running at Newmarket on 2,000 Guineas day!
1.10 NEWMARKET, ELLEN CHALONER STAKES, LISTED, 6F
The first race on the card is a Listed event, the grade that sits between top-end handicaps and Group races, but the top three in the betting – Flora Of Bermuda, Sky Majesty and Sayidah Dariyan – were all regulars in Group One company last season. All three are making their seasonal debuts here and so will be expected to improve through the campaign, but all three also ran well first time up last season and it is impossible to rule any of them out on that basis. Timeform rates Flora Of Bermuda a couple of pounds clear of Sayidah Dariyan, and while she has yet to register a win on ground as fast as today’s, she has a remarkably solid and consistent profile over recent seasons and probably the safest bet on that basis. Overall, though, this is probably a race to watch with an eye on Royal Ascot and beyond.
SELECTION: FLORA OF BERMUDA.
Preamble
Good afternoon from Newmarket on the first Saturday in May – 2,000 Guineas day, in other words, and a date that has been circled on the calendars of Flat racing fans since the 2025 turf season concluded in November.
The first Classic of the new campaign – one of just five all season – has a long and storied history that stretches back to 1809, and the original prize, as the name suggests, was 2,000gns, or £2,100. That, so Google tells me at least, is the equivalent of £220k today, so the actual first prize for this afternoon’s winner, which is a shade under £300k after a couple of supplementary entries earlier in the week, compares fairly well.
The race is about far more than the prize money, however, as the winner can expect to enjoy a long and – for his owners – highly lucrative career as a stallion. And it is also the first leg of the fabled Triple Crown of the English turf, the Guineas-Derby-St Leger treble that has been completed only twice in the last 100 years: by Bahram in 1935 and Nijinsky in 1970.
There is a £2m bonus up for grabs if one of today’s 15 runners can go on to complete the Triple Crown, but realistically many are bred to be best at between a mile and 10 furlongs and perhaps only Oxagon – by Frankel out of a Dubawi mare – and the unbeaten King’s Trail – by Sea The Stars out of a Dubawi mare who stayed 10 furlongs – could be seen as potential Triple Crown candidates.
The main supporting race on today’s card is the Palace House Stakes at 2.55, a five-furlong sprint where the hugely popular mare Asfoora will be running for the first time since her win in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Arc day, while dual-screeners will also be looking forward to ITV Racing’s annual trip to Thirsk for the Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap at 2.40.
All the news, betting moves, action, results and reaction will be here on the live blog as the afternoon unfolds, and the card here at Newmarket gets underway underway with the Chaloner Stakes, a six-furlong Listed contest, at 1.10.
