Friday marks the next significant date in the flat racing roadshow, as Newmarket stages the most important fixture of the season to date. Running through to Sunday, the Betfred Guineas Festival is home to the opening two Classics of the 2025 campaign.
The three-year-old colts are the first to take to the track in the £525,000 2000 Guineas on Saturday afternoon. Won by all-time greats including Frankel, Sea The Stars, Dancing Brave, and Brigadier Gerard, the 2025 edition has attracted a field of eleven typically regally bred sorts from the leading British and Irish yards.
With 10 wins, Aidan O’Brien tops the all-time trainers’ table in this event, whilst Charlie Appleby has claimed two of the last three editions. The Ballydoyle maestro and Godolphin number one are both represented this year. However, the market leader hails from the yard of a handler who, rather surprisingly, has never landed this prize.
Just the One for Juddmonte
Juddmonte boasted an enviable hand in the lead-up to the 2000 Guineas. Harry Charlton’s Cosmic Year was nicely bred for the task – by Kingman and out of the Group 1-winning mare Passage Of Time – and had created a favourable impression in landing his two starts to date. Jonquil, meanwhile, thrust his hat into the ring with an impressive in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury.
However, such is the strength of Juddmonte’s one-mile squad that Cosmic Year and Jonquil will head elsewhere. Instead, Juddmonte relies solely on Craven Stakes winner Field Of Gold, and it’s easy to see why. Sharing a sire with Cosmic Year, this John and Thady Gosden star built on a promising juvenile campaign with an emphatic success in the Craven Stakes over the 2000 Guineas course and distance. Gosden has won every British Classic at least once, bar the 2000 Guineas. If replicating that Craven display, Field Of Gold may put that right in 2025. At a general price of 7/4, the market suggests he has every chance of doing just that.
O’Brien Also Single Handed
It’s fair to say that the lead-up to the 2000 Guineas hasn’t gone entirely to plan for Aidan O’Brien. His unbeaten colt, The Lion In Winter, headed the ante-post lists over the winter months, only to be ruled out well in advance of the big day. No matter, O’Brien still had Group 1 winner Twain to call upon. A perfect two from two during his juvenile campaign, the Wootton Bassett colt looked like a horse of immense potential when claiming the Criterium Internation on only his second start. Unfortunately for team Ballydoyle, Twain was found to be less than 100% following a gallop and will miss the race.
For most yards, losing two Group 1 winners would be enough to end a 2000 Guineas challenge. However, O’Brien’s operation isn’t most yards. He may only be third choice, but Expanded arrives on the back of an excellent two-year-old campaign. Late to the track, the good-looking bay scored on debut in October before losing out by just a neck in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes only seven days later. At a general 5/1, O’Brien’s sole entry sits third in the betting.
Market Move for Ruling Court
Successful with Coroebus in 2002 and Notable Speech in 2024, Charlie Appleby sends a potent two-pronged attack into battle. Many assumed that Dewhurst Stakes champ Shadow Of Light would be the choice of William Buick, with the Lope De Vega colt winning four of five starts last season, including a pair of Group 1 events. He retains his place in the line-up but has been passed over by Godolphin’s number one in favour of Ruling Court.
This son of US Triple Crown winner Justify was the subject of market support earlier in the week. Following the announcement of the riding arrangements, he is now a general 4/1 second favourite. Whilst no match for The Lion In Winter last term, he doesn’t have that rival to worry about here and looked like an improved performer when romping to a six-length victory on his seasonal return in Meydan
Joseph and Jessica Add to Irish Challenge
With 13 wins since 2000, the Irish merit the utmost respect in this event. Joining Aidan O’Brien on the trip over from the Emerald Isle in 2025 are his son Joseph, and leading dual-purpose trainer Jessica Harrington.
By speed influence, Mehmas, Joseph O’Brien’s Scorthy Champ doesn’t look like a typical Guineas winner on paper. However, he has been doing a good impression of one at the track. Two from three in his juvenile campaign, he rounded out 2024 with a strong finishing effort to claim the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh.
Having claimed the 2024 Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, Hotazhell looked like an obvious 2000 Guineas contender for Jessica Harrington. As such, it looks interesting that she instead relies on Green Impact. One of three Wootton Basset colts in the field, this strapping sort also won two or three starts in 2024, culminating in a Group 2 verdict over narrow Futurity Trophy runner-up Delacroix. With Shane Foley in the saddle, he looks like one of the more likely outsiders at around the 14/1 mark.
Will the opening Classic fall to one of the aforementioned runners? Or could there be an unexposed talent flying under the radar? Find out at 3:35 pm on Saturday.