Let the Classics commence

The European flat season swings into top gear for Guineas weekend at Newmarket.

The trials are over, the pointers have been provided and it is now time to let the horses do the talking, as this year’s Classic hopefuls line up on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile racecourse for the 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas on Saturday, 5 and Sunday, 6 May.

The colts take centre stage on the Saturday, all bidding to become the first English Classic winner of the year in the one-mile 2,000 Guineas. First run in 1809, the race is named after the prize money originally on offer, although today the winner will take home more than a quarter of a million pounds.

The 2,000 Guineas quickly established itself as one of the most sought-after races for three-year-olds, and boasts a roll of honour sure to excite any racing fan, with names such as Brigadier Gerard, Dancing Brave, Nashwan, Zafonic, Mark Of Esteem and Frankel featuring on the list of previous winners.

As well as being a Classic in it’s own right, the 2,000 Guineas also serves as a trial for the English Derby. To date, 36 colts have completed this prestigious double, most recently Camelot in 2012, and also Sea The Stars, a truly outstanding son of former Godolphin runner Cape Cross.

The 2,000 Guineas and the Derby represent the first two legs of English racing’s Triple Crown, which culminates in the St Leger at Doncaster each September. Winning all three races is no mean feat and in fact was last achieved in 1970 by the great Nijinsky.

This year, Team Godolphin have a live contender in the form of Masar, who recorded a devastating nine-length victory in the G3 Craven Stakes at Newmarket last week. The striking son of New Approach was a hugely talented two-year-old and could not have been more impressive on his Rowley Mile debut. He will aim to become the fourth winner of the race to carry the blue silks and join the likes of his paternal half-brother Dawn Approach and the aforementioned Mark of Esteem. 

Sunday is ‘ladies’ day’ and sees the fillies line up over the same distance in the 1,000 Guineas, a race founded just five years after the colts’ equivalent.

Godolphin have been responsible for three winners of the race so far, first courtesy of Cape Verdi in 1998, followed by Kazzia in 2002 and Blue Bunting in 2011. While all three were undoubtedly outstanding fillies, there is another winner of the race for Sheikh Mohammed who is arguably one of the greatest of them all, Oh So Sharp.

When Sheikh Mohammed acquired Dalham Hall Stud in 1981, the purchase included a mare named Oh So Fair, who was carrying a foal sired by Champion miler Kris. The resultant filly was Oh So Sharp, who took the 1,000 Guineas in record time before storming to a six-length triumph in the Epsom Oaks. Trained by the late, great Sir Henry Cecil, Oh So Sharp ensured her place in history when successfully taking on the colt in the St Leger, becoming the Fillies’ Triple Crown winner in the process. Her feat has not been repeated to this day, although Kazzia did complete the Guineas/ Oaks double during her superb three-year-old campaign.

Godolphin could have two runners this year, both daughters of leading Darley stallion Dubawi.

Wild Illusion provided her sire with his second consecutive winner of the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac last autumn (a year after subsequent Breeders’ Cup winner Wuhedia took the race) and could now head to back Newmarket after a very satisfactory racecourse gallop there last week. 

She is likely to be joined by Soliloquy, who led practically all the way to take the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes (a recognised 1,000 Guineas trial) during last week’s Craven meeting.