Posts Tagged ‘2000 guineas’

The 2,000 Guineas Stakes is the first of the five British Classic Races which are run each year. The other Classic races are the 1,000 Guineas, the Epsom Oaks, the Epsom Derby and the St Leger Stakes.

The 2010 renewal of the 2,000 Guineas is due to be run on Saturday 1st May. Newmarket Racecourse hosts the 2,000 Guineas each May where the race is run on the Rowley Mile. Bookmaker Stan James currently sponsor the race.

Fillies are eligible to run in the 2,000 Guineas but they generally run in the 1,000 Guineas, which takes place the following day. The last filly to win the 2,000 Guineas was Garden Path in 1944.

In recent years trainer Aidan O’Brien has dominated the 2,000 Guineas, having trained four of the last eight winners. The overall record for the Irish is even stronger in recent times, with Irish trainers having won six of the last eight renewals.

2,000 Guineas Stakes Details

First Run: 1809

Trip: 1 mile

Class: Group 1

Age: 3yos

2,000 Guineas Stakes Trends

10 of the last 10 winners finished in the first 3 last time out
10 of the last 10 winners had their most recent run in August or later
10 of the last 10 winners were born before 7th April
9 of the last 10 winners had won over a trip of 7f or a mile
8 of the last 10 winners have been priced between 9/2 and 11/1
8 of the last 10 winners won on their first run as a 2yo
7 of the last 10 winners had won at Group level
7 of the last 10 winners were having their first run of the season
7 of the last 10 winners were by a sire who had won a Group 1 race over a mile
6 of the last 10 winners have been trained in Ireland
4 of the last 10 winners have been trained by Aidan O’Brien
1 of the last 10 winners have been favourite

2,000 Guineas Stakes Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Price
2000	King's Best	Kieren Falon	Sir Michael Stoute	13/2
2001	Golan	Kieren Fallon	Sir Michael Stoute	11/1
2002	Rock Of Gibraltar	Johnny Murtagh	Aidan O'Brien	9/1
2003	Refuse To Bend	Pat Smullen	Dermot Weld	9/2
2004	Haafhd	Richard Hills	Barry Hills	11/2
2005	Footstepsinthesand	Kieren Fallon	Aidan O'Brien	13/2
2006	George Washington	Kieren Fallon	Aidan O'Brien	6/4f
2007	Cockney Rebel	Olivier Peslier	Geoff Huffer	25/1
2008	Henrythenavigator	Johnny Murtagh	Aidan O'Brien	11/1
2009	Sea The Stars	Mick Kinane	John Oxx	8/1

2010 2,000 Guineas Preview and Tips

The 2010 renewal of the 2,000 Guineas looks like a mouth watering contest. Winner of the Racing Post Trophy, St Nicholas Abbey has the potential to be an absolute superstar. His comprehensive victory over Elusive Pimpernel last season is rock solid form and the runner up franked that with authority in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket earlier this season. Couple this with Aidan O’Brien’s fabulous record in the 2,000 Guineas and it makes St Nicholas Abbey a very hard horse to oppose. Whether the current odds of even money can be described as value is debatable but O’Brien’s charge is very clearly the horse they all have to beat.

Elusive Pimpernel could well finish runner up to St Nicholas Abbey again here as was the case in the Racing Post Trophy. John Dunlop’s runner does have a couple of advantages over the Irish favourite this time however. Firstly, he should have the fitness edge over St Nicholas Abbey having won the Craven Stakes last time out. That victory also came on fast ground, something St Nich is yet to encounter. Elusive Pimpernel looks like an each way bet to nothing at a best price of 5/1.

Canford Cliffs is well fancied in some quarters but personally, I think he’s going to find it tough against the front two in the market. That being said, his stable couldn’t be in much better form and it will be very interesting to see if Hannon decides to run the winner of the Greenham Stakes Dick Turpin. Turpin beat stable mate Canford Cliffs on that occasion but is double the price of the runner up.

I’m not Richard Hills’ biggest fan but I’m not part of his hate mob either and I’m hoping he can find one of his better performances to get the Mark Johnston trained Awzaan home in front. Awzaan is unbeaten and is proven on the likely fast going. Mark Johnston’s runners at this level never want for fitness and the horse also won on his debut as a two year old. His handler won the 2,000 Guineas in 1994 with Mr Baileys and this would probably be his best chance of another victory in the race since. At 9/1 with Bet365, Awzaan is my selection for the race.

1pt e/w Awzaan @ 9/1 Bet365

Aidan O’Brien is the king of the 2000 Guineas with four victories in the last ten years. Rock Of Gibraltar in 2002, Footstepsinthesand in 2005, George Washington in 2006 and last year’s winner Henrythenavigator have made O’Brien the man to fear in the Newmarket showpiece.

The Irish trainer’s horses are often allowed to go off at decent odds as Henrythenavigator winning at 11/1 in 2008 demonstrates. His only winner at cramped odds was 2006 incumbent George Washington at 6/4.

This year O’Brien goes to war with 5 runners, although the participation of Rip Van Winkle has been open to some debate in the last week or so. This horse looked very impressive when winning the Tyros Stakes at Leopardstown but disappointed badly in the Dewhurst and although that wouldn’t put me off on it’s own, I feel he’s being priced up very short on reputation whereas other have solid form in the book.

Of all Aidan’s entries, the one I like most is Mastercraftsman. His best performance for me came in the Group 1 Independent Waterford Wedgwood Phoenix Stakes which was on good to firm ground, the likely going for Saturday’s big race. He was a little disappointing on his last start when 4th behind Naaqoos at Longchamp at the end of last season but I’m always prepared to forgive horses from the O’Brien stable a bad run at the end of a campaign.

A number of his 2 year olds have followed this pattern but Aidan O’Brien has a knack of getting them back to 100% for the start of their 3 year old campaign and I expect Mastercraftsman to be another example of this.

It’s always nice to see one of the smaller stables get a result in the 2000 Guineas and I’d imagine something will pop up in the places at a huge price as is often the case here but I’d expect O’Brien to do it again.

Henry Cecil’s impressive juvenille Wingwalker made to two wins from two starts with victory at Sandown in the Combisafe Novice Stakes.

Lord Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said: “He was a bit fresh and the pace wasn’t very fast so it was another learning curve.

“The Dewhurst will feature quite highly in our plans and it might be a possibility to give him another run first in a race at the Cambridgeshire meeting.”

Both Stan James and Skybet make Wingwalker a 16/1 chance for next year’s 2000 Guineas.