Key events
Wow, that is a pixel at most between the first two at Goodwood.
Off and running in the 2.00 at Goodwood …
Sirona takes them along early, Protest next, Crimson Advocate last at halfway … Bright Thunder poised in third, Crimson Advocate going well and making ground on the outside, four fillies converging on the line … Crimson Advocate maybe just got there ahead of Betty Clover but it’s very close !
Goodwood 2.00 latest betting:
5-2 Crimson Advocate
4-1 Bright Thunder
11-2 Sirona
17-2 Sea To Sky
8-1 Arisaig
12-1 bar
It took More Thunder a while to hit top gear in the sprint handicap at Newmarket and he was nearer last than first going into the Dip, but once he hit the rising ground he stayed on with real purpose and he got there with half a stride to spare.
GOODWOOD 2.00, RACINGCLUB.COM CONQUEROR FILLIES’ STAKES, LISTED, 1M
It is nearly two years since Crimson Advocate sped down the rail to win the 2023 Queen Mary Stakes, for juvenile fillies over furlongs, and become a rare US-trained winner at Royal Ascot. It was a hugely promising performance, but she has clearly been a difficult horse to train since, with just four starts to her name. Now with John and Thady Gosden, she was stepped up significantly in trip – from the minimum of five furlongs to a full mile – for her stable debut in March and saw it out well, going down only narrowly to a rival who got first run. If the Gosdens can keep her sound, she could be an interesting contender for Group races at around this trip over the summer, and this looks like a decent starting point for her return to turf. Bright Thunder, the winner of a Listed race at Chantilly for Karl Burke last summer, is the closest market rival to Crimson Advocate, and ran with promise when fifth on her return to action at the Curragh last month, while David Menuisier’s Sirona, who showed up quite well at Group One level in the Falmouth Stakes last July, is another to consider though she is making her seasonal debut here.
SELECTION: CRIMSON ADVOCATE.
NEWMARKET 1.45 RESULT: 1. MORE THUNDER 11-4F, 2. Aramram 11-2, 3. Two Tribes 9-1.
The favourite wins it.
Off and running in the Newmarket 1.45:
Lethal Levi broke well and leads, More Thunder is well off the pace and coming under a ride …. Now Aramram leads but here comes More Thunder from clouds … three cross the line together but maybe More Thunder just got there.
Newmarket 1.45 betting:
11-4 More Thunder, 11-2 Woodhay Wonder, 6-1 Aramram, 17-2 Lethal Levi, 10-1 Two Tribes, 11-1 bar.
2,000 GUINEAS FORM GUIDE: FIELD OF GOLD
Will John Gosden finally get his hands on the 2,000 Guineas, to complete the set of all five British Classics? If it does not happen this afternoon, then perhaps it never will as Field Of Gold goes into this afternoon’s race with the standout piece of recent form, and arguably the best form, full stop.
Whether to back him or oppose him is the obvious starting point for any analysis of today’s race from a punter’s point of view, and the answer depends almost entirely on your view of his win in the Craven Stakes over the Classic course and distance, when Wimbledon Hawkeye, who had form in several good juvenile races last season and is a 16-1 shot today, was three-and-a-half lengths away in second.
Field Of Gold’s only start at Group One level as a two-year-old, meanwhile, was in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longhamp on Arc day, where he finished fourth behind Aidan O’Brien’s Camille Pissarro (who was beaten on his three-year-old debut at the Curragh in March).
NEWMARKET 1.45, WEATHERBYS WITH VENATOUR RACING HANDICAP, 6F
Sir Michael Stoute’s famous Freemason Lodge stable was down on numbers from its peak by the time he retired at the end of last season, but there was still plenty of quality to be redistributed elsewhere and More Thunder already promises to be a very valuable new recruit for William Haggas’s stable. The four-year-old was campaigned over nine and 10 furlongs by his former handler but he has a potential sprinter’s pedigree and Haggas dropped him back to six furlongs for his stable debut to immediate effect as he beat Aramram and Woodhay Wonder, who both reoppose today on 5lb better terms, by one-and-three-quarter lengths and one-and-a-half. More Thunder’s 5lb penalty for that win makes things slightly more difficult here but he is in excellent hands and it looks the type to progress steadily through the year.
SELECTION: MORE THUNDER.
Unequal Love proved to be a very disappointing favourite for the opener, she could not respond after Oisin Murphy kicked for home on Frost At Dawn and finished nearer last than first.
NEWMARKET 1.10 RESULT: 1. TIGER BAY 11-1, 2. Frost At Dawn 4-1, 3. Vadream 9-1.
Not the start to the afternoon that punters were hoping for, as Tiger Bay and Trevor Whelan run down Frost At Dawn (Oisin Murphy) close home.
They are at the post for the opener here at Newmarket at 1.10, the money has come for Unequal Love and William Haggas’s mare is now a shade of odds-on at 10-11.
Newmarket Heath is a somewhat bleak expanse of East Anglian landscape and the racecourse itself is not the most viewer-friendly track – it was, apparently, designed with spectators riding behind the action on horseback in mind, rather than the common herd watching alongside.
But on a day like today, it absolutely comes alive and there are thousands of racegoers here enjoying the sunshine and looking forward to a top-class afternoon of racing.
ITV’s coverage does not kick in until the 1.45 race here, but proceedings are about to get underway with the 1.10, the Listed Chaloner Stakes over six furlongs. Unequal Love, who had some useful form as a four-year-old including a win in the Wokingham Handicap at Royal Ascot and a third-place finish in the Group One Sprint Cup at Haydock in September, made a successful seasonal debut in this race last year and is trading at around 11-10 for a repeat.
Preamble
Good afternoon from the Rowley Mile at Newmarket, the historic setting for the 2,000 Guineas, the first Classic of the new Flat season, later today.
Eleven runners are due to go to post at 3.35pm BST, and one will take the unique opportunity to add his name to a roll of honour that dates all the way back to 1809. The certain favourite is Field Of Gold, a striking grey, who bolted up in the Craven Stakes over the Classic course-and-distance last month, but he is opposed by several very promising three-year-olds with varying levels of achievement and experience to date.
The very live opponents to Field Of Gold, who will be bidding to give his veteran trainer, John Gosden, a long-overdue first victory in the 2,000 Guineas, include Shadow Of Light, who took Britain’s most prestigious juvenile event, the Dewhurst Stakes, last October, and Ruling Court, a “dark” horse in the manner of last year’s winner, Notable Speech, with just three runs to his name so far.
Shadow Of Light is one of just two juvenile Group One winners in the field – Scorthy Champ, the National Stakes winner, is the other – while Aidan O’Brien relies on Extended as he goes in search of a record-extending 11th Guineas winner.
Elsewhere on today’s televised card, a competitive renewal of the Palace House Stakes, a significant pointer towards the big sprints to come at Royal Ascot and beyond, is due off at 2.55pm, while a Royal meeting winner from last season, Hand Of God, makes his first start since in the Suffolk Stakes Handicap at 2.20pm.
The ITV action is completed by Thirsk’s feature event of the season, the Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap, at 2.35pm, and a quick trip to Sussex for the Conqueror Stakes for fillies at Goodwood at 2pm.
The 2025 Flat season will have its first Classic winner in just over three hours’ time, and all the build-up as well as the race itself will get in-depth coverage as it happens here on the Guardian’s live blog.
