2000 Guineas Tips: Gosdens To Finally Bag Gold

Flat fans rejoice, the first Classic of the season is upon us! The 2000 Guineas of 2025 brings together some of the finest three year old colts around, with pedigrees to die for everywhere you look on the racecard. Billy Grimshaw analyses the race for us here and has a confident selection...

It could be folly to ignore Aidan O'Brien sending just one colt to this race considering he is the winning most trainer in history of the 2000 Guineas, but there has to be question marks over Expanded's brilliance as it is common knowledge The Lion In Winter is the star colt of this Ballydoyle crop. O'Brien has on plenty of occasions won this race with a second or even third string runner so the fact Expanded may not be the best colt in the yard does not mean he is a no hoper - and of course he has the maestro Ryan Moore onboard who rides this course (and most others) better than anyone, however despite his price at around 6/1 being tempting I cannot really say I fancy him on what we've seen so far.

This'll be his first run at three - another strategy that's born fruit for the operation over the years in this race - and he could've come on bundles over the winter from looking a smart if not exceptional two year old, but he is going to have to be some rocket to be able to match or better what FIELD OF GOLD did a few weeks back in the Craven on his first outing at three. You have to go back 21 years to Haafhd to find the last Craven winner who backed up in the Classic that the Craven is a trial for a few weeks later, but there has been no Craven winner as impressive as Field Of Gold in my view and the manner in which he laughed at and quickened away from a good field that day left a huge impression on this humble scribe.

The gorgeous grey always looked to be cruising under Kieran Shoemark, but even his most bullish of supporters must've been taken aback by the burst of acceleration the Juddmonte owned Kingman colt showed to put the race to bed in a matter of strides once Shoemark pushed the button. That was a serious performance and although there's not a great record for Craven winners, a course and distance win so close to his big target has to be a positive. Another negative against this lad on the trends is the fact John Gosden is yet to win this race, a bamboozling fact given how long he's been at the top table, however sometimes you have to trust your eyes and ignore the numbers and what we saw from Field Of Gold last time out screamed Guineas winner to me.

Charlie Appleby is well represented and will fancy his chances of retaining the 2000 Guineas, with Ruling Court looking the stable first string with William Buick in the plate and choosing him over Shadow Of Light. The latter is certainly no back number as a dual Group 1 winner at two over six and seven furlongs, but I was more impressed with his win over six personally and would be inclined to think he'll be a Guineas runner who ends up best as a sprinter, perhaps even in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

Buick has chosen the right one then in my opinion, and Ruling Court certainly needs to win a race like this after costing an eyewatering 2.3 million Euros as a young horse. He has had a run as a three year old but it was in Meydan rather than on these shores, however he won that race over a mile well and Appleby has used that track as a prep for Guineas contenders with success in the past. I like him as one of the most likely to chase Field Of Gold home, but the one I'd be betting in without markets or in a forecast would be the Craven second Wimbledon Hawkeye.

This was a horse I really liked at two and the fact he managed to split two highly thought of horses in the aforementioned Lion In Winter (first) and Ruling Court (third) at York in the Acomb speaks volumes so don't be surprised to see him filling the frame or confirming that form with Ruling Court. 20/1 is a ridiculously big price each-way in fact and I will be backing him, but it does look a tall order to turn around the Craven form with the monster that is Field Of Gold.