Alex Hammond 2000 and 1000 Guineas tips and preview Newmarket May 4 and 5

My first experience of an IRL 2000 Guineas seems like a lifetime ago. Not least the fact that language has changed significantly since then and most of us now know what IRL means, and why we have the need to use such an abbreviation!

Due to the complexities of funding my grant for college I took an unplanned year out and spent as much time as possible going racing with my lovely mum when her work schedule allowed. I was over the age of free racecourse entry at that time but looked younger, so those trips ended up being a BOGOF (there we go again!) offer as I rocked up with my responsible adult and gained free admission as an under 18.

One of our most memorable trips was to Newmarket for the 1992 2000 Guineas. We were privileged enough to witness Lester Piggott win the colt’s Classic on Rodrigo de Triano. I recall our excitement after we had managed to squeeze to the front of the paddock to watch the pair return to the winner’s enclosure in the days when getting to the front required plenty of cheek, sharp elbows, a few well placed “sorries” and a big smile.

Mother and daughter shared many well spent days travelling to a variety of racecourses during that year getting, it turns out, the most useful education I could have had before embarking on a career I could only dream of at that point. Thanks Mum.

Turns out not as many folk enjoy racing IRL nowadays but hopefully someone will enjoy their first experience of this day and this famous race on Saturday which will inspire their journey in the sport. But which horse will they remember fondly in their futures?

It could be that they recall one of the greatest Guineas winners of all time if Aidan O’Brien’s effusive statements about City Of Troy are correct.

O’Brien hadn’t taken over the reins at Ballydoyle when Rodrigo de Triano was strutting his stuff but four years later a new era at the famous establishment began. Last year’s champion two-year-old is now bidding to become O’Brien’s eleventh winner of this race and he’s Sky Bet’s 4/6 favourite to do so. The colt has looked outstanding in his three starts to date. He almost ended up in the advertising hoardings after winning on debut at the Curragh so full of running was he after the line. Ryan Moore would have appreciated a drag racer’s parachute to slow him down.

Race two came in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket which has a bit more wiggle room should the winner need it after the post, although the dog walkers that regularly park at the end of the July Course may have had a close look at this exceptional colt. The clock backed up that eye-catching performance and we started to pay very close attention indeed.

Race three came in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, and no dramas for Ryan Moore after the line here with acres of turf at their disposal.

He’s a beautiful moving, uncomplicated colt, and every time he changed his legs that day he found an extra gear. Sometimes excessive hype surrounding a young racehorse can grate, but not with this lad.

Let’s wind the clock back again for a moment. Richard Hannon saddled the runner up, Lucky Lindy, in Rodrigo de Triano’s 2000 Guineas who was a 50/1 shot under Mick Kinane. His son, Richard Junior, will be hoping to go one better in 2024 with second favourite Rosallion, he’s a 9/2 shot to upset the long time ante-post favourite. This attractive son of Blue Point is a winner of three of his four starts with his only defeat coming in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. His trainer was understandably devastated by the inexplicably bad run that day but the smile was soon back on his face when the colt bounced back to win the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagadere on Arc weekend at Paris Longchamp.

It was a bold move by his trainer to take him to France after his run the previous month, but it paid off. I just don’t know what he, or any of the other runners, can do to beat City Of Troy if he turns up in the same form we’ve seen so far. Rosallion’s lacklustre display at Doncaster that day highlights that horses aren’t machines, having said that, City Of Troy is doing a darn good impression of one so far.

It's the turn of the fillies on Sunday with the Qipco 1000 Guineas. This race is much less one sided with Sky Bet going 11/4 the field. Fallen Angel is their market leader for trainer Karl Burke and jockey Danny Tudhope. Like the favourite for the colt’s race, she is already a Group 1 winner having scored in the Moyglare Stud Stakes on her final outing at two. She’ll also have no problem stepping up to the mile here and seems an uncomplicated filly.

O’Brien’s leading contender is Ylang Ylang and her final performance in winning the Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket in October confirmed that a mile will be her minimum trip this year. She’s a 4/1 shot.

Charlie Appleby’s horses are now firing on all cylinders, and he sends Dance Sequence to the race, who has the benefit of a run under her belt already this season. She was beaten odds on favourite behind surprise winner Pretty Crystal in the Nell Gwyn, not getting in the clear at the perfect time and looking a little green still. She’ll appreciate the extra furlong here and if those thunderstorms hit Newmarket before Sunday that won’t hamper her chances either. Another at 4/1, that looks quite appealing.

See The Fire represents Andrew Balding and owner/breeder Jeff Smith. This pedigree has his blue and purple colours running through it, with her dam Arabian Queen famously the 50/1 winner of the Juddmonte International back in 2015 for the owner and the grand dam Barshiba was also a talented performer for Smith, albeit she was blind in one eye and quite a handful. See The Fire is a fifth generation of this family and is a lovely model and will also stay further than Sunday’s one-mile trip in the future. She’s currently 7/1.

Will it be another of Justify’s offspring that claims classic victory here? City Of Troy is a son of the US Triple Crown winner, as is the French trained filly Ramatuelle. She’s 8/1 with Sky Bet and would have been shorter were it not for a seasonal debut defeat in the Group 3 Prix Imprudence at Deauville last month. She was keen there and will need to change that if she’s to win on Sunday.

However, it was messy in the preliminary stages of that race at Deauville, and she didn’t get much cover early on. It could be that she ends up dropping back in trip and she holds an entry in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot which suggests there’s a doubt in trainer Christopher Head’s mind, but I’m intrigued to see how she gets on with that seasonal debut behind her. So, an open feel to the 1000 Guineas, Dance Sequence and Ramatuelle top my shortlist at the prices.

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