2000 Guineas Start Time
Let’s take a horse-by-horse look at the field: #1 Grand Dubai: Broke his maiden over this track and distance on Dec. 17, but subsequently faltered when facing tougher company in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial and the Al Bastakiya Trial, finishing fifth and 10th by wide margins.The Irish-bred son of Dawn Approach has a turf pedigree and might enjoy a surface switch down the road. John Gosden confirmed what many had feared in recent days that Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber’s unbeaten colt, Too Darn Hot, has run out of time and will not run in the 2,000 Guineas Published: 20.
Timeform reveal which horses in the last 50 years ran to the highest rating when winning the 2000 Guineas.
1. Brigadier Gerard (Performance rating 141)
One of the all-time greats, Brigadier Gerard achieved the highest performance rating in the 2000 Guineas in the last 50 years when winning by three lengths in 1971. Despite the remarkably small field – only six went to post – Brigadier Gerard was only third in the betting as an incredibly strong line-up also included Mill Reef and My Swallow. The trio had won a combined 16 of their 17 previous starts and scared off plenty of potential rivals.
Despite the small field, the pace of the race was strong and the Dick Hern-trained Brigadier Gerard picked up impressively entering the Dip to draw right away from Mill Reef inside the final furlong.
Mill Reef went on to frank the form in no uncertain terms, stepping up in trip to win the Derby, Eclipse, King George and Arc before the year was out, while Brigadier Gerard proved prolific in the top mile races before stepping up to win the Champion Stakes on his final three-year-old start.
Meeting with defeat only once in his career and retiring at the end of his four-year-old season, Brigadier Gerard’s rating peaked at 144 and has since been bettered by only Frankel.
2. El Gran Senor (136)
Following an unbeaten two-year-old campaign, the Vincent O’Brien-trained El Gran Senor was sent off a strong 15/8 favourite for the 2000 Guineas in 1984 and produced a top-class performance.
Stylishly making progress onto the heels of the leaders two furlongs out, Pat Eddery hit the front entering the final furlong and never needed to get really serious with his mount to stamp his authority, crossing the line with plenty in hand over some high-class rivals. Indeed, Chief Singer, Lear Fan and Rainbow Quest filled the frame behind El Gran Senor and all subsequently went on to win Group 1 contests.
With such a strong-travelling display to win the Guineas, El Gran Senor had a slight question to answer over his stamina as he went up in trip later in the year, but, having narrowly missed out to Secreto in the Derby, he proved himself in clear-cut fashion by beating Rainbow Quest in the Irish Derby before injury curtailed his career and he was retired to stud.
3= Nijinsky (135)
Much like El Gran Senor, Nijinsky completed a perfect juvenile campaign by winning the Dewhurst, establishing himself as the clear favourite for the 2000 Guineas the following year. It was arguably not the strongest of renewal, but Nijinsky scored with plenty in hand under a confident Lester Piggott, leaving spectators in no doubt he was a top-class performer.
Nijinsky went on to cement his status as one the greats with one of the best performances ever seen in the Derby, displaying a tremendous turn of foot to beat Gyr, before a comfortable win in the St Leger secured his place in history as a Triple Crown winner. A busy three-year-old campaign eventually caught up with him, though with more luck in running he may well have added the Arc to his remarkable year, and he was retired to stud following a below-par display in the Champion Stakes. He remains the last horse to have won the Triple Crown.
3= Frankel (135)
2000 Guineas Start Time
It may come as a surprise that Frankel is only joint-third as, in many ways, his performance in the Newmarket showpiece was the most devastating ever seen, striding on from the get-go at a strong pace, barely anything even able to lay a glove on the Galileo colt, the race taken apart by halfway. However, such was the exuberance he displayed, even the six-length margin of victory over Dubawi Gold failed to show Frankel’s full superiority on the day.
Frankel, whose career was expertly charted by Sir Henry Cecil, went from strength to strength, consistently winning his races with performances of 140-plus as a four-year-old, showing himself to be the greatest racehorse of all time with a stunning 11-length victory over Excelebration in the Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot, earning a Timeform rating of 147.
5. Dancing Brave (134)
Dancing Brave, like Frankel, also carried the famous Khalid Abdullah silks to 2000 Guineas glory, making his way onto this list courtesy of a three-length win over Green Desert, who himself went on to be a high-class sprinter. On the day at Newmarket there was no great pace and Dancing Brave, ridden by Greville Starkey, produced a real flourish to not only wear Green Desert down but assert in dominant style inside the final furlong.
The way he pulled clear suggested he’d stay further and, after a famously unlucky defeat in the Derby, Dancing Brave went on to record four more wins for trainer Guy Harwood, including the Arc, in which he produced a remarkable late run to get up close home.
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The first race in the QIPCO British Champions Series and the curtain-raising Classic of the British Flat season, the QIPCO 2000 Guineas is open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It’s run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket, over one mile (1,600 metres) in late April or early May.
Although they only have to carry 8st 11lbs (56kgs) compared with the 9st (57kgs) on a colt’s back, fillies very rarely contest the QIPCO 2000 Guineas nowadays. They almost invariably stick to their own equivalent event, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, in which they don’t have to take on their male counterparts. The last filly to triumph was Garden Path in 1944.
Trial races are staged in mid-April but many contenders head for the 2000 Guineas without a warm-up run, their trainers relying on getting them fit enough and sharp enough on the training gallops. The 2000 Guineas was first run in 1809. The biggest outsider? Rockavon, at 66-1 in 1961.
English 2000 Guineas
In 2011, Frankel put up one of the most devastating 2000 Guineas performances of all time, destroying the opposition with a piece of front-running brilliance which took the breath away.
He had the race sewn up well before half way and passed the post six lengths clear of his nearest rival. It was jockey Tom Queally’s first Classic winner and trainer Henry Cecil’s 25th.
Aidan O’Brien has a fantastic record, winning it for a ninth time with Saxon Warrior in 2018 and a 10th time with Magna Grecia in 2019. All his winners have been making their seasonal reappearances.
Current leading jockey: Frankie Dettori, 3 wins (1996, 1999, 2016)
Current leading trainer: Aidan O’Brien, 10 wins (1998, 2002, 2005-6, 2008, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Previous winners
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner | Prize money |
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