O'Briens, father and son, lead charge in English 2000 Guineas
Hours before the Kentucky Derby, the European Classic season gets under way at Newmarket, where 15 3-year-olds are set to run one mile down a straight course in the English 2000 Guineas.
Aidan O’Brien has trained the Guineas winner four of the last six years and, in total, 10 times during his career, but while he’s represented Saturday by three runners, two among the favorites, his son Joseph O’Brien has a very live chance to win his first 2000 Guineas.
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Thunder Moon didn’t show his best in his 2-year-old finale, finishing a well-beaten third in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket, but that race was contested over soft ground. On firmer going, as is forecast for Saturday’s contest, Thunder Moon turned in a considerably better performance landing the Group 1 National Stakes at The Curragh last September. There, Thunder Moon, through force of will and application of ability, worked himself clear of serious trouble with little more than a furlong left to race, tallying by 1 1/2 lengths over Wembley. Wembley, trained by Aidan O’Brien, went to finish a close second in the Dewhurst behind St. Mark’s Basilica, another Aidan O’Brien charge, whose absence from final Guineas declarations came as a surprise.
Besides Wembley, the elder O’Brien’s other presumed serious chance comes from Battleground, last seen finishing second, beaten three lengths by Fire At Will, in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.
None of these horses has started this year, English and Irish trainers with top Guineas prospects are much more inclined to race their horses fresh than utilize a prep race. But one potentially serious player, Mutasaabeq (GB), has 2021 form. Mutasaabeq, a Shadwell homebred trained by Charlie Hills, raced once at age 2, easily winning a Newmarket maiden race over a straight seven furlongs, and was even more impressive in an April 13 run over the same course and distance, but on good going. Mutasaabeq racing near the lead under a tight hold, burst to the front and won off by six lengths, winning so sharply that shortly afterward connections supplemented him to the Guineas for just less than $42,000.
Charlie Appleby, private trainer for Godolphin, never has won the Guineas and has two chances Saturday, One Ruler and Master of the Seas. One Ruler runs fresh, starting for the first time since a second-place finish on a soggy Doncaster course in the Group 1 Vertem Futurity last fall. His two best races came on ground with plenty of ease, while stablemate Master of the Seas, after wintering in Dubai, won a Guineas prep, the Craven, going a mile on good-to-firm going down the Newmarket straight.