Sectionals & Statistics make for interesting reading

The first Classic of the season, the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, was won by the Godolphin owned Ruling Court and, in doing so, providing Charlie Appleby with his third win in the one mile event in the last four years. The Justify colt, who cost €2,300,000 at the breeze-ups, had finished third behind The Lion In Winter in the Group 3 Acomb Stakes at York last summer before winning impressively over a mile at Meydan in early March. William Buick's mount prevailed by half a length from the favourite Field of Gold with the same distance back to the third and stablemate of the winner Shadow of Light. Those who backed the runner-up will feel hard done by with the John & Thady Gosden trained colt finishing strongly only to find the winning post coming too soon. The lack of early pace in the race arguably cost him victory, although it can be argued the grey should have been ridden more prominently. The sectionals make for interesting reading: Ruling Court covered the last three furlongs in 11.36, 11.19 and 12.13 seconds, Field of Gold 11.42, 11.32 and 11.92 seconds and Shadow of Light 11.31, 11.04 and 12.29 seconds. That tells us Shadow of Light was the quickest between the sixth and seventh furlongs, whilst Field of Gold was fastest in the final furlong. Those figures suggest Field of Gold lacked the gears when the tempo eventually lifted. It appears likely that Ruling Court will head down the Epsom Derby route, while it is possible Field of Gold will tackle ten furlongs at some stage - he could be tailormade for the Juddmonte International at York in August. I would be inclined to drop Shadow of Light back in trip and aim him at the Commonwealth Cup and July Cup. 

As for Ahead On The Flat on Saturday, it was disappointing to see both horses in the Top 40 being beaten - one ran well in second, while the other performed poorly. The Talking Trainers section had another successful afternoon though with Consolidation (6/4), Flight Plan (8/1), Fox Legacy (15/2) and Take A Breath (3/1) winning.

Switching codes, the Punchestown Festival came to a close with the Lulamba reversing the form with Poniros in the Grade 1 juvenile hurdle. The pair had met in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham with Willie Mullins' runner emerging on top on his jumping bow. However, it was a different story on this occasion with Nicky Henderson's ex-French gelding gaining his revenge with a four lengths victory. Lulamba's win rounded off a good week for the Seven Barrows team who had 2 winners from 13 runners over the five days. Indeed, there were 8 British trained winners at the 2025 Punchestown Festival. 

Not surprisingly, the five days were dominated by Willie Mullins who was responsible for 15 winners from 74 winners, including 9 Grade 1 successes. It wasn't quite as successful for his some of his compatriots - Gordon Elliott had 2 winners from 38 runners, Gavin Cromwell produced one winner from 31 runners, while Henry De Bromhead drew a blank form 29 runners (only 2 placed). Emmet Mullins had a terrific week though with 4 winners from 10 runners. Food for thought.