The Guineas Festival at Newmarket is the first major Flat Racing classic of the year. The historic 2000 & 1000 Guineas meeting is held in late April or early May each year on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course.
Newmarket is considered the home of British horse racing and has been at the heart of British Flat racing for over 300 years.
Given its position at the epicentre of flat racing, Newmarket hosts nine Group One races including two of the UK’s five classics – the 2000 and 1000 Guineas. The Guineas betting markets every year are always very lively affairs as punters speculate who the new stars of the future are going to be.
The 2000 Guineas draws the best UK, Irish and French 3-year old milers and there is plenty of prize money on offer.
As a Group One race the 2000 Guineas is run over a distance of one mile on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile course every spring during the Newmarket Guineas Festival. While the 2000 Guineas is open to colts and fillies, usually only colts contest it as fillies find it extremely hard to win and they have their own equivalent race on the same weekend anyway.
The race is named after the prize fund of the original race run over 200 years ago in April 1809. Although some horses are aimed at this race as part of the Triple Crown (Guineas, Derby, St Leger), they need to be at the top of their game to win it and the trial races such as the Craven Stakes are run during April at Newmarket. Nijinsky was the last Triple Crown winner in 1970 – almost 50 years ago!
Unbeaten colt Too Darn Hot is now a 6/4 chance for the 2000 Guineas following an outstanding victory in the Dewhurst Stakes.
Persian King, who won the Autumn Stakes is now available at 12/1 (in from 25/1) with us here at 888sport.
Staged on the Sunday of the Guineas weekend, the fillies’ 1000 Guineas is regarded as a very prestigious race. Like the 2000 Guineas, it is also one of only five British classic races and the first fillies’ classic race of the season.
Named after the prize purse when the race was first run in 1814, the 1000 Guineas is also run over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile. A tough test for the fillies, the last 2 furlongs of the Rowley Mile always sorts out the champions from the also-rans.
The rarely attempted fillies’ Triple Crown (Guineas, Oaks, St Leger) is even harder to win. Only 9 fillies have ever done so – 8 of that 9 were before 1955. The last filly to win it was Oh So Sharp in 1985
Just Wonderful powered herself into next year’s 1,000 Guineas reckoning with a stylish success in the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes.
The Aidan O’Brien-trained filly could hardly have been more impressive, earning a 10-1 quote from us for the 1000 Guineas.