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1.45 NEWMARKET RESULT: Double delight for backers

1. DOUBLE RUSH 4-6 fav, 2. Addison Grey, 3. Apollo One.

Off and running in the 1.45 at Newmarket … Double Rush was a shade of odds-on at the off …

1.45 NEWMARKET, HANDICAP, 6F

In a normal year, this is one of the most competitive races on the card, but this year’s renewal revolves squarely around Andrew Balding’s Double Rush, who bolted up in a similar event over track and trip at the Craven meeting in April. He looked very much destined for Pattern company there, coming home nearly five lengths clear, and he has just a 5lb penalty today. He is well clear on Timeform ratings and currently priced up at around even-money, a price that many backers will be happy to leave alone without necessarily feeling a need to find an each-way alternative.

SELECTION: DOUBLE RUSH.

GUINEAS CONTENDER: BOW ECHO

The favourite for today’s Classic until he was displaced by Gstaad a couple of days ago, and one of only two unbeaten runners (Charlie Appleby’s King’s Trail is the other). George Boughey’s colt will bid to give 20-year-old Billy Loughnane his first Classic success, having posted the best performance of his juvenile campaign in the Royal Lodge Stakes, over the Guineas track and trip, in September.

Royal Lodge Stakes 2025

That is a Group Two, a rung below the championship events contested by the likes of Gstaad and Distant Storm, but a strongly-contested event all the same and his Timeform rating is just 1lb off the top. George Boughey, his trainer, has a Guineas-winning pedigree with Cachet in the 1,000 Guineas in 2022, and Bow Echo will set off at around 4-1 to complete the set of Newmarket Classic’s for his trainer.

2,000 GUINEAS CONTENDER: GSTAAD

Aidan O’Brien’s sole runner in today’s Classic is bidding to end a run of 13 straight losers in the race for his trainer, which is an unexpected losing streak to say the least as O’Brien holds the all-time record of 10 wins. He is three clear of John Scott, whose seventh success came all the way back in 1862, and the only modern-day trainer to come close to O’Brien’s total is Sir Michael Stoute, with six. Gstaad had quite a busy time of it as a juvenile, running six times and winning three, and got closer than any other rival to the Dewhurst winner, Gewan.

Dewhurst Stakes 2025

He rounded off his campaign with a smooth success in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar in November …

BC Juvenile Turf 2025

… and sits atop Timeform’s ratings for today’s race, albeit only 1lb in front of Bow Echo, with Distant Storm another 3lb behind. He has not seen a track since, but hit the headlines a few weeks ago when an apparent computer meltdown at Ballydoyle saw him taken out of the race in error. It cost £30k to get him back into the field, and he has been steadily backed over the last few days down to 5-2 favourite.

1.10 NEWMARKET RESULT: Flora Of Bermuda leaves it late

1. FLORA OF BERMUDA 7-2, 2. Rosy Affair, 3. Sayidah Dariyan. Won by hd, 1 3/4.

Updated

Rosy Affair leads, Flora Of Bermuda close behind, Sayidah Dariyan also chasing the pace … they’re into the Dip … Rosy Affair still leads with half a furlong to go, James Doyle getting a strong run from Flora of Bermuda … inching closer … it’s a photo but it looks like Doyle got there !

Updated

Going into the stalls for the Ellen Chaloner Stakes …

… and they’re off and running at Newmarket on 2,000 Guineas day!

1.10 NEWMARKET, ELLEN CHALONER STAKES, LISTED, 6F

The first race on the card is a Listed event, the grade that sits between top-end handicaps and Group races, but the top three in the betting – Flora Of Bermuda, Sky Majesty and Sayidah Dariyan – were all regulars in Group One company last season. All three are making their seasonal debuts here and so will be expected to improve through the campaign, but all three also ran well first time up last season and it is impossible to rule any of them out on that basis. Timeform rates Flora Of Bermuda a couple of pounds clear of Sayidah Dariyan, and while she has yet to register a win on ground as fast as today’s, she has a remarkably solid and consistent profile over recent seasons and probably the safest bet on that basis. Overall, though, this is probably a race to watch with an eye on Royal Ascot and beyond.

SELECTION: FLORA OF BERMUDA.

Preamble

Good afternoon from Newmarket on the first Saturday in May – 2,000 Guineas day, in other words, and a date that has been circled on the calendars of Flat racing fans since the 2025 turf season concluded in November.

The first Classic of the new campaign – one of just five all season – has a long and storied history that stretches back to 1809, and the original prize, as the name suggests, was 2,000gns, or £2,100. That, so Google tells me at least, is the equivalent of £220k today, so the actual first prize for this afternoon’s winner, which is a shade under £300k after a couple of supplementary entries earlier in the week, compares fairly well.

The race is about far more than the prize money, however, as the winner can expect to enjoy a long and – for his owners – highly lucrative career as a stallion. And it is also the first leg of the fabled Triple Crown of the English turf, the Guineas-Derby-St Leger treble that has been completed only twice in the last 100 years: by Bahram in 1935 and Nijinsky in 1970.

There is a £2m bonus up for grabs if one of today’s 15 runners can go on to complete the Triple Crown, but realistically many are bred to be best at between a mile and 10 furlongs and perhaps only Oxagon – by Frankel out of a Dubawi mare – and the unbeaten King’s Trail – by Sea The Stars out of a Dubawi mare who stayed 10 furlongs – could be seen as potential Triple Crown candidates.

The main supporting race on today’s card is the Palace House Stakes at 2.55, a five-furlong sprint where the hugely popular mare Asfoora will be running for the first time since her win in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Arc day, while dual-screeners will also be looking forward to ITV Racing’s annual trip to Thirsk for the Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap at 2.40.

All the news, betting moves, action, results and reaction will be here on the live blog as the afternoon unfolds, and the card here at Newmarket gets underway underway with the Chaloner Stakes, a six-furlong Listed contest, at 1.10.