Taking A Bow & Love Always Wins

This weekend heralded the start of the Flat season proper with the first two Group One races of the season at Newmarket, both the 2000 & 1000 Guineas.

Starting on Saturday, with the highlight for the three-year-old colts and a competitive start to the Group One racing, as 14 took to the track.

Bow Echo, for George Boughey, aimed to remain unbeaten and build on his G2 Royal Lodge success whilst favourite backers opted for either the sole O’Brien representative Gstaad or the top Godolphin hope Distant Storm.

The field split into two down the Rowley Mile as Into The Sky, hoping to create history for Jim Boyle, and Power Blue led the group down the far side, and Gstaad and Ryan Moore blazed a trail up the stand-side.

Reaching the bushes, a gap started to open up for Bow Echo as Gstaad was yet to relinquish the lead, and Distant Storm was beginning to make haste too.

Billy Loughnane powered his mount up the hill as Gstaad tried to chase him down the centre of the track, but the son of Night Of Thunder proved too strong and won by 2.75L with the pair eight lengths ahead of Distant Storm in third.

This result meant that Loughnane achieved his first UK Group One victory and his first Classic success too.

Night Raider won the Palace House Stakes prior to the feature, Double Rush continued to look like a Group horse in handicap company, winning at odds-on, and Flora Of Bermuda got her season off to a flyer in the Ellen Chaloner Stakes.

Moving on to Sunday, it was the turn of the girls, with 18 fillies competing for the 1000 Guineas title.

Precise was the favourite after winning the Fillies’ Mile and Moyglare Stud Stakes last season, the top races for two-year-old fillies in the UK & Ireland.

True Love was also not to be discounted from O’Brien’s yard after winning the Leopardstown 1000 Guineas Trial and was also the winner of the Cheveley Park Stakes.

Venetian Sun looked to give Karl Burke glory, whilst Abashiri represented the head of the Godolphin charge.

The field split into three up the Rowley Mile this time, with Venetian Lace, Evolutionist and My Highness all sharing a lead.

Precise struggled to get going up the far side, whilst Wayne Lordan scythed a way through fillies going up the stand-side rail and proved much the best, winning by a length-and-three-quarters ahead of Evolutionist and Venetian Lace.

Jancis was an outside winner of the Group Two Dahlia Stakes, and Nicky Henderson picked up a rare win on the Flat in the 1m6f Heritage Handicap.

Plenty more Classic trials to come this week, with the Chester May Festival and Lingfield Trials at the weekend.