One thing that trainers look for ahead of big races is the right formula for their horses and 17-time champion Wayne DaCosta seems to have found the remedy for his charge Without Exception , ahead of the 2,000 Guineas scheduled to be run on Sunday April 15. This is the first time in the history of the race that the 2000 Guineas will be run on a Sunday.

The three-year-old bay colt by Natural Selection out of the Royal Minister mare Ahwhofah, Without Exception, gave signs of his ability with three wins from as many starts with the last being a fast 1:24.4 going seven furlongs (1,400m).

However, his next three runs were very disappointing as Without Exception finished down the track in his races leaving doubts in the mind of racegoers of being a possible challenger for the 2,000 Guineas.

Without Exception returned to the races on Saturday last (April 7, 2018) with a change in racing equipment as DaCosta removed the tongue tie and figure 8 from his charge and the result was an encouraging two and three-quarter length victory over five furlongs (1,000m) on the round course.

Ridden by Omar Walker, Without Exception hugged to the inside in deep stretch and powered past A.P.I at the half furlong (100m) pole to win going away in the end.

DaCosta said that he now feels much better going into the one mile (1,600m) 2,000 Guineas.

“Well, I am feeling much better now that he [ Without Exception] has won. We took off the tongue tie and we took off the figure 8 and it seemed to have worked and so let’s see going a mile if it works also.

“He had always worked well before with the tongue tie and figure 8 on. When he ran his first three races he won in them with the tongue tie and figure 8 but the family including She’s A Maneater and Ali Baba have ever run in the tongue tie and figure 8, so we went back to the method where blood follows veins and took off everything,” DaCosta informed in his post race interview on Saturday.

Without Exception came out running out of the starting gates in second position but after a couple of strides, he had to settle for third as Go Go Girl (Javaniel Patterson) surged up on the outside and to take on leader A.P.I. (Dick Cardenas) running around the half-mile (800m) turn.

Hugging the inside rails and cutting the turn, Without Exception turned for home on the heels of the leaders and with Walker pushing hard, the bay colt found extra and went past A.P.I. to register his second win of the season and fourth overall from seven career starts. The winning time was 1:00.2.

“It was a good performance and the time was good as I knew that the track would be on the slow side for the first race but everything is going well for him ( Without Exception). It was is a workmanlike performance by Without Exception today (Saturday) and again, I feel much better as we were behind the eight ball and so we tried an unorthodox method and ran him two weeks back-to-back and now we are heading for the 2,000 Guineas with a little more confidence,” said DaCosta.