The 51st staging of the eight-furlong 2000 Guineas has confirmed that no three-year-old colt or gelding has emerged with anything remotely resembling superior ability over its peers.

As a matter of fact, the result reinforces the view that no special talent or depth is embedded in the crop of the foals of 2023. Favourite at 6-5, Sensational Soul, needed all the experience and racing acumen of the combination of trainer Gary Subratie and jockey Shane Ellis in a driving finish to deny, by only three parts of a length, 7-2 bet Bob The Builder (Raddesh Roman) from the stable of Greg Fennell.

It is now on to the St Leger, and with Jason DaCosta’s third-placed I Dream Again (7-1) six lengths further back in third, the Guineas top duo will be the ones to beat. The opener on the 10-race card was an opportunity for Kissmet to regain form and return to the winners’ enclosure after an extended absence. Declared by Steven Todd and guided by Emelio McLean for the first of a riding double, Kissmet, a former Philip Feanny inmate drawn at post position one, left no room between herself and the running rails. She sprinted clear from off the pace in the final furlong to be just under six lengths — the best over the six furlongs. In race two, run at seven and a half furlongs, Reyan Lewis, the 2023 champion, rode the first winner of a Philip Feanny stable double with Titan Tempo (4-5) battling well from a furlong out to beat chief-rival I Realise (9-5), ridden by Raddesh Roman.

It was 8-1 against Secret Mission in the day’s third event with his rider Emelio McLean hoping to close a two-timer and have his best day less than a year in the saddle. Led and was always clear the Secret Mission victory was by three and three parts of a length for owner/trainer Oral Hayden’s eighth of the season.

Trainer Nicholas Smith’s Let Him Fly (4-1) established a significant early lead in the six-and-a-half-furlong race four and at the line was still in front by a length and a half with former six-time titlist Omar Walker at the reins. Race five was contested by a field of 11 on the straight course.

Here, the 2022 champion Dane Dawkins needed the full extent of his skill set to get 5-1 backed Cosmic Force, also first schooled by Feanny, to lead close home by just under a length for trainer Steven Todd’s second on the card. Race six was a trophy event staged in honour of Howard Hamilton, CD, the founding and immediate past president of the 32-year-old Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association. Hamilton, an outstanding breeder through his multi-championship Hamark Farms, also served as the chairman of the board of directors of a previous promoting company, Caymanas Track Limited. For the first of his two winners on the day, former two-time champion Shane Ellis was able to treat his handling of favourite Beneison (8-5) over the extended circular nine furlongs course of the Howard Hamilton as a good warm-up for his pending assignment in the 2000 Guineas. Always going well, the maiden colt, prepared by Ryan Williams, outstayed his 11 rivals easily to win by four lengths.

A former 14-time champion conditioner, Philip Feanny, extended his influence on the card as race seven, run over the straight course, was won by Fearless Soul with claimer Tyrese Anderson displaying confidence in driving the five-year-old chestnut horse to score by a length and a quarter. Whilst in race eight over the extended nine furlongs circuit, claimer Abigail Able had Jason DaCosta’s
Hit N Run (5-1) in front most of the way for the opener of a stable double and to win her first race from 18 mounts so far this season.

Hit N Run stayed on well from the distance to register a winning margin of four and a quarter lengths. DaCosta’s second came in race nine with Chocomo (7-2), just under two lengths clear at the end of the five-furlong straight trip. Unusually, the Training Feat Award goes to Gregg Fennell for the improvement of 2000 Guineas runner-up Bob The Builder. This Hedge Fund bay colt had his first racecourse appearance on April 19 and, in finishing fifth, had seven rivals behind.

Returning on May 8, he was nearly seven lengths behind Prolific Prince but won by 10 over eight furlongs on May 23, and today failed by only three parts of a length in the opening Classic.

The Best Winning Gallop was delivered by Sensational Soul with Ellis, the “Canter Man”, so named because of his well-chronicled ability to get horses to relax, taking the Jockeyship Award.