The first weekend of May will see the eyes of the horse racing world focused on Newmarket. On May 4th and 5th the first two Classics of the UK flat season take place. It’s likely to be another successful one for Irish trainer Aiden O’Brien or will we see some surprise results.
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Saturday May 4th sees the 2000 Guineas take place and the odds-on favourite is City of Troy trained by Aiden O’Brien. The irishman has trained the winner of this race on a record ten occasions first doing so in 1998,
His last 2000 Guineas triumph was in 2019 when completing a hat-trick of wins with Magna Grecia. He’ll be hoping that the unbeaten City of Troy will give him a record extending 11th win. O’Brien has described this runner as the best two-year-old he’s ever trained.
City of Troy had three races as a two-year-old and won all of them. There’s often a concern that a racetrack might not suit a horse. There is no need to be worried on that score here as two of his wins have come at Newmarket. Both were Group races and won in style. The latter was the Dewhurst Stakes where the Irish raider made all.
Some rain won’t worry City of Troy as he’s won on good to soft and soft ground. His maiden win was achieved at the Curragh on good ground. The three-year-old is also the favourite to win the Epsom Derby in June.
The following day it’s the 1000 Guineas and this is much harder to predict. O’Brien has won this race seven times putting him two behind record holder George Fordham. All of Fordham’s wins came in the 19th century which just shows what an historic race the 1000 Guineas is.
Currently favourite to give O’Brien an eighth win and his first since 2021 is Opera Singer. Unlike City of Troy, this filly is not unbeaten but has a good reason for that being the case after being hampered.
Since then three out of four races have ended in victory. The other defeat being by just a head at the Curragh. That race was run over seven furlongs and Opera Singer has an extra furlong to travel in the 1000 Guineas.
Of her three wins, two have come in Ireland at the Curragh and the season ending victory was at Longchamp in France. That was an impressive five length win in a Group One race. Opera Singer virtually made all and went clear in the final furlong.
Yet another good couple of days for Aiden O’Brien looks very likely. It could be like an early Christmas for the Irish trainer.
