Oxagon put his experience and strong juvenile form to good use when making all the running under Oisin Murphy en route to Betway Craven Stakes success.
On a profitable afternoon for training team John & Thady Gosden, who had introduced easy Wood Ditton Maiden winner Portcullis in the Royal silks earlier on the card, Oxagon settled sweetly on the front end towards the far side rail and Murphy wound up the pace with a couple of furlongs to travel.
George Scott's Commander's Intent, who had tried to keep the winner company in the Group 3 content, fell by the wayside heading into the dip as the well-touted 11/10 favourite Hidden Force (Charlie Appleby) angled out to make his challenge.
In the end, William Buick's mount - two from two on the all-weather during the winter - couldn't bridge the gap on the cannily-ridden winner and was ultimately passed by fellow Godolphin representative, the Roger Varian-trained Avicenna (11/2), who kept on well to take second but was still a couple of lengths adrift of the comfortable winner.
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Oxagon, who won once last term but had contested the Group 1 Dewhurst and Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster towards the back-end of the 2025 season, was sporting first-time cheekpieces for his return to the Rowley Mile and Paddy Power slashed his antepost 2000 Guineas odds to 10/1 from 50s.
Aidan O'Brien's Futurity Trophy winner Hawk Mountain was a late withdrawal from the race, while the Karl Burke-trained Hankelow was also a Craven non-runner having initially being declared on Tuesday morning.
Can Ox open Gosden's Guineas account at last?
Gosden said: "After he won at Sandown Park we had a high opinion of him. He probably let the race get away from him at Doncaster, but we will probably see Puerto Rico back here in two weeks' time.
"I will admit he was a tad disappointing in the Dewhurst. He was one of the last off the bridle, but he didn’t quite seem to finish off up the hill. I stupidly ran him in heavy ground at Doncaster, which luckily the jockey was cleverer than me and eased him up after two furlongs and let him enjoy his day out. He has trained well and I think the addition of cheekpieces has just focused his mind.
“We just popped them on for one piece of work and we liked the way he went in them. They have just focused his mind today. He is one of those horses where things come easy to him and he is a little bit dreamy. He really is quite dreamy at home as he is always looking for low flying seagulls. It is just a matter of let’s focus on the job in hand.
“This race did have a couple of late withdrawals which didn’t help the depth of the field, so we wound up second favourite anyhow. He has run how you would hope he would run.
“In a small field like that the last thing you do is start giving a jockey instructions. Ride it as you find it is the best instruction a jockey can ever get.
“I think Oisin feels that it is an open Guineas and that we should go for it. It doesn’t worry me (that I’ve not won the 2000 Guineas). Everyone thinks I have sleepless nights about it. It would be great to have a runner and let’s enjoy the day and hope the horse is in great order, and that we have a nice clean race."
Trainer encouraged by runner-up
Varian said: “I’m really pleased. It is a hard track to make up ground when it rides quick. It favours being up near the pace, especially when they don’t go very quick. It was messy early, and they didn’t go very quick. The winner is a good horse on his day as he showed that second time up last year. He probably had the run of the race.
“I was keen that our horse got further education today. I said to Ray (Dawson) that the place to be might be in front, but I don’t think our horse is streetwise enough to go lead them a merry dance. I was at pains to teach him a bit more and I thought Ray did a good job.
“It was lovely to see him have to go through a small gap. He did his best work meeting the rising ground out of the dip. I think there is a lot of improvement in him. Bar winning I couldn’t be more pleased. I said openly coming in here this is a trial race and we will use it as a trial. There was no point killing him today and leaving your next three months behind.
"He has wintered well and trained lovely over the last few weeks, but there is a bit of improvement in there. I like to win, and the better result would have been to win, but I was pleased with what I saw. For me he has run well enough that we ought to consider Newmarket or Longchamp. His form was strong last year, but he needed a bit more practice and to learn, and he would have done that today.
“He hasn’t had a really hard race, but he had a good blow coming off the track, and he will improve for the race. It is looking quite an open year across both Guineas at the moment and he looks worthy of being in contention for one or the other."
Timeform view
by David Cleary
Oxagon gave the Gosden stable its second consecutive win in the Craven Stakes, following up Field Of Gold's impressive victory in the race 12 months previously. Oxagon was ridden in contrasting fashion, making most and finding extra, rather than showing a sweeping turn of foot from off the pace.
There wasn't a lot between the two performances on the figures, but the style and substance of Field Of Gold's victory made his Guineas claims rather more obvious than those of Oxagon. This year's Craven rather fell apart. Hawk Mountain was withdrawn due to the ground, while Hidden Force, favourite in that one's absence, failed to handle the track on his turf debut.
In his favour, Oxagon has a largely progressive profile, his one flop coming on very testing ground in the Futurity (won by Hawk Mountain) last autumn. Oxagon, fitted with cheekpieces for the first time, was rather fussy beforehand, which is a bit of a concern.
Headgear is not usually a positive when it comes to the classics. This century, just two horses have been placed in the 2000 Guineas while fitted with headgear – the 150/1-shot Glory Awaits was blinkered when runner-up in 2013; the 2021 Craven Stakes winner Master of The Seas wore a hood then and also when short-head runner-up to Poetic Flare in the Guineas.
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