Betfred 2000 Guineas latest market movers ahead of the Craven Meeting at Newmarket

The Betfred 2000 Guineas market has been a turbulent one in recent weeks, first with Albert Einstein appearing to take himself out of the spotlight with a performance in the Gladness Stakes as weak as he was in the betting, the sad reports that Dewhurst winner Gewan had passed away on the gallops, and then the news on Friday that Publish was lame and as a result wouldn’t be ready in time for the May showpiece.

Bow Echo - “We've had some nice fillies, but he's head and shoulders above any colt we've trained” - is the apple of his trainer George Boughey’s eye and he now clearly heads the antepost markets. Following his Royal Lodge win, connections said he would go to the Guineas fresh as per the wishes of his late owner Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, though his trainer could take the son of Night Of Thunder – who won the 2014 Guineas having had a prep run - for a racecourse gallop during Craven week (as last year’s winner Ruling Court did).

Albert Einstein is out to a general 8/1 chance, the same as stablemate Gstaad who was also incorrectly scratched from the race recently but will now be supplemented. He showed no ill effects for a long season that started in mid-May when gaining well-earned reward for a series of Group 1 runner-up efforts in November's Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. That was his first try at a mile and “he looks probably an English Guineas horse to start off” according to his trainer Aidan O'Brien.

Stablemate Puerto Rico, winner of both the Jean-Luc Lagardere and Criterium International last October, will also head straight to Newmarket. Clearly the mile trip is no issue, but there might be a question mark if the ground was to come up quick (his worst run came at the Curragh on ground described by Timeform as ‘good to firm’, though that was over six furlongs).

Hawk Mountain, who didn’t make his debut until August, appears to be more in the mold of his dam Hydrangea, who progressed later in her three-year-old season, than his dam’s sister Hermosa who caused a 14/1 surprise when striking first-time-out in the 1000 Guineas. Interestingly, he has an entry in Thursday’s Craven Stakes at Newmarket which is a race that O’Brien has rarely targeted and is yet to win.

Meanwhile, it would be no great surprise were Montreal to use the first Classic of the season as more of a trial for middle distances later in the campaign. “We think he’s a very legitimate Epsom horse,” said O’Brien last month.

One horse that has already had a run in 2026 is the Charlie Appleby-trained Talk Of New York, though it was not a successful one, as the colt was only third behind Title Role in the Jumeriah 2000 Guineas – a race won last year by Ruling Court - at Meydan in late-February. Appleby had expressed concerns about the colt's inexperience prior to the run and was proved correct as he pulled hard in a messy race after missing the break; you’d imagine both will have learned plenty, but the occasion at HQ would be a worry.

Stablemate Distant Storm looked more the finished article by the conclusion of his two-year-old season, picking up two HQ wins as well as chasing home Gewan on a couple of occasions, including in the Dewhurst. Unlike many of his rivals, he only has the English and Irish Guineas as his big-race entries and it appears safe to assume that he will be fully tuned up for his spring assignments.

“Whether he runs in the Craven Stakes or has a racecourse gallop before that, we'll have to see,” said Appleby after the Dewhurst. And Distant Storm is closely related to a horse called Classic, after all.

Appleby has made no secret of the importance of the 2000 Guineas, and he has other options in the unbeaten Kempton winners Hidden Force and King’s Trail, both of whom have a run under their belt this season. Hidden Force is in the Craven on Thursday, and, in contrast to O’Brien, Appleby has often targeted the trial (three wins). Neither can be underestimated given the trainer’s fine record with his all-weather winners including the 2024 Guineas winner Notable Speech.

Godolphin also have the Roger Varian-trained Avicenna in the Craven, while Morris Dancer also only has a listed win as his career highlight to date, but could be Guineas-bound for John and Thady Gosden.

Another interesting Craven entry is Hankelow who was edged out by Avicenna at Doncaster but followed up in the Autumn Stakes, one of the best Group 3s around. Coroebus won it before landing the 2022 Guineas and last year’s renewal already looks solid form, with runner-up Al Zanati landing a French Group 3 on his next start.

All eyes will be on Newmarket this coming week, but it comes with a caveat; for all this probably should have changed with Field Of Gold last season, Haafhd, in 2004, was the last horse to do the Craven/Guineas double. What is more concrete, however, is that there will be plenty more movement in the 2000 Guineas antepost market before flag-fall on the 2nd of May.

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