John and Thady Gosden's stable jockey Kieran Shoemark admits he was "too confident" at a crucial point aboard Field Of Gold in Saturday's 2000 Guineas.
The grey son of Kingman was a very impressive winner of the Craven Stakes when making his seasonal debut in April and went into the first Classic of the season with a growing reputation and as the 15/8 favourite.
Shoemark had ridden the horse in the bet365-sponsored trial and was seemingly going well for much of the big race itself but came up half a length short after William Buick and Ruling Court got the job done for trainer Charlie Appleby and owners Godolphin.
Speaking on ITV Racing during Sunday's broadcast, Shoemark explained the ride he gave Field Of Gold, saying: “He’s always a horse that’s quite quick from the gates, he has good early gate speed.
“I was just trying to restrain him slightly (through the early stages) and you can see Shane Foley (on Green Impact) has got the position I ideally would have liked. I could only have had two positions in this race and I opted for the one with cover.
“I could possibly have had William Buick’s as well but that would have meant being on the wing with no cover and we saw in the Lagardere last year when he was far too free with no cover. So the plan was always to try and find a bum to sit behind.
“I wasn’t too worried about the pace of the race because my horse is relaxed and I know how well he travels. I think if you’d asked who was the winner two and a half (furlongs) out I think everyone would have probably said me, I felt like I had all bases covered.
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"He was travelling supremely well. I could see William was just starting to niggle (on the winner) and he was a horse I wanted to be following so I felt like I was in the perfect position. I could see Shadow Of Light, albeit he was on the other side, he actually ended up hitting the front.
“But at two and a half out I was just trying to time my run. With the benefit of hindsight, ultimately I was just too confident on my horse.
“When I won on him in the Craven, going into that dip on good to soft ground, it was as if the dip didn’t even exist. Whereas yesterday, entering the dip on good to firm ground, it very much did.
“I’ve gone from travelling so well… my heart sank when I asked him to quicken, I felt him get disorganised and I always knew it was going to be the case that when I hit the rising ground he was starting to find. But, looking back, I should have just fired him into that dip and shouldn’t have been quite so confident on him.”
🗣"I felt like I had all bases covered, he was travelling supremely well... with the benefit of hindsight I was too confident on my horse"
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) May 4, 2025
Kieran Shoemark and Matt Chapman look back on Field Of Gold's second in the 2000 Guineas 🧐#ITVRacing | @MCYeeehaaa pic.twitter.com/r5cYRkTHkk
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