Top-class Kingman was a class apart in the Irish 2000 Guineas
Timeform ratings analysis | Best Irish 2000 Guineas winners
By Tony McFadden
07:57 · FRI May 20, 2022
Native Trail is a red-hot favourite for Saturday's Irish 2000 Guineas. Can he produce a performance to match some of the race's great winners? Here are the five best in the race this century based on Timeform ratings.
130 Kingman (2014)
Kingman, like Native Trail, had suffered a short-price defeat in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket but that didn't prevent him from developing into a top-class miler. In fact, Kingman and Baaeed, with a peak Timeform rating of 134, are the highest-rated milers since Frankel.
He may not have earned his peak rating in the Irish 2000 Guineas, but Kingman still produced a top-class performance at the Curragh, showing the turn of foot that would mark him out as such an exciting racehorse and such a formidable rival.
In a race run at a steady gallop, Kingman impressed with how powerfully he travelled and how quickly he settled matters, storming five lengths clear after leading on the bridle a furlong out.
READ: Who have been the best horses since Frankel?
129 Mastercraftsman (2009)
Mastercraftsman was unfortunate to be from the same generation as Sea The Stars, and he had to settle for a minor role behind that outstanding rival on a few occasions.
However, Mastercraftsman enjoyed his day in the sun in the Irish 2000 Guineas and in the St James's Palace Stakes.
He was especially impressive in the Irish 2000 Guineas, which was run at a sound gallop on heavy ground, placing the emphasis on stamina.
After looming up three furlongs out, Mastercraftsman was sent for home over two furlongs from home and he kept on strongly to pull four and a half lengths clear of the runner-up.
126 Dubawi (2005)
The last time Godolphin won the Irish 2000 Guineas was with Dubawi in 2005. Dubawi is best known nowadays as the operation's flagship sire, but it's worth remembering that he was a top-class racehorse in his own right, quickly proving himself the pick from the only crop of the great Dubai Millennium.
Dubawi won all three starts as a juvenile, including the Superlative Stakes and National Stakes - two races that Native Trail also won - and he was sent off the short-price favourite for the 2000 Guineas.
He came up short at Newmarket, looking unsuited by the firmer ground, but he bounced back in style in the Irish 2000 Guineas, readily beating Oratorio by a couple of lengths.
Oratorio would go on to win the Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes over a mile and a quarter, but at the Curragh he couldn't match the speed shown by Dubawi, who quickly settled matters with a sharp turn of foot.
126 Henrythenavigator (2008)
There have been few more visually impressive winners of the Irish 2000 Guineas than Henrythenavigator.
Henrythenavigator had been bogged down by soft ground on his final couple of starts as a juvenile, but he bounced back in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, edging out the rallying short-price favourite New Approach by a nose.
There was a much more decisive verdict at the Curragh, though, as, on faster ground, Henrythenavigator proved far too fast for the future Derby winner.
Held up off a steady early pace, Henrythenavigator made smooth headway to challenge a furlong out and readily pulled a length and three-quarters clear, looking value for at least three lengths.
The style of Henrythenavigator's success at the Curragh suggested he had a bigger effort in his locker and he proved as much at Royal Ascot, getting the better of Raven's Pass in the first of four memorable clashes between the pair.
126 Churchill (2017)
Churchill had won his last five starts as a juvenile, including two at Group 1 level, and he had also won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on his return, so it was little surprise that he was sent off a short-price favourite for the Irish 2000 Guineas.
It was a surprise, though, that a comfortable victory in the Irish 2000 Guineas proved to be the last of his career.
Churchill may have come up short later in the campaign, but he proved a class apart at the Curragh, showing a fine turn of foot to pull two and a half lengths clear of Thunder Snow and Irishcorrespondent.
The beaten pair were no match for Churchill at the Curragh but would go on to great success, with Thunder Snow winning back-to-back editions of the Dubai World Cup, while Irishcorrespondent won five Group 1s in Hong Kong after being renamed Exultant.
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