A field of 11 will line up in the first British classic of the season with leading contenders Field of Gold, Ruling Court, and Expanded among the runners for the Two Thousand Guineas (G1) at Newmarket Racecourse May 3.
William Buick has elected to ride Ruling Court, the subject of a big gamble April 30, having also had the choice of Godolphin's 2024 Dewhurst Stakes (G1) winner Shadow of Light. His mount cost €2.3 million as a 2-year-old at last year's Arqana Breeze Up Sale after selling for $150,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale from the Nursery Place consignment. The Justify colt, bred in Kentucky by Nursery Place, Manfuso, and Wilhite, warmed up for Newmarket with a dominant success in the Jumeirah Two Thousand Guineas in Dubai March 1.
Mickael Barzalona has been called up to ride Shadow of Light, who will be making his seasonal reappearance, with Godolphin's second-choice rider James Doyle out with a broken collarbone. Barzalona has not ridden in the Two Thousand Guineas since partnering Godolphin's Territories to a second-place finish to Gleneagles in 2015.
Expanded will be the sole runner for Aidan O'Brien after he withdrew his other four entries. Ryan Moore will partner the Wootton Bassett colt, who was a neck behind Shadow of Light at Newmarket in October.
Favorite Field of Gold will be the only runner to sport the Juddmonte silks associated with the late Khalid Abdullah. The Kingman colt won the Craven Stakes (G3) in impressive fashion over the course and distance last month but no winner of the trial has followed up in the classic in 21 years.
Field of Gold will also be bidding to give trainers John and Thady Gosden a first success in the race. Kieran Shoemark takes the ride.
Dylan Browne McMonagle makes his Two Thousand Guineas debut aboard Scorthy Champ for Joseph O'Brien. The Mehmas colt was successful in the National Stakes (G1) at the Curragh on his last start in September.
Owner Phil Cunningham will hope Yah Mo Be There can emulate his 2007 Guineas hero Cockney Rebel, while Seagulls Eleven is a dream runner in the race for his syndicate made up of footballers from Brighton and Hove Albion, including James Milner and Danny Welbeck.
Benevento represents Amo Racing, while Craven runner-up Wimbledon Hawkeye, Tornado Alert, and the Jessica Harrington-trained Green Impact complete the line-up.
First Classic Ride for Davies
Newmarket-born Harry Davies will have his first ride in a classic when he partners Wimbledon Hawkeye in Saturday's Guineas, just more than four years since he left the local state academy to pursue his dream as a jockey.
The 20-year-old has had some experience of Two Thousand Guineas winners in the past, having spent his early years with Hugo Palmer when he won the classic with Galileo Gold in 2016 and later when apprenticed to Andrew Balding, trainer of 2020 winner Kameko.
Now back living close to Newmarket, Davies has memories of watching an even earlier Two Thousand Guineas. "I was very young when Frankel won it and remember watching it on the TV sat on the floor. It's a dream for a local lad like me to have a ride in the Two Thousand Guineas."
A link-up with Wimbledon Hawkeye's trainer James Owen and owners the Gredleys is flourishing, and Davies had his first sit on the 3-year-old in the Craven Stakes on the Rowley Mile last month when finishing second to Field of Gold.
Runner-up in the apprentice title in 2022, Davies said: "I've never been nervous about a race in my life but if I don't have butterflies on Saturday I'll be surprised.
"I'm just trying to enjoy it as much as I can. You do pinch yourself and you can't think it's the Guineas—you have to go out and ride it like any other race as otherwise you would ride it wrong."
Wimbledon Hawkeye is not short on experience of the track, having won the Autumn Stakes (G2) last year before his Craven second.
Davies said: "He has to find a little on form and I would say that a mile is his minimum trip now as we would be looking to go a mile and a quarter at some stage and he has an entry in the Derby.
"He has to take a step forward from the Craven but hopefully he's not out of it. As much as it is a Guineas, it's a stepping stone to what's to come and the track will suit him."
Wimbledon Hawkeye, a grandson of Kitten's Joy through 2020 Guineas winner Kameko, is a 25-1 chance to land the first classic of the season.
