IT seems a rather strange state of affairs, that after we have had ‘trials’ season, it looks easier to have found the winners of the big field handicaps for the Irish and Aintree Grand National than to be confident of anything in the first classics of the season, the 2000 and 1000 Guineas next week.

Even more so when you expect that the two-year-old ratings are supposed to indicate the best horses. Of the top 27 two-year-olds of 2025, those rated 121 to 112, Aidan O’Brien had eight colts and four fillies in the top group. And that added to by his comments on Albert Einstein, absent from the summer, that he was just as good as those who completed their season.

We have sadly lost Gewan and Publish is sidelined for now. Godolphin’s early season runners have not taken up the mantle as they had in recent years. Bow Echo has inherited favourtism without having run and not winning at the highest level at two. Zavateri was out then in and now suffered a setback.

We have to factor that, despite having many high-quality classic-winning three-year-olds in recent seasons, Aidan O’Brien hasn’t won the 2000 Guineas since 2019.

The first hiccup was when the computer deleted Gstaad and Albert Einstein from the Guineas, and since that, Puerto Rico, who was slow to develop to a Group 1 winner last year, has not had a run since France in October.

On March 18th at the first media morning in Ballydoyle, it was Albert Einstein, not any of the top-rated two-year-olds, who was pulled out as the poster boy for 2026, Aidan O’Brien saying: “In terms of the 2000 Guineas horses at the moment, our number one is Albert.

“Obviously, we won’t know if he’s going to get the mile until we do it. The stride people, the heart people, the pedigree people; everyone says that he will get a mile, but he’s a very quick thinker.

“We’re not going to know and we’re not going to search to find out, because we don’t want to wake him up too much. We’re going to train him asleep and see what’s going to happen.

“He’s unbelievably quick and is like a sprinter in how he hits the gates quick and travels strong.

Surprise entry

Albert Einstein was then given a surprise race entry and ran over seven furlongs against older horses on soft/heavy ground at the Curragh on March 28th.

Big Gossey wins the Gladness Stakes with Albert Einstein (far right) back in sixth \ Healy Racing

Aidan O’Brien said after the defeat, when he was sixth to Big Gossey: “I think he’s a sprinter and that was a little bit of the reason he was here. It was a very tough call to run him in that ground against older, harder horses.

“He’s always found it very hard to go slow. Some horses find it very hard to go quick, but he finds it very hard to go slow.

“The lads will decide, but my initial thought is that he’ll be coming back and he’ll go sprinting.”

All good, and he was off the Guineas list and he had been removed accidently anyway.

Then surprise, another racecourse trial on April 20th and a hood added for a trip to Newbury. After finishing third in the Greenham on Saturday, Aidan O’Brien said: “Everything about Albert said ‘I’m fast’ and he wanted to be fast. We were always trying to slow him down, because it’s easy to rev him up.

“I think we’re going to train him for the Guineas, but there’s every chance he could go to Haydock for the Sandy Lane.

“Everything with him is about trying not wake him up too much, but I think if he went back sprinting that could be real fireworks.”

Everything has gone well in how he behaved in those two outings, he got cover and was reasonably settled, even if he needs to improve on a beaten favourite sixth and a third, and he had a fitness advantage at Newbury.

Question

Since all is still uncertain, it also brings the question, why did they not just run and see in the Guineas? Ballydoyle have had horses beaten in the Guineas before, both Auguste Rodin and City Of Troy disappointed, while Australia was third in a hot renewal to Night Of Thunder and Kingman. It didn’t affect their careers subsequently.

And, by a similar comparison, Aidan O’Brien started the champion sprinter of 2001, Mozart, over a mile on soft ground at Leopardstown when only third as the 1/4 favourite. He also ran second in the Irish 2000 Guineas before being gradually dropped back to seven furlongs to win the Jersey Stakes, six to win the July Cup and five to win the Nunthorpe. His attempts over a mile in the spring had no bearing on his final standings as a exceptional sprinter.

The Guineas would be more intriguing with Albert Einstein in it. If he wants to run, let him run!