THE crowds may not have come to the Curragh last weekend, but that did not affect the quality of the racing as we had a high-class redemption story in the 2000 Guineas, the champion juvenile filly of last season reasserting herself in the 1000 Guineas, and a Tattersalls Gold Cup as deep as any recent running.

Field Of Gold produced a good overall time in the 2000 Guineas, one and a half seconds quicker than the big field handicap for older horses next on the card, and a fast finish; those two aspects usually the sign of a good horse and he marked himself the best of his generation around this trip.

His performance was as good as any recent winner of the race and he is hard to oppose in the near term though when his next start will be is unclear; he has had a busy first part of the year with three runs already, the Curragh not part of his original schedule, and while Ascot will be hard to resist, a break before trying 10 furlongs seems likely.

Trying to figure out what the horses that chased him home will do next time is the most interesting punting angle from the race as there was little between them on the day, two and half lengths covering the next five finishers.

The third Hotazhell seems a likely improver as he was having his first start of the season, missing the Poulains due to the ground being too fast, and his yard will likely be in better form when he next runs than they have been through the early part of the year.

The fourth Rashabar had also been a Poulains absentee, in this case due to a temperature, and he left something on the table as he met traffic in the closing stages, his rider Sean Levey saying afterwards that he would come on for the run. The Jersey Stakes should suit him.

Gallant in defeat

Sunday’s 1000 Guineas was run at a steady pace, the first three all ridden forward and the order changing little from start to finish. Lake Victoria won a Group 1 over six furlongs last season and while much the best of these in terms of ability, also got an ideal setup, able to use her speed and a good track position.

California Dreamer was seen to good effect having made the running before finishing second, but her Athasi form worked out well, the third Cercene also emerging from that race, while the winner of that trial, Atsila, had little chance from where she raced in rear and is not one to give up on.

Swelter was a disappointment, not helping herself with pre-race behaviour, a windy day putting her on edge and the red hood doing little to settle her. Chris Hayes rode her forward which was the right thing to do with how the race went but the filly never relaxed and may need cover and a stronger pace to show her best.

Tactics told

The Group 1 status of the Tattersalls Gold Cup has been questioned at times, often with justification, but this year’s running was a genuine top-level contest, and the form looks strong with four fancied runners coming clear.

Those four may have finished in different order if all had gotten a clear run but the suspicion is that Los Angeles would have won in any case; he looked in trouble as Anmaat travelled strongly on his outer halfway up the straight but, not for the first time, proved resolute in the finish, Ryan Moore saying afterwards that he does little in front.

Kalpana and especially White Birch met trouble in running, the latter dropped out early and from that point the die was cast, Colin Keane never looking like he would get out in time to make a winning challenge. White Birch is better than this but may have missed his best chance of a Group 1 win this season at his beloved Curragh.

GUINEAS weekend is a significant event, but it naturally leads onto Royal Ascot, both its timing and the track itself providing an ideal stepping stone to that fixture, and no Irish meeting comes close in terms of producing Royal Ascot winners.

Outside the Group 1s, there were three winners that look obvious Royal Ascot material. Albert Einstein was backing up 15 days after his initial win at Naas in the Marble Hill, connections keen to get another run into him, and he should have learned a lot from this win.

Unlike Naas, where he only had to chase down one target horse, this Group 3 was more tactical as he found himself trapped behind rivals off a steady gallop, a strong tailwind favouring the front-runners too.

He took a keen hold but was still able to quicken sharply and make his challenge away from the rail, looking value for more than double his three-quarter length win.

Defying the odds

Both the market and her trainer suggested that Porta Fortuna would need the run in the Lanwades Stud Stakes, but the multiple Group 1 winner was still able to defy a penalty to win, impressing with how she travelled and getting a fine ride from Ryan Moore.

Moore pressed forward at halfway and put his main danger One Look under Billy Lee in a pocket which looked the winning of the race. Perhaps Lee could have been more proactive under his race-fit mount, but One Look also lacks a gear at this trip on decent ground and should prove better over further, her pedigree suggesting as much.

The Emerald Mile on Saturday was one of the most competitive races of the weekend but Skukuza ran out a ready winner to beat the pick of the Irish mile handicappers, sweeping down the outside and looking readymade for the Hunt Cup, though he will be going up in the weights for this.

BY the end of Guineas weekend, Jessica Harrington was sitting eighth in the Irish flat trainers’ championship, measured by prize money, and joint 10th in terms of winners trained in the 2025 flat turf season.

The yard has been a top three operation in each of the last three years, both in terms of prize money and winners trained so, against that background, the opening months of 2025 have been underwhelming.

At the time of writing, Harrington has had six winners from 143 runners, and this season looks like being the first time since 2016 where she will not have broken double figures in winners by the end of May; by that point in the last three seasons, her totals were 19, 21 and 11 respectively.

At least some of this has been bad luck, however. Those six winners have come with 17 runners-up and 23 thirds, her ratio of placed horses to winners much higher than yards around her in the trainers’ table, while that misfortune continued during last weekend.

From 16 runners over the three days, she had six seconds, four of them trading 11/10 or shorter in running, along with a third in a classic.

Her winning turns may be coming, and not before time, and it’s worth remembering that she did say in some early season stable tours that her horses would take a run or two to find their form, her star colts Green Impact and Hotazhell being aimed at various Guineas but also the trainer aware that there were many good races in the second half of the year too.