A CRUCIAL week of classic trials for Ballydoyle and Coolmore starts at Leopardstown on Sunday and continues at Newmarket next Wednesday and Thursday.

Trainer Aidan O’Brien sends a powerful team to Leopardstown, headed by Group 1 winner True Love and Derby favourite Pierre Bonnard. His Newmarket entries include Group 1 winner Hawk Mountain in Thursday’s Craven Stakes.

The 2000 Guineas picture changed significantly this week with the sad news that Dewhurst Stakes winner Gewan suffered a fatal injury on the gallops. Trained by Andrew Balding, the Night Of Thunder colt carried the colours of Zhang Yuesheng when he won the Dewhurst but ownership had been transferred to Forza Europe this year.

On Friday, another leading Guineas contender was ruled out of the race when Juddmonte announced that the Kingman colt Publish, trained by John and Thady Gosden, will miss the first half of the season due to a setback.