History of the Race
The first race in the QIPCO British Champions Series and the curtain-raising Classic of the British Flat season, the QIPCO 2000 Guineas is open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It’s run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket, over one mile (1,600 metres) in late April or early May.
Although they only have to carry 8st 11lbs (56kgs) compared with the 9st (57kgs) on a colt’s back, fillies very rarely contest the QIPCO 2000 Guineas nowadays. They almost invariably stick to their own equivalent event, the QIPCO 1000 Guineas, in which they don’t have to take on their male counterparts. The last filly to triumph was Garden Path in 1944.
The 2010 race served up a shock, as French-trained 33-1 outsider Makfi took the spoils ahead of trainer Richard Hannon’s duo, Dick Turpin and Canford Cliffs.
In 2011, Frankel put up one of the most devastating 2000 Guineas performances of all time, destroying the opposition with a piece of front-running brilliance which literally took the breath away. He had the race sewn up well before half way and passed the post six lengths clear of his nearest rival. It was jockey Tom Queally's first Classic winner and trainer Henry Cecil's 25th.
Frankie Dettori has won twice in recent years, but is trumped by Kieren Fallon’s four victories, the latest in 2005 and 2006. Sir Michael Stoute and Aidan O’Brien share the best record of current trainers with five wins apiece.
Trial races are staged in mid-April but many contenders head for the 2000 Guineas without a warm-up run, their trainers relying on getting them fit enough and sharp enough on the training gallops. The 2000 Guineas was first run in 1809. The biggest outsider? Rockavon, at 66-1 in 1961.
Current leading jockey: Kieren Fallon, 4 wins (2000-1, 2005-6)
Current leading trainer: Aidan O’Brien, 6 wins (1998, 2002, 2005-6, 2008, 2012)
Previous Winners
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
| 2012 | Camelot | Joseph O'Brien | Aidan O'Brien | Smith/Magnier/Tabor |
| 2011 | Frankel | Tom Queally | Henry Cecil | Khalid Abdulla |
| 2010 | Makfi | Christophe Lemaire | Mikel Delzangles | Mathieu Offenstadt |
| 2009 | Sea The Stars | Michael Kinane | John Oxx | Christopher Tsui |
| 2008 | Henrythenavigator | Johnny Murtagh | Aidan O’Brien | Sue Magnier |
| 2007 | Cockney Rebel | Olivier Peslier | Geoff Huffer | Phil Cunningham |
| 2006 | George Washington | Kieren Fallon | Aidan O’Brien | Magnier/Tabor/Smith |
| 2005 | Footstepsinthesand | Kieren Fallon | Aidan O’Brien | Tabor/Magnier |
| 2004 | Haafhd | Richard Hills | Barry Hills | Hamdan Al Maktoum |
| 2003 | Refuse To Bend | Pat Smullen | Dermot Weld | Moyglare Stud Farm |
| 2002 | Rock Of Gibraltar | Johnny Murtagh | Aidan O’Brien | Ferguson/Magnier |
| 2001 | Golan | Kieren Fallon | Sir Michael Stoute | Lord Weinstock |
| 2000 | King’s Best | Kieren Fallon | Sir Michael Stoute | Saeed Suhail |
About the Course
Newmarket is known as the “Home of Racing” - and who would argue? Certainly not James I, the first notable fan who built a palace in the Suffolk town in 1605. Racing fanatic Charles II followed suit, establishing the first horserace ever run in Britain under written rules. The Rowley Mile Racecourse, indeed – one of two at Newmarket, the other being the July Course - is named after his favourite hack, Old Rowley.
Today, Newmarket is horseracing’s centre of the Universe, with 2,500 thoroughbreds in training, shared by 75 licensed trainers and spread out over 2,800 acres of training grounds. Oh, and there’s also enough space left over for 65 stud farms, including the National Stud, and Tattersalls, the biggest horse sales company in Europe.
The QIPCO 2000 Guineas, one of Britain’s five Classics, is hosted by Newmarket. The race was first run in 1809. The venue also stages the QIPCO 1000 Guineas. Want to sound knowledgeable while watching this year’s 2000 Guineas? Just say: “A fine race, but I still prefer Brigadier Gerard’s victory over Mill Reef.” That 1971 race went down in history. So did “The Brigadier”. A winner of 17 races from 18 starts, his statue proudly surveys the Rowley Mile.
