No price too high for Gstaad

NEWMARKET – Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Gstaad has been supplemented for the £525,000 (S$905,000) Group 1 Betfred 2000 Guineas (1,600m) on May 2, having been removed after an administration error.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained Starspangledbanner colt and stablemate Albert Einstein had been removed from the entry lists after issues with Ballydoyle’s administration system and both required supplementation at the cost of £30,000 to participate in the first British Classic of the season.

While Albert Einstein was not supplemented following his disappointing performance in Newbury’s Group 3 Greenham Stakes (1,400m) on April 18, Gstaad is one of four colts from Ballydoyle who remain in the list of 20 possible participants at the five-day entry stage.

He will run alongside Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and Group 1 Criterium International hero Puerto Rico, as well as long shots Causeway and Flushing Meadows.

With the recent withdrawal of market leaders Talk Of New York and Publish, the 2000 Guineas remains an open renewal with the unbeaten Bow Echo heading the market.

George Boughey’s Night Of Thunder colt was last seen winning the Group 2 Royal Lodge Stakes, held over the same course and distance as the 2000 Guineas, and holds an unblemished profile in three starts.

Charlie Appleby’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes (1,400m) third Distant Storm is one of three Godolphin prospects who remain in the entry list, alongside dual all-weather winner King’s Trail, also from the Appleby yard and Roger Varian’s Group 2 Craven Stakes (1,600m) second Avicenna.

The traditional trial races for the 2000 Guineas, the Craven Stakes and the Greenham Stakes, produced two strong winners in Oxagon and Alparslan.

The former, trained by John and Thady Gosden, used experience to his advantage on reappearance on the Rowley Mile, while Karl Burke’s Alparslan appeared to show improvement from his juvenile form, where he had finished sixth in the Dewhurst Stakes.

Other contenders include recent Irish winner Thesecretadversary, runaway Newbury juvenile victor Into The Sky and the promising Needle Match, who was fourth in the Greenham Stakes.

In the equivalent fillies classic run the next day on May 3 over the same trip and carrying the same purse, 22 fillies remain in contention at the five-day stage.

It is a wide-open contest that brings together proven juvenile Group form, spring trial evidence and several less exposed contenders whose claims rest on further improvement.

Ballydoyle is again well represented with a four-pronged attack, headed by Precise, who brings the strongest course-and-distance credentials.

Her Group 1 Fillies’ Mile win at Newmarket on Oct 10, 2025 remains a particularly persuasive run, not only because it came over the Guineas track and trip, but also because several of those in behind are likely to reoppose.

Venetian Lace finished three-and-a-quarter lengths adrift in second for trainer Charlie Johnston, with the Karl Burke-trained Evolutionist a further length away in third.

That success followed a 1,400m win in the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh, where Venetian Sun was two-and-a-half lengths behind her, and an earlier Group 3 victory over the same trip at Goodwood.

Among her stablemates Diamond Necklace, True Love and Venosa, the former appears to bring the clearest stamina credentials.

Unbeaten in three starts, the daughter of St Mark’s Basilica ended last season with victory over just short of a mile in the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp on very soft ground, having already won over 1,400m at Leopardstown and the Curragh.

Her French form is appealing because it suggests she will stay the trip strongly, although it also leaves a question of interpretation.

A truly-run Guineas would seem to play to her strengths whereas a sharper, tactical contest may demand a different kind of adaptability.

Other worthy candidates include Evolutionist, Azleet and Touleen.

RACING AND SPORTS