Jockey William Buick had faced a tricky choice when selecting his ride in the English 2,000 Guineas with last year’s leading two-year-old colt Shadow Of Light the obvious candidate through the winter. But Buick eventually deserted him in favour of Ruling Court who had won impressively on his own debut at two before disappointing on his second start.
A convincing win for Ruling Court in the Jumeirah 2000 Guineas in Meydan on his reappearance together with some lukewarm vibes emerging during Shadow Of Light’s Guineas preparation tipped the scales for Buick and events showed he had made the correct choice with Ruling Court running out a half-length winner in the Guineas from favourite Field Of Gold with Shadow Of Light a further half-length back in third.
In the race both Ruling Court, who was drawn nearest the stands side, and Field Of Gold, drawn next to him, were settled towards the rear with Godolphin’s Tornado Alert setting a good pace up front.
Buick started pushing with three furlongs to go and by the two furlong pole he was in front. The main challenger appeared to be Shadow Of Light who had raced on the opposite side of the field but had delivered a similarly timed challenge and was alongside Ruling Court a furlong out.
Field Of Gold, on the other hand, delayed his run slightly and seemed to take slightly longer to get into top gear leaving him with a couple of lengths to find in the final furlong. In the end, although he did claw back some of the leeway, it proved too much and he never quite looked like getting there.
Shadow Of Light started to feel the pressure in the last 100 yards and it was Ruling Court who stayed on best of the Charlie Appleby trained pair, his stamina-laced pedigree playing to his favour.
The winner was shortened by Paddy Power for the Derby after the race, coming in to 5/1 from 10/1. They initially went 7/1 but saw strong support at that price and were forced to reduce the price quickly.
It was the third time in four years that Godolphin had the winner and trainer Charlie Appleby was delighted although cautious about naming any targets for the son of Justify. “We’ll let the dust settle and enjoy the moment. Then we can map out the rest of the season. It’s special to win this, you enjoy these days.”
Buick was enjoying his second straight win in the race, having won last year on Notable Speech. When asked about the Derby he appeared fairly clear that it was likely to be on the agenda, “I think it’s be hard not to think about strongly…the Guineas is always a good marker…we think he’s going to get further.”
Trainer of the second Field Of Gold, John Gosden, was philosophical afterwards. “I’m thrilled that the horse has run such a big race, in American parlance he ran out of racetrack.” When asked about future plans for his colt Gosden suggested the St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot would be on the agenda depending on what the owners felt and, looking further forward, a step up to ten furlongs was likely later in the season.
