Coroebus denies Native Trail for Appleby one-two in 2000 Guineas

Coroebus led home stablemate and hot favourite Native Trail to provide trainer Charlie Appleby with a one-two in the Qipco 2000 Guineas at Newmarket.

The Moulton Paddocks handler appeared to hold the ace hand in his bid for a first victory in the Rowley Mile Classic, with last season’s champion juvenile Native Trail the 5-4 favourite to keep his unbeaten record intact and Coroebus also prominent in the market at 5-1.

Native Trail proved his well-being with a comprehensive victory in the Craven Stakes two and a half weeks ago weeks ago, while Coroebus was making his first competitive appearance since winning the Autumn Stakes over the course and distance in early October.

With the pair drawn on opposite sides of the track, they raced wide apart for much of the straight-mile contest, with William Buick the first to get vigorous aboard Native Trail nearest the stands side.

James Doyle, on the other hand, was able to wait until the furlong marker to pop Coroebus the question and he found plenty racing out of the dip to prevail by three-quarters of a length.

Having been under a ride from an early stage, Aidan O’Brien’s Derby favourite Luxembourg made eyecatching late gains to finish best of the rest in third. Paddy Power responded by cutting him to 5-2 for the Cazoo Derby.

Appleby said: "I feel like I felt in the lead up to the race all the way, to be honest - both those horses at every step took a step forward.

"Native Trail came here and won the Craven and the same morning Coroebus came for a gallop and William said he felt very exciting, but he couldn't get off Native Trail with what he'd achieved.

"Coming into today I felt we had two live contenders. The draw didn't worry me. They were good horses racing over a straight line, just keep it simple.

"Like any good horse he has a lot of natural pace and when they have that aligned with the physique you can't help but get excited about them."

He added: "We'll split them up now. It's a nice discussion, but the winner I expect will go to the St James's Palace and Native Trail will go back to the Curragh where he's already won before, he'll go for the Irish Guineas."

Doyle had come close in the Guineas before, notably when beaten just half a length on the brilliant Kingman in 2014.

"He travelled incredibly strongly throughout, there's no reason to believe he won't improve from today because he was exuberant through the early part of the race, I just had to bring him back a couple of times," said the proud rider.

"I was thinking at halfway 'this is all going pretty well', I just thought I'd keep very patient - something joined me quite quick and I just asked him a couple of questions going into the dip and he responded incredibly. If I'd sat a bit longer he'd have been much more impressive.

"This race has been something that has always annoyed me, looking at replays over and over again of Kingman's Guineas and Barney Roy's Guineas, and then it goes as simple as it did today."

All roads lead to the Cazoo Derby for Luxembourg after he strengthened his position as ante-post favourite for the premier Classic by finishing third.

Aidan O’Brien’s colt emulated his illustrious sire Camelot by ending an unbeaten juvenile campaign with victory in the Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster in October.

Camelot, of course, went on to win both the Guineas and the Derby as a three-year-old before being narrowly denied the Triple Crown in the St Leger at Doncaster.

At 9-2 Luxembourg was the second-favourite to strike gold on his return to action over Newmarket’s Rowley Mile – and while a tardy start put him on the back foot, there was much to like about the way he stayed on to pick up minor honours behind Charlie Appleby’s pair of Coroebus and Native Trail.

Paddy Power were impressed enough to trim his Epsom odds to 5-2 from 100-30, and his trainer was thrilled with his performance.

“We’re delighted really. He was ready to start and we’re delighted with his run,” said O’Brien.

“Ryan (Moore) was delighted with him. He said he stepped a shade slow and caught a heel after about 50 yards and because of that he ended up maybe a length or two further back than where he wanted to be.

“I thought Ryan gave him a beautiful ride, he came home very well and the plan always was to come here and then go to the Derby. If everything is well, that’s the way we’ll be going.”

The Ballydoyle handler expects a step up in trip to bring about further improvement in Luxembourg.

He added: “For us the plan was to come here and go to the Derby next regardless. Obviously our horse has a middle-distance pedigree and he was always going to go a mile and a quarter and being by Camelot there was always a good chance that he’d get a mile and a half.

“The first two were two good colts last year. It’s a great start for our horse and we have a good break between now and Epsom.”

O’Brien’s other Guineas runner, Point Lonsdale, could finish only 10th in the hands of Frankie Dettori. O’Brien said: “I think he maybe wasn’t as forward as the other horse – we think he will come forward.”