John Gosden: Five talking points ahead of the Guineas Festival

Undoubtedly one of the finest trainers to grace the sport of horse racing, John Gosden has won virtually all there is to win in Britain since he began training in the country more than 35 years ago, but, despite his six Champion Trainer titles, 12 British Classics, and a whole host of Group One victories on the international stage, there is one significant trophy missing from the Clarvehaven mantlepiece: the 2000 Guineas.

That final missing piece of the British Classics jigsaw, however, may soon be completed courtesy of Field Of Gold, whom John and Thady Gosden will saddle on Saturday knowing he is likely to go off favourite for the first domestic Group One race of the season.

“It has never weighed on my mind!” the 74-year-old said with a laugh, when asked about the missing link on his CV at a media event held by The Jockey Club in Newmarket on Thursday.

“It seems to be glaring to everyone else, not to me! It’s nice to have a horse who is the favourite but it doesn’t mean you’re going to win it. Down the years, we have tended to target the St James’s Palace more. I’ve often wanted to bring them to their peak then when the English, French and Irish Guineas winners can meet and I’ve had a lot of luck in that race, and Royal Ascot is Royal Ascot, so it’s partly the way I train and plan them, and partly not having necessarily a horse at the time."

Sheikh Mohammed’s colt Anshan went close to landing the season’s first Classic for Gosden in 1990, his first full year of training in Newmarket.

However, despite saddling 12 more runners in the race since then, only Kingman, the sire of Field Of Gold, has gone closer to hitting the jackpot, when splitting Night Of Thunder and subsequent Derby winner Australia in the 2014 renewal.

Of the 215 runnings of the 2000 Guineas, 84 favourites or joint-favourites have obliged, bringing up a decent strike rate of 39%, something which may fill Gosden with confidence, albeit Kingman was a beaten favourite 11 years ago.

One stat against Field Of Gold is that no Craven winner has followed up with a win in the 2000 Guineas since Haafhd 21 years ago, although there are several recent winners of the trial that have gone close.

“He has the same owner as his sire, so to that extent it would be like closing a circle (if Field Of Gold were to win) that’s for sure,” Gosden said. “Kingman won the Greenham well and got well ahead here but I think he pricked his ears, thinking he had done enough, and a very good horse came and caught him late, who turned out to be a top stallion, so it was an illustrious Guineas.”

Having won the bet365 Craven Stakes over the Guineas course and distance in fine style little over two weeks ago, Gosden reported Field Of Gold to be in good form, and the grey was out on Warren Hill on Thursday morning, where he did two canters.

“He is a very laid-back character, very relaxed. He is a pleasure to be around. He is quite like his father, although he was (more of) a bull of a horse," Gosden said..

“They probably over-raced a little bit in the Craven, with free horses in front. They went very hard and therefore he was probably in the perfect position. The race set up nicely but he finished very strongly. He’s been training nicely all year, I expected him to run a good race, but we didn’t expect him to necessarily win like that.

“I’m enjoying [training him], it’s nice to have a horse of his quality. He’s developed well from two to three and has a lot of scope. He is a horse who would be able to go further in time, there’s no doubt about that. We have some nice horses this year, when you have horses that are running in these races it makes it a lot easier to get out of bed in the morning.

“He won the Solario but then got stuck in the mud in Longchamp. It was very deep ground and he was pretty free down the hill, so that was rather a non-race.

“It should be a reasonable pace again in the Guineas and we’ll ride it as we find it.”

If Gosden’s post-race Craven comments that his star three-year-old colt was only 85% fit are true, the grey holds outstanding claims against his ten rivals in Saturday’s contest.

Gosden believes he will come on from his Craven run. “I think he was on 85%. There is no doubt that first race just tightened and sharpened him.” he said. “There are a lot of horses coming into the race that have probably had away days at the Curragh or somewhere else and haven’t run this year, they’re the ones I will have a lot of respect for because you never know how much they’ve improved, they’ve got good form at two and if they’ve improved through the winter they can always be the surprise package.

"It’s not like everyone has been in a trial and showed their hand. I’ll be very interested to see how those horses look in the paddock. Then a horse who has obviously raced in Dubai this year who is a very talented horse [Ruling Court], he is a very tuned animal.”

A win in the Guineas would mark an important milestone not just for Gosden Sr, but also for the John and Thady Gosden training partnership and the relationship with jockey Kieran Shoemark, who gave Field Of Gold an outstanding ride in the Craven having been criticised by many after a largely frustrating campaign last season.

“You’re as good as the horses you’re training and riding,” said Gosden Sr. “People seem to think horses are like Formula 1 cars, you’ve only got to watch those guys in that business and they can’t set their car up right, and suddenly someone who was dominant isn’t so dominant anymore. It happens, but if you have the horses, and the horses are happy, healthy and well, then it all falls into place. If you don’t have the quality of horses and they aren’t right in themselves then it will go the other way, that is the nature of horse racing.

“It's great to work with Thady too,” he explained. “He went to the Middle East and won a Saudi Cup, Dubai Turf and Sheema Classic, so that was a pretty good start to the whole thing. We’ve always got on very well and Thady has been with me a long time, since he finished university, we discuss everything together.”

It is not just Field Of Gold that will be carrying the famous green and pink silks in Classics this spring. Juddmonte has an enviable team of three-year-olds, with Red Letter a possible runner in the 1000 Guineas on Sunday and Better Together a likely runner in the French equivalent for Andre Fabre.

Andrew Balding also has Greenham Stakes winner Jonquil to go to war with, whilst Harry Charlton has the unbeaten Cosmic Year, another son of Kingman, this one a Juddmonte homebred, who is favourite for Friday’s Listed King Charles II Stakes at Newmarket. Gosden himself, meanwhile, also has Juddmonte’s French Guineas prospect Detain.

Gosden did, however, sound unsure if Field Of Gold would target another Classic later this season but confirmed he did not see the colt as an out-and-out miler. 

“I think he will be comfortable in a race like the Eclipse, a mile and a quarter would be well within his compass,” he said. 

While 36 horses have followed up a 2000 Guineas victory by winning the Derby, Gosden at this stage does not expect Field Of Gold to head to Epsom next month. “I would have to discuss everything with the family, but at the moment, it would tend to be a no,” he said.

One of the eye-catching runners entered at the Betfred Guineas Festival this weekend is Running Lion, another horse in the yard with a trainer-stallion connection, Gosden having trained her sire Roaring Lion to multiple Group One triumphs in the summer of 2018 before his untimely death.

 “She’s in great form right now so I hope she is going to have an on day,” Gosden said when asked about her chances in the Group Two Dahlia Stakes over 1m1f on Sunday, a race she was second in last season. “She ran a great race in the Prix de l’Opera (when last seen), finishing second behind Friendly Soul, so she’s a highly talented mare. Her optimum trip is probably a mile and a quarter, and a stiff one at that.

Gosden also has two declared for Friday’s Listed Newmarket Stakes and could saddle a couple in the Listed Pretty Polly Stakes on Sunday, with both Sand Gazelle and Life Is Beautiful entered.

Speaking about his runners in the former contest, Gosden said: “Nebras is getting on the grass for the first time which he’s been rather missing. I want to see him over a trip on grass before judging him, I don’t think we can judge him running a mile on the all-weather. We also have a horse who won on the all-weather the other day, Ernst Blofeld. The race needed supporting, there weren’t enough in it (five runners in total), they’ve done a great job with the track and watering, and they’ve wound up with a rather small field.

“French Master is another who has been training well. He is entered in a 1m4f handicap on Saturday and we’ll be looking forward to him. It’s his first run of the year.”