2.000 Guineas at Newmarket

The 2,000 Guineas, the first major classic of the European season, will be run for the 200th time today at 16.25 CET at Newmarket and the standard of the field looks well up to standard. Favourite is Jim Bolger´s New Approach (Kevin Manning), unbeaten in 5 races last season, when he was the top-rated 2yo in Europe. Now running in the colours of Princess Haya, he will be attempting to make up for Bolger´s misfortune last year, when his equally strongly fancied Teofilio had to miss the race through injury. New Approach has not run since winning the Dewhurst Stakes over 7 furlings here last October, but the vibes from the stable are very positive, and he is clearly the one to beat. On Dewhurst form he holds John Gosden´s Ravens Pass (Jimmy Fortune), who made an excellent seasonal debut when just pipped here in the Craven Stakes and will be suited by the drying ground. However a more dangerous opponent could be Godolphin´s Ibn Khaldun (Saeed bin Suroor/ Frankie Dettori), who was tremendously improved last autumn, winning his last 4 races including the Racing Post Trophy and is the subject of favourable reports. Although in recent years the Godolphin stable has needed time to come into form in Britain, this may npot e the case this year as they have apparently had an uninterrupted preparation. He will be the first Godolphin runner in Europe of 2008. On ratings, these three stand out and they also dominate the betting, so the winner is likely to come from this trio; if anyone is to upset them it could be Henrythenavigator (Johnny Murtagh), the better of Aidan O´Brien´s two runners.