Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear give Aidan O’Brien strong hand in pursuit of another 2000 Guineas

Europe’s 2023 Classic campaign gets under way in Newmarket on Saturday and Aidan O’Brien is double-handed in pursuit of a first Qipco 2000 Guineas success in four years.

Given how O’Brien holds a record 10 victories in the colts’ Classic, it represents something of a gap. In fact, should either Auguste Rodin or Little Big Bear fail to win it will be the longest “between drinks” for O’Brien since first winning the Guineas with King Of Kings 25 years ago.

As it is one of the significant stallion-making races of all, that would be no small thing to the Ballydoyle/Coolmore operation, although there’s pep to their pre-race step that suggests an expectation of more than one coronation on Saturday.

Already there are odds of just 8-1 about Auguste Rodin eventually collecting a first English Triple Crown since Nijinsky 53 years ago which is quite a statement before even the first leg is run.

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Bookmakers also reckon that if he’s to be beaten it will most likely be by his stable companion who was well supported on Friday.

Betting for Sunday’s 1000 Guineas is also dominated by Irish hopes with Dermot Weld’s unbeaten Tahiyra renewing rivalry with O’Brien’s Meditate who she beat brilliantly in last year’s Moyglare. Kieran Cotter’s Matilda Picotte lines up for the fillies’ highlight too.

On top of one of the most exciting and unpredictable times of the racing year, there is also the Kentucky Derby to enjoy on Saturday night with the Run for the Roses off at 11.57pm Irish time and live on Sky Sports.

There’s Irish interest in this too as jockey James Graham has his third “Durby” spin aboard Confidence Game who breaks from stall four of the 20 runners at Churchill Downs. The 43-year-old rider, originally from Finglas, won the Rebel Stakes on the colt on his last start.

The build-up to what’s billed as the most exciting two minutes in US sport has been dogged, however, by controversy after four recent equine fatalities at Churchill Downs.

A pair of those trained by Saffie Joseph were lost in “highly unusual” circumstances according to the Churchill Downs authorities who’ve taken the contentious step of suspending Joseph indefinitely. His intended Kentucky Derby hope, Lord Miles, has been scratched.

It once more thrusts US racing’s welfare issues into the spotlight on the back of Medina Spirit’s 2021 Derby disqualification for drugs. Doping controversy also subsequently swirled around Maximum Security who was thrown out of first in the 2019 Derby for causing interference.

In comparison, the Classic season on this side of the pond has almost crept up on public consciousness with the jumps campaign only finishing last weekend.

Just six of the 14 contenders for the 2000 Guineas have lined up for action already this year and one of them, the Dewhurst winner Chaldean, spent almost all the Greenham Stakes loose having unseated Frankie Dettori leaving the gate.

There will be an inevitable focus on Dettori and the first of a series of final Classics before he retires at the end of the year.

More forensic examination of the race though is likely to be on O’Brien who repeats the pattern of each of his previous Guineas winners by coming here without a previous race this season.

Little Big Bear ended 2022 as Europe’s champion two-year-old but it has been Auguste Rodin who has got even his ultra-experienced connections thinking big.

O’Brien has hardly tried to downplay Triple Crown talk about the son of Deep Impact and Rhododendron, instead noting how the first leg might be the most problematic for last season’s Futurity winner.

Even with Little Big Bear as an alternative, and despite the 6lb gap in official ratings between them, there was never much doubt about Ryan Moore’s pick of the Ballydoyle pair. It leaves Wayne Lordan with an enviable Classic spare. Lordan has twice before used such an opportunity to land the 1000 Guineas but all Ballydoyle’s eggs are in the Meditate basket on Sunday.

Busy as a two-year-old, Meditate’s form ties in with many of the other leading hopes, particularly the 2¼ lengths she was behind Tahiyra at the Curragh last September.

The Weld filly showed real brilliance to pick up Mediate in the closing stages on that occasion but whether Tahiyra can reproduce it on very quick going is far from certain. Weld has had a slow start to the season too and a win for one of his three runners at Naas on Saturday would be timely.

Another filly whose form ties in with Mediate, and who might outrun huge odds, is the ex-Michael O’Callaghan-trained Olivia Maralda. Part-owned by Brazilian footballer Phillipe Coutinho, she is now with Roger Varian and was beaten less than a length by Meditate in last year’s Debutante.

It is a Classic trial weekend in Ireland as some potential Oaks contenders take their chance in the Blue Wind at Naas, including Jessica Harrington’s well-bred Foniska.

Sunday’s Derby Trial at Leopardstown has a superb record of throwing up future stars with O’Brien winning it 15 times in all, including with Stone Age a year ago.

It is his son Donnacha who supplies the Group One quality this time in last season’s Criterium International winner Proud And Regal. He’s as low as 16-1 in some lists for Epsom next month. O’Brien’s brother, Joseph, pitches the Ballysax second Up And Under into the fray.