Racing: Favourite St Nicholas Abbey fluffed his lines as French raider Makfi ran out a shock winner of the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. The Mikel Delzangles-trained Dubawi colt was sent off at 33-1 on the back of success in the Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte and was settled in the middle of the 19-runner field by Christophe Lemaire.
He made stealthy headway to take the lead passing the furlong marker and stayed on strongly in the closing stages to beat Dick Turpin by a length and a quarter, with Canford Cliffs half a length away in third.
Aidan O’Brien’s unbeaten St Nicholas Abbey - tagged the next wonder horse by many - never got in a serious blow and could only finish sixth.
Lemaire, who has a great record at Newmarket, said: “I’m very pleased, he won well last time but we were worried about his lack of experience.
“Today his condition had improved and he travelled well all the way. When I got the gap he really kicked. He has a very good turn of foot and is a top-class horse.
“I was not worried about the ground today, good horses go on any ground.”
Delzangles said: “It’s amazing. We liked him as he’s a son of Dubawi and a good looking horse.
“We were waiting for the Djebel to see what happened but we already had an idea we might come here. We weren’t really worried about the ground and he’s proved he’s a very good horse.
“Maybe now we’ll come back to England for the St James’s Palace Stakes. The French Guineas is a possibility but it’s only two weeks away and he’s only run three times, so maybe we’ll come back for Royal Ascot.”
Richard Hannon was a proud man having saddled the second and third.
He said: “They have both run super races, and you can’t really say too much more than that.
“Richard (Hughes) said the Dip didn’t suit him (Canford Cliffs) but a furlong and a half out I still thought he had won it.
“They proved they are two very good horses and I am thrilled with them.”
Clive Cox was equally pleased with fourth home Xtension, saying: “We are delighted with that and Adam (Kirby) said he felt a lot stronger this year.
“We have got all the Group One races covered and he might go to Ireland unless the ground is too soft.”
Last year’s Racing Post Trophy hero St Nicholas Abbey raced on the heels of the leaders in the early stages, but he could not pick up when it mattered.
O’Brien said: “We’re not disappointed with the performance and I suppose we’d have liked to have seen an even, strong run race for him.
“Johnny (Murtagh) just said he jumped and they did a hack canter for the first half of the race, and that’s not taking anything away from the winner or any other horse in the race.
“But obviously ideally for our horse we would have liked an evenly-run mile as we were using this as a stepping stone to the Derby at Epsom.
“We trained him all year with the Classics in mind. It was easy going for a Derby trial but he was working so well and his times were so good - as good as all the milers that we’ve had.
“That’s why we decided to let him take his chance in the Guineas and when you come for a Classic like this they usually go a pace, but obviously we didn’t put anything in to go an even building pace in front, which we often do.
“Johnny just said they hacked to halfway and then sprinted and then he started staying on again at the end.
“We weren’t winding him up for a mile as we were thinking of the rest of the year and didn’t want to light him up too much.
“We’re happy with the horse.”