Aidan O’Brien now has a pair of joint favourites at the top of the Betfred 2,000 Guineas betting and one of them could have particular resonance for the record-breaking trainer.
Magna Grecia in 2019 was the last of O’Brien’s record 10 victories in the hugely prestigious opening Classic of the season at Newmarket.
City Of Troy proved a costly flop in last year’s renewal but that hasn’t prevented unbeaten colt The Lion In Winter from topping ante-post betting lists throughout the winter.
However, The Lion In Winter has now been joined at the top of the market by his stable companion Expanded.
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The son of Wootton Bassett made a winning debut at the Curragh in October and just a week later was stepped up to Group One company for the Dewhurst Stakes.
The inexperienced colt ran a storming race to finish a runner-up to Shadow Light, with Godolphin’s other high-class performer Ancient Truth another neck back in third.
Although that originally wasn’t enough to put him to the forefront of the Guineas betting, Expanded has been supported into a general 6-1 joint-favourite alongside his more highly touted stable companion for Classic glory.
Both Shadow Of Light and Ancient Truth are on 10-1 despite Shadow Of Light being crowned Europe’s champion two-year-old for 2024.
Expanded was bred by O’Brien’s family-owned Whisperview Trading, a company that bred last year’s top-class filly Porta Fortuna. She was sold privately after making a winning debut in the colours of O’Brien’s wife, Annemarie. The company also bred the Breeders' Cup champion Iridessa.
Expanded is owned by the Coolmore partnership and Annemarie O’Brien. O’Brien recently gave an update on Expanded’s progress over the winter and said he’s a horse he has to be very excited about.
“We were probably a bit unfair on him to ask him to do what he did last season. It was a huge ask of him to run on soft ground in the Dewhurst just a week after he was so green and only just got up to win a maiden at the Curragh on his debut.
“But I suppose that reflected the belief that we have in him. All things considered, it was a remarkable run at Newmarket, really. Not only was he so inexperienced and backing up so quickly, he had to make his own running which he obviously hadn’t done before.
“He’s a Guineas type of horse for sure. He’s a big, scopey horse that has done well over the winter. We had him away for a racecourse gallop the other day and his preparation is going very well. Plans will start to come together in the next couple of weeks,” he told Attheraces.
O’Brien was unsurprisingly upbeat too about The Lion In Winter who also enjoyed a recent workout at the Curragh.
“For a Sea The Stars from a middle-distance family to be doing that much in the middle part of his two-year-old year is obviously very exciting and would have you dreaming of what could happen this year.
“He had an away day at the Curragh earlier in the week and all went smoothly. We’ll get an idea of how much that has brought him along in the coming days and plans will soon start to come together with him, but he’s an obvious candidate for the 2,000 Guineas,” he reported.
Joseph O’Brien, a Guineas winning jockey on Camelot in 2012, has his own shot at the May 3rd highlight with the National Stakes winner Scorthy Champ.
The Mehmas colt is also part-owned by Annemarie O’Brien and beat the subsequent Breeders' Cup winner Henri Matisse in the National over Irish Champions Festival weekend last September.
“He’s getting on well and seems to have wintered well and we’ll probably start him off in the Guineas in Newmarket,” said O’Brien. “He looked a high-class two-year-old and the form of all of his races has worked out extremely well, so we’re excited about him this year.”
Scorthy Champ is a best-priced 16-1 for the Guineas. Another Group One winning Irish juvenile from last season, Jessica Harrington’s Hotazhell, is also 16-1 for the Newmarket Classic. He beat Ballydoyle’s Delacroix in a memorable finish to last October’s Futurity in Doncaster.
