World Racing Weekly: English Guineas, Kentucky Derby & Raaheeb

Of Classics And Triple Crowns: Dreams On The Line At Newmarket, Oi And Churchill Downs

It’s the time of year when dreams can be made or dashed: when April bumps into May and the talk is all about Classics and Triple Crowns.

This weekend brings the first two English Classics, the G1 2,000 Guineas – the first leg of the original Triple Crown – and the G1 1,000 Guineas, while over in Louisville, the G1 Kentucky Derby kicks off the U.S. Triple Crown.

Then there’s Oi. The National Association of Racing’s (NAR) flagship Tokyo track held the first leg of the Japan Dirt Triple Crown, the Jpn1 Haneda Hai on Wednesday night, and Finger led the field under Keita Tosaki to win the 1800m contest from Rock Ptarmigan.

“I made the plan with the jockey to race in front, but as it always is in racing, we were not really sure if that would work out,” trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka told Idol Horse. “He rode the race really well and was able to keep the horse at a good rhythm.

“We will head to the Tokyo Derby next. I think the race at 2000 metres will suit him even better.”

Sticking with the Japanese focus, the Japan Racing Association (JRA) pair Wonder Dean and Danon Bourbon are Kentucky Derby longshots on the Morning Line behind the two colts vying for favouritism, Renegade, winner of the G1 Arkansas Derby, and The Puma, a nose behind another big contender Commandment in the G1 Florida Derby.

Meanwhile, you have to go back to 1970 to find the last winner of the English Triple Crown, the brilliant colt Nijinsky. But if current favourite Bow Echo wins the 2,000 Guineas on the Rowley Mile this Saturday, the £2 million bonus being offered to a Triple Crown winner is unlikely to be collected.

“I’d be surprised if we saw him over 10 furlongs,” the colt’s trainer George Boughey said this week as he and jockey Billy Loughnane aim at winning their first Classic together. “He’s showing a huge amount of pace and we’ll look to harness that.”

Bow Echo must face the might of Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable in an open contest. Ireland’s champion trainer has won the race 10 times and the Group 1 winners Gstaad and Puerto Rico are the pick of his four this time.

O’Brien has three star contenders for the fillies’ equivalent, the 1,000 Guineas, on Sunday: Precise, Diamond Necklace and True Love, Group 1 winners all. Then there’s Venetian Sun, another Group 1 winner, for the Karl Burke stable.

Up against those big hitters is Stuart Williams with his longshot filly Azleet. Williams has never won a race above Group 3 level, and enjoyed one of his biggest moments at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile two weeks ago when the daughter of Tasleet won the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes under Marco Ghiani.

“Quinault was third in the Champions Sprint at Ascot at the end of last year, so that’s the closest we’ve been to a Group 1,” Williams told Idol Horse. “We’re getting closer. But it’s a dream to win these sorts of races and it’s very, very difficult to do.

“You look at who wins them and where the horses come from and a lot of the times they’re homebreds or they’re horses that cost telephone numbers at the sales that we just have no chance of getting.”

Azleet is a homebred, but not your Shadwell or Juddmonte or Godolphin or Aga Khan Studs. She races in the lesser-known colours of owner-breeder David Noblett, who raced the dam, Azure Mist, to win a Class 6 at Yarmouth.

Azleet was slow out of the gates in the seven-furlong Nell Gwyn, raced near the tail, was hampered just as she was trying to get going, but quickened and ran on strongly to win. She was 50-1.

“She worked well prior to the Nell Gwyn and we weren’t totally shocked that she won,” Williams said. “We’re very hopeful, based on the way she finished that race off, that the mile won’t be a problem to her in the Guineas, and she’s come out of the race in great form.

“She’s not quirky but we ended up having a little bit of trouble with her in the stalls. We’ve done a lot of work over the winter with her to try and sort that out. She was still a little bit tardy the other day in the Nell Gwyn, so hopefully a bit of the freshness out of her and we’ll see her jump on terms in the Guineas.”

This Week In Horse Racing History

It was on April 29, 1970 that Nijinsky won the 2,000 Guineas under Lester Piggott and took his first step on the way to becoming the latest winner of England’s Triple Crown. The Vincent O’Brien-trained colt would go on to win the Derby and St Leger.   

Eddie Arcaro had a busy day on April 30, 1941. Before heading to Churchill Downs, Kentucky to ride subsequent Triple Crown hero Whirlaway to victory in the Kentucky Derby, he rode four winners out of five mounts at Jamaica racetrack in Queens, New York.

Idol Horse Reads Of The Week

In this week’s Idol Thoughts column, Shane Dye gives his expert opinion as to where Ka Ying Rising sits in the pantheon of the sport’s great champions over the last half century and argues sprinters deserve more respect.

Shane Dye

Ka Ying Rising: Hong Kong’s Best Ever – And One Of The Best I’ve Ever Seen

Dye’s comments come on the back of Ka Ying Rising and Romantic Warrior dominating Champions Day, and David Morgan was there to witness the brilliance of two great champions.

David Morgan

Greatness Calling: Ka Ying Rising And Romantic Warrior Dominate Champions Day 

With the 2,000 Guineas being this weekend, it’s 15 years since Frankel put up one of the most impressive performances ever witnessed in a classic race. We look back at this feature from last year, getting the views of two of the jockeys who were left with a view of the great horse drawing further and further ahead.

David Morgan

Frankel’s “Most Amazing Guineas” And The Two-Plan Approach

Racing Photo Of The Week

Date
26 April, 2026

Photographer
Hong Kong Jockey Club

Location
Sha Tin, Hong Kong

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Global Blackbook

Baaeed was a brilliant champion, Hukum was a two-time Group 1 winner, and their full-brother Raaheeb showed enough in the G3 Classic Trial at Sandown last week to suggest he’s heading to the elite bracket, too. 

The Sea The Stars colt won his maiden very nicely last year at Ascot and was having just his second start at Sandown. Jockey Rossa Ryan settled his mount an easy third on the rail as up ahead Oisin Murphy set a solid tempo on the leader Winding Stream. Coming off the home turn, Raaheeb shifted out from behind the front-runner and was waited with until halfway down the home run, at which point those around him had dropped away. Raaheeb was holding his rivals in nothing more than workmanlike fashion when with a half-furlong to race he changed legs exuberantly and found another gear. The colt was easing down, ears pricked, three and a quarter-lengths clear at the winning post.

Raaheeb is still learning and still maturing after only two runs and given how good his brothers were, that all makes him an exciting prospect for perhaps the Derby at the beginning of June and most likely plenty of big races beyond.

The beautifully-bred Raaheeb remains unbeaten in the @bet365 Classic Trial! @Sandownpark @Rossaryan15 | @OwenBurrowsRace pic.twitter.com/KvY3yDjGa9

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) April 24, 2026

World Horse Racing Calendar: What’s Coming Up

South Australian Derby Day
Morphettville, Australia, May 2

Last week’s Global Blackbooker Accidental Bid takes another step up in the G1 South Australian Derby and could well start a solid favourite. The 2518m contest has a full field of 16 including recent VRC St Leger winner Silvasista, another filly, the Group 1-placed After Summer, and Engine Of War.

2,000 Guineas Day
Newmarket, England, May 2

The last horse to win the G2 Royal Lodge Stakes as a two-year-old and follow-up in the 2,000 Guineas was Frankel in 2010 and 2011, but Bow Echo is favourite to emulate the great one. Aidan O’Brien has four in the race including Group 1 winners Puerto Rico and Gstaad, the latter having been supplemented after he was mistakenly taken out at the previous forfeit stage. Meanwhile, among the trial winners are Oxagon, who won the G3 Craven Stakes on Newmarket’s straight Rowley Mile course, and Alparslan who won the G3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury.

1,000 Guineas Day
Newmarket, England, May 3

Trainer Aidan O’Brien has three of the top four in the betting, headed by G1 Moyglare Stud Stakes and the G1 Fillies Mile winner Precise. She faces her Group 1-winning stablemates Diamond Necklace and True Love, and still heads the market for the 1,000 Guineas after last week’s key trials went to outsiders. The big English hope is the Karl Burke-trained Venetian Sun, winner of the G1 Prix Morny last year. Longshot G3 Nell Gwynn Stakes winner Azleet will attempt to give trainer Stuart Williams by far the biggest win of his career. 

Doomben 10,000 Day
Doomben, Australia, May 16

The 1200m feature was first run in 1933 and is Queensland’s top weight-for-age sprint. Nominations for this year’s race will close on May 5, but the early market leader is the former Perth galloper Joker’s Grin. Private Harry, Lady Of Camelot and Private Eye could make the line-up.

Lockinge Stakes Day
Newbury, England, May 16

Godolphin’s G1 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Notable Speech is likely a top contender for the mile feature, which Godolphin has won nine times, going back to Cape Cross in 1998, three years after it was raised to Group 1 and closed to three-year-olds. The contest could also feature last year’s longshot Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Cicero’s Gift, as well as the progressive five-year-old More Thunder and recent G3 Earl Of Sefton Stakes winner Damysus. ∎

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