3 minute read

Notable Speech put up a sparkling display in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

Charlie Appleby's colt, who arrived at Newmarket following a trio of wins on the all-weather, was a relatively unfancied 16/1 chance for Britain's first Classic, with Aidan O'Brien's champion juvenile City Of Troy sent off 4/6 to make a successful reappearance.

However, City Of Troy never really looked like landing a blow after coming under pressure early on and it quickly became apparent that those who took the prohibited odds were in trouble.

The Charlie Appleby-trained Kempton winner travelled strongly throughout and displayed a sensational turn of foot to pick up the running coming out of the dip. Rosallion bid to lay down a challenge deep inside the final furlong but Notable Speech, who was always finding plenty out in front, drew clear to land the spoils by a comfortable length and a half, taking his unblemished record to a perfect four from four.

Rosallion filled the runner-up spot with Richard Hannon's stablemate Haatem finishing back in third.

"He really was impressive. He's the kind of horse who I've not known for that long. I came back from Dubai and rode him in February and here we are," said a delighted Buick, who was winning the Newmarket Classic for the first time having partnered warm favourite Native Trail to finish runner-up to stablemate Coroebus for the same connections two years ago.

He added: "I've not very often believed in a horse as much as this guy. I've had that much belief in him and sometimes you go home at night and think 'have I lost the plot all together?' because that's how he does things, he does it so easily and his change of gear is incredible.

"The race couldn't have worked out any better, fair play to the team he was in great form today. He's done nothing but improve. I've gone close in the 2,000 Guineas a few times so I'm over the moon. These races are incredibly hard to win but I'm overjoyed."

"You don't see too many come off an all-weather success to a Guineas success, we've given him all the time, thinking he was a good horse," Appleby said.

"He was given that time, a few lads sat on him last year in August time when you start to see these horses developing more, and they were just saying 'he's a nice horse'.

"He was still far too weak to do anything with, as always, I'm in the very privileged position to be allowed to give the horses the time that they need, with no pressure.

"He came out on the all-weather there and we all know what he did – he was three from three – in that last start, I think he put a bit of a 'wow factor' into what he achieved, with his acceleration.

"William did say 'I think he's a French Guineas' horse because he's quick, and so therefore we toyed with whether to go there. We were waiting for the Craven to see how the Guineas picture would formulate and we decided to put him in the Guineas.

"We brought him here for a racecourse gallop to give ourselves more confidence in running the horse and that morning here, he was exciting."

With Notable Speech not tested on turf heading into the opening Classic, Appleby was keen to give his contender a spin on the grass at Newmarket's Craven Meeting, a piece of work that provided the Moulton Paddocks-based handler with plenty of optimism. "William was very impressed with him after this last start and when we brought him here for the racecourse gallop, he put that 'wow factor' back in," explained Appleby.

"I worked him with a good horse, I told William I was going to put some speed into the gallop, and he fired this horse into the dip and out of it, and he flew out of it – Will said he didn't even know it was there.

"We came here after that with confidence that we had the right horse to be here. I wasn't saying he was going to win a Guineas off the back of what City Of Troy had done as a two-year-old, but I just felt we had the right horse to be in the field and be competitive."

Charlie Appleby's last 2000 Guineas winner Coroebus went on to land the St James's Palace Stakes on his next outing and Appleby looks to be plotting a similar route with his latest superstar.

He said: "I'd be surprised if we went beyond a mile. I would imagine it will be Royal Ascot (St James's Palace Stakes) next, but as always, we'll let the dust settle and let everyone enjoy themselves and speak to all connections."

Whilst one training giant was celebrating, another was left perplexed, with Aidan O'Brien pointing towards City Of Troy getting upset in the stalls as a possible excuse for his poor performance. "He got upset in the stalls, Ryan said that was very unusual for him. He was very happy beforehand. There's no doubt that that was too bad to be true," said the Ballydoyle maestro.

He added: "We wouldn't have been here if we thought he was going to do that. We just have to see why that happened. We'll get him home and see.

"That's the way it is, we'll try and find out why and try not to let it happen again. Sorry about that, everyone."

Aidan O'Brien produced a miracle-like training performance to saddle August Rodin to Epsom Derby success on the back of his disappointing effort in last year's 2000 Guineas, and the Ballydoyle handler will have to work similar magic if he is to get City Of Troy, who is now a 7/1 chance for Epsom glory, back on track in June.