The Classics: All you need to know

The 2024 Flat season is now in full swing with the Newmarket Guineas Meeting on the horizon. This fixture hosts the first two Classic races of the year; the 1000 Guineas and the 2000 Guineas, which will be run by some of the very best horses in training.

Five Classic races are held in the UK each summer, each considered to be the ultimate test of a racehorse. Restricted to three-year-old runners, these Group 1 races incorporate different distances and a rare horse that manages to win over each distance has achieved what is known as ‘The Triple Crown’.

There have only been 15 winners of the English Triple Crown, the latest of which being Nijinsky in 1970.

Other countries which hold their own Classic races and Triple Crown pattern are Ireland, Australia, the United States, France and New Zealand.

The English Classics are international races with highly competitive fields of horses who had excellent two-year-old campaigns on the racecourse. As such, they are eagerly anticipated and popular occasions.

The 2000 Guineas

Inaugurated in 1809 and held this year on Saturday 4th May at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse, the 2000 Guineas, run over one mile, is open to both colts and fillies, but is usually run by colts. There is a maximum number of 25 starters vying for victory and a slice of the £500,000 prize fund.

Winners of this race usually become top stallions after their racing careers have ended and go on to sire Classic winners themselves. A recent example of this is last year’s winner Chaldean whose sire, the infamous Frankel, won the race in probably the most impressive fashion ever seen back in 2011.

Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has a fantastic record of training 2000 Guineas winners, with 10 of them to his name currently. Two-time winning trainer, Andrew Balding, whose charge Kameko won the 2000 Guineas in 2020, won again with last year’s second favourite, Chaldean.

In this year’s renewal it was Charlie Appleby’s Notable Speech who managed to rewrite the script at 16/1 and get the better of Rosallion by a length-and-a-half. The favourite, City Of Troy, ran disappointingly finishing ninth out of the 11 runners.

Past winners of the 2000 Guineas

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The 1000 Guineas

First run in 1814, the 1000 Guineas is the fillies’ version of the 2000 Guineas. While fillies may compete in the 2000 Guineas, colts may not compete in the 1000 Guineas. The course and distance remain the same, as does the maximum number of runners and the prize fund of the race, which is £500,000. This year’s race will be run on Sunday 5th May.

As with the 2000 Guineas, Aidan O’Brien’s record in this race is exemplary having trained seven 1000 Guineas winning fillies. Since 2016, O’Brien-trained horses have picked up the top prize five times.

Saeed Bin Suroor has been successful in the 1000 Guineas on three occasions in 1998, 2002 and 2023 with Cape Verdi, Kazzia and Mawj respectively. His first two winners were both ridden by Frankie Dettori but it was Oisin Murphy who steered Mawj to victory in last year’s edition.

This year’s edition saw 28-1 shot Elmalka steered to victory by three-time champion jockey Silvestre De Sousa. Roger Varian’s charge started slow out of the stalls but tracked all the way and ended up going from last to first, winning by a neck.

Past winners of the 1000 Guineas

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The Epsom Oaks

The Oaks is a Group 1 Classic race for fillies over one mile and four furlongs. Held at Epsom Downs in late May or early June each year, in 2024 the race will take place on Friday 31st May. The Oaks has a maximum of 20 runners with each renewal.

The race is named after the estate of the 12th Earl of Derby and was first run in 1779.

If a filly was to be targeting a Triple Crown, this would be her second race, subsequent to the 1000 Guineas and prior to the St Leger Stakes at Doncaster.

Unsurprisingly, Aidan O’Brien has been enormously successful in this race throughout his career, having trained a total of 10 winners thus far. Second to him currently is the late Sir Henry Cecil, who was hailed as one of the greatest Flat trainers of all time.

John Gosden is the only trainer to have beaten Aidan O’Brien in the last seven years, having won with Enable in 2017, Anapurna in 2019 and most recently Soul Sister in last year’s renewal trained by both John and his son Thady.

It is Aidan O’Brien however who saddles the early market leader for this year’s renewal in Ylang Ylang who is 5/2.

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The Epsom Derby

Also connected to the Earl of Derby and named after him, the Epsom Derby is a Group 1 Classic race for three-year-old colts and fillies over one mile and a half. Usually run exclusively by colts, it first took place in 1780.

Taking place at the same meeting as the Epsom Oaks, ‘Derby Day’ will this year be the 1st of June. A maximum of 20 runners will compete for their share of the £1,500,000 prize fund. The Epsom Derby is one of the foremost events on the UK Flat racing calendar and never fails to be popular.

The Epsom Derby would be the second point in the Triple Crown for a colt, the first of which being the 2000 Guineas and the third being the St Leger Stakes.

Sir Michael Stoute is a veteran trainer of winners in the Epsom Derby, having trained six in total, first winning the race in 1981 with the famous Shergar and, most recently, in 2022 with Desert Crown. The son of Galileo was a hugely popular winner, with the racing community delighted to see Sir Michael back to Derby glory.

Aidan O’Brien has won the Epsom Derby nine times, the last of which was last year with Auguste Rodin, who won by half a length to Roger Varian’s 66/1 shot King Of Steel.

Despite fluffing up the 2000 Guineas, City Of Troy remains the ante-post favourite at 3/1 to give Aidan O’Brien back-to-back wins.

Past winners of The Derby

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The St Leger Stakes

The final English Classic of the UK Flat season is the St Leger Stakes, which is also the final leg in the rarely won Triple Crown. The Group 1 race, which is run over one mile and an extended six furlongs, is held at Doncaster racecourse and has been since its initiation in 1776. This year the race will be run on Saturday 14th September.

The St Leger can be run by both colts and fillies, and is usually won by colts. Some exceptional fillies, however, have prevailed and won the Triple Crown; nine in total, including Sceptre (1902), Pretty Polly (1904), Sun Chariot (1942) and Oh So Sharp (1985).

A well-known saying amongst the racing community states: “The fastest horse wins the Guineas; the luckiest the Derby – and the best horse wins the St Leger”, which speaks volumes about the winner of the St Leger.

Of the five English Classics, this is the one in which Aidan O’Brien has had the least success in, although he has still won the race six times with his most recently victory in last year’s edition with Continuous. John Gosden has also tallied up five wins of the St Leger, the most recent of which was in 2019 with Logician under Frankie Dettori.

Past winners of The St Leger

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