By Sean Cronin
Juddmonte's TDN Rising Star duo Field Of Gold (Kingman) and Cosmic Year (Kingman), who have drawn stalls nine and five, head a field of nine declared for Saturday's G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh.
Field Of Gold is on the wing again and seeks redemption for his G1 2000 Guineas near miss with Colin Keane replacing Kieran Shoemark in the plate. Harry Charlton has provided Cosmic Year with a solid foundation and decides now is the time to make the jump in grade coming back off a win in Newmarket's Listed King Charles II Stakes on the opening day of HQ's Guineas fixture. The Andrew Balding-conditioned G3 Sandown Classic Trial runner-up Windlord (Dubawi) bolsters the Juddmonte squad and is next to Cosmic Year in six.
Aidan O'Brien, bidding for a record-extending baker's dozen editions, relies on Listed Tetrarch Stakes winner Officer (Dubawi) and 2000 Guineas ninth Expanded (Wootton Bassett). They are alongside each other in stalls three and two, respectively.
This deep renewal also features Silverton Hill Partnership's G1 Futurity Trophy winner Hotazhell (Too Darn Hot), who was in full kit before skipping his Poulains engagement on account of the fast ground in Paris two weeks ago, and is reported in fine fettle for this belated seasonal debut. The track has been watered and, with rain forecast in the coming days, Thursday morning's official going was rated as a more forgiving good, good-to-firm in places. The Jessica Harrington nominee has drawn stall four.
Confidence was high in G1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes hero Scorthy Champ (Mehmas) before his 2000 Guineas seventh for the Joseph O'Brien stable and he will seek amends from stall eight.
The famed Sangster livery, not seen in the winner's circle since Turtle Island's 1994 triumph, exits stall one and will be sported by last year's winning rider Sean Levey atop the Brian Meehan-trained G3 Greenham Stakes runner-up Rashabar (Holy Roman Emperor). Another to have missed his Poulains target, he adds lustre to a strong British challenge.
Such is the field's strength in depth, Comanche Brave (Wootton Bassett) is freely available at 50-1 and the Donnacha O'Brien trainee, last seen getting outbobbed by subsequent G1 Poulains hero Henri Matisse (Wootton Bassett) in Leopardstown's G3 2000 Guineas Trial at the end of March, may well outrun those odds from stall seven.
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