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UK: Homecoming crowned Guineas queen

3 minute read

Aidan O'Brien became the first trainer since 1942 to claim the 1000 and 2000 Guineas in the same season on two occasions as Homecoming Queen ran out a surprise winner of the fillies' Classic 24 hours after Camelot's triumph.

The legendary Fred Darling was the last man to achieve the feat that O'Brien first managed in 2005 with Virginia Waters and Footstepsinthesand.

That O'Brien won the Qipco 1000 Guineas was no shock, but he was expected to do it with the 13-8 favourite Maybe, ridden, like Camelot, by his son Joseph, and not 25-1 shot Homecoming Queen, the mount of Ryan Moore.

While Homecoming Queen's pedigree - she is closely related to Arc winner Dylan Thomas - suggests she should be winning Classics, her claims on the form book were harder to spot.

Bounced into an early lead by Moore, she never saw another rival and recorded a nine-length victory over John Gosden's Starscope - the second-biggest winning margin ever in the 1000 Guineas. Maybe came home third, with Gosden's other runner, The Fugue, fourth.

When asked if Homecoming Queen was running as a pacemaker, O'Brien answered: "Absolutely not. She was there running on her merits. She's a tough, hardy filly with a real pedigree and has been progressive all the way.

"Perhaps we didn't expect her to win quite like she did, but it was not a great surprise she did win. Joseph said beforehand that she was the one he feared most.

"Ryan says she'll stay further. She has a lot of options, but the boys will talk about that later in the week. She can go to the Irish Guineas or she can go anywhere - the Curragh, Ascot and Epsom are all in the mix. There are lot of options open to her now. She's a very progressive filly."

Moore, who was securing his first victory in the Newmarket fillies' Classic, said: "Aidan said she was very fit and very well. I thought I was going a stride too quick, but she just kept going. There's not much of her, but she tries very hard. She's very tough."


At The Races

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