Brilliant Field Of Gold blitzes the Irish 2000 Guineas

Field Of Gold (Kingman) blasted clear in the first Irish Classic of the season for John and Thady Gosden, the widest winning margin since his father's demolition job 11 years ago for Juddmonte.

Taken from the Racing Post, 25th May 2025, by Conor Fennelly:

The explosive grey announced himself on the big stage in last month's Craven when bursting three and a half lengths clear with a thunderous change of gear, but that turn of foot took an extra few strides to kick in when he approached the dip travelling powerfully in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket this month, which resulted in him running out of road and suffering an excruciating half-length defeat to Ruling Court.

Kingman was one of the best milers we have seen and he suffered an eerily analogous heartbreak at Newmarket when denied by Night Of Thunder in 2014. However, he bounced back in spectacular fashion when charging five lengths clear in the Irish 2,000 Guineas for John Gosden, before going on to land another three consecutive Group 1s at Ascot, Goodwood and Deauville.

This performance could prove every bit as seminal for Field Of Gold's career. Apart from the initial trajectory of their three-year-old seasons, what other similarities do the winner and his esteemed father share? Plenty, according to one person who would definitely know.

"That ability to be laid back at home, half asleep and then when you press the button, they can turn it on," said John Gosden. "It's a great thing. This is a very laid-back horse. It might be down to the man who reared him at Roundhill Stud here in Ireland. He's right up there with his father. I think he's as good as his father."

A bold statement, but far from fanciful. The evidence is compelling. Colin Keane, who was steering home his second winner of the race in the Juddmonte colours after his Siskin masterclass in 2020, was riding him for the first time and the pair fused beautifully. The winner has a tendency to race enthusiastically and had to negotiate the outside stall nine, but a lack of cover did not complicate matters as Keane had him in a wonderfully serene rhythm positioned one from the rear throughout. Straightening for home, the pair began to breeze forward on the outside and it was soon apparent that Keane was merely hovering his finger above a button that was going to settle this contest in a matter of seconds. He slammed down on it as the pair whizzed into second behind Windlord passing the two-furlong pole, setting sail plenty early but there was little logic in disappointing his mount, who seemed to be determined to show himself off after the misfortune of Newmarket.

Shortly after, he flew to the front and began finding gear after gear inside the final furlong, going further clear with each stride ahead of the staying-on Cosmic Year for Harry Charlton, who completed a one-two for owners Juddmonte. The Jessica Harrington-trained Hotazhell did best of the home team, beaten another three-quarters of a length into third on his seasonal return. While Charlton bemoaned a lack of pace and may get a rematch in the St James's Palace Stakes, Harrington felt Hotazhell "lacked a bit of race fitness" and gave the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown as a potential option.

Gosden recalled some hard luck stories at the Curragh in days gone by and reserved special praise for the Juddmonte operation: "We won this race with his father and I do remember coming here years ago with The Minstrel when I was working for Vincent O'Brien. Juddmonte have some wonderful farms in Ireland, really good stock and have a lot of people employed."

"To that extent, we have to be thankful to them because good horses don’t drop out of the sky. The Irish Guineas is on a very fair track and I wanted to come here and prove he was a Classic winner, so it was very important. I was sorry we got beat in the English Guineas, but he finished so well. To get on a plane and come here and see something different, he would have learned a lot from this. They grow in stature and mentality, and Colin rode him beautifully."