2000 Guineas Tips 2024: Hannon’s pride and joy can justify hype

At Newmarket on Saturday (15:35), a field of 11 three-year-olds will compete over the Rowley Mile in the first British Classic of the 2024 flat season.

I've come up with a couple of 2000 Guineas tips - one to win and one each-way - for your consideration.

Richard Hannon, who won the 2000 Guineas in 2014 with Night Of Thunder, isn't one to shy away from hyping up a horse under his care. However, he seems more enthusiastic than ever about ROSALLION.

"There is not a horse I would rather have other than him." "He's the best horse I've trained." That's just a couple of eyebrow-raising comments the Wiltshire-based trainer has made about the three-year-old son of Blue Point recently.

It's fair to say he is, at this point in time, the apple of his eye. His pride and joy.

I'm hoping he can justify that lofty reputation at Newmarket on Saturday by winning the 2000 Guineas.

Rosallion's juvenile form is, on the whole, very strong. That Ascot triumph in July last year was emphatic and it's been franked time and time again. His Grade 1 win at Longchamp on Arc weekend was also made to look a lot stronger when runner-up Unquestionable won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in the States a month later.

The only blot on the selection's copybook is his lacklustre effort in the G2 Betfred Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on St Leger weekend. Soft ground was put forward as the excuse and it's currently good, good to firm in places at HQ, so I'm willing to ignore that entirely.

His win across The Channel was very good and put his previous performance to bed anyway. Despite taking a keen hold early on and given plenty to do from the rear, he made stylish headway round the bend and finished with a flourish to get up by a length, shaping like a horse who would relish the extra furlong in the 2000 Guineas.

It's tricky to predict how much these young horses will improve going into their Classic season, which is where trainer's comments have to be taken into consideration, but if Rosallion has trained on then he ought to run a huge race on Saturday.

It's for that reason - the unpredictable rates of improvement - that I would rather be with the latter at the quoted price than current favourite City Of Troy at odds-on.

Aidan O'Brien has also been waxing lyrical about the son of Justify, who was comfortably the best two-year-old last year, but similar comments were made about Auguste Rodin last year before he ran deplorably. He joined Pinatubo (2020), Air Force Blue (2016), Kingman (2014) et al. in the list of short-priced losers in this race.

On last season's evidence, there's every chance City Of Troy could be very special, but if ever there's a race to go against a fancied one it's this - and for me Rosallion is the second-best option.