Native Trail Faces 14 in Two Thousand Guineas Bid

Unbeaten star colt Native Trail  will face 14 rivals when bidding to justify short-price favoritism in the April 30 Qipco Two Thousand Guineas (G1) at Newmarket.

Native Trail, who is drawn on the wing in stall 15, was 4-4 in his juvenile campaign, winning group 1s in the Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes (G1) and Darley Dewhurst (G1), before returning this month with an authoritative victory in the Bet365 Craven (G3) over course and distance.

The Charlie Appleby-trained star is the mount of William Buick, while his stablemate Coroebus , drawn on the other side in stall 1, is second favorite at 9-2.

He is similarly a course-and-distance winner, landing the Emirates Autumn Stakes (G3) on his final start at 2, and makes his first start of the season under James Doyle.

The field size stacks up well with an average of 14.8 runners across the last 10 editions, with the biggest field of 19 in 2019 and smallest of 10 in 2017.

Angel Bleu , Bayside Boy , Dr Zempf , and Glounthaune  were the four horses not declared for the first Classic of the season.

Aidan O'Brien has won the race 10 times and saddles two runners. Luxembourg , the mount of Ryan Moore, is 3-3 and won the Vertem Futurity Trophy (G1) at Doncaster when last seen, while Frankie Dettori rides Point Lonsdale , who finished second to Native Trail at the Curragh on his final start at 2.

Jim Bolger and Kevin Manning won the big prize with Poetic Flare  last year and hope to repeat the feat with outsider Boundless Ocean, who is the other Irish-trained runner.

Christophe Soumillon maintains the partnership with the Richard Fahey-trained Perfect Power , who made a successful return in the Watership Down Stud Too Darn Hot Greenham Stakes (G3) at Newbury. He tries a mile for the first time and is the shortest-priced British runner outside the Godolphin runners.

The William Knight-trained Checkandchallenge is the mount of Danny Tudhope and arrives with a 2-2 record, as does the David Simcock-trained Light Infantry  who is ridden by Jamie Spencer.

Hugo Palmer struck in the Classic with Galileo Gold in 2016 and runs Dubawi Legend , another making his reappearance. He finished a two-length second to Native Trail in the Dewhurst and is partnered by Tom Marquand for the first time.

'We Have Confidence in Our Guy'—Egan Fancies Eydon to Outrun Guineas Odds

David Egan would love nothing more than a classic breakthrough at Newmarket and believes Eydon  is going in under the radar for his Two Thousand Guineas bid.

The Prince Faisal-owned colt arrives on the back of gaining a first success with an impressive 3 1/4-length win in the listed Feilden Stakes at the track this month.

Egan, whose father John rides The Wizard of Eye  in the race, believes stamina is a key asset for the Roger Varian-trained Eydon and fancies his mount to outrun his 33-1 odds.

Egan said: "He's got track experience which is a big help and he was impressive to break his maiden in a listed race last time, which is hard to do. It's obviously a competitive race but we have confidence in our guy.

"Stamina is going to come to the fore considering the pace they tend to go in the Guineas and that's a plus for Eydon. He's definitely not short of stamina, he showed that last time over a mile and a furlong and his pedigree shows it too.

"There's Native Trail and another three or four that are well fancied and have good form going into it, but there's plenty going in there under the radar and he's one of them."

Egan could be aboard Eydon's stablemate Ameynah, a fellow recent course winner, in Sunday's One Thousand Guineas (G1) if she is declared on Friday and was impressed by her victory on reappearance.

He said: "She has course form and couldn't have done anything better when winning last time. If she goes, she'd be an outsider but could outrun her odds."

Asked what it would mean if he were able to win either Guineas at the weekend, Egan replied: "A classic winner means everything to any jockey. If I were able to do it at Newmarket it would be even more special as I live just down the road."