Classic victory for Native Trail

The son of Oasis Dream claimed the Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas on Saturday at the Curragh and in doing so created history for trainer Charlie Appleby and Godolphin.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 22nd May 2022, by Tom Frary:

With Coroebus and Modern Games setting it up for him, Native Trail carried the heavy burden of hope into Saturday's Gr.1 Irish 2000 Guineas at the Curragh but with William Buick at his coolest, the trinity of Guineas victories was completed with a degree of comfort.

The champion juvenile of 2021 worked hard to deny the outsiders New Energy and Imperial Fighter, the take-out was the unprecedented achievement of Charlie Appleby collecting the three Group 1 2000 Guineas of Europe in England, France and Ireland with three different colts.

"Coming into today as calm and collected as you try to be, I knew what we were trying to achieve," his trainer said. "Firstly trying to win a Guineas but, dare I say, trying to make history. That's what this horse has done for the whole team today."

Imperious when winning the Gr.1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes here in September, Native Trail was flying high by the time he hit the lids for the 2000 Guineas with Newmarket's Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes and Gr.3 Craven Stakes also in the satchel. He could only split Coroebus and Luxembourg in the 30th April Classic and there was an air of deflation surrounding fans of the giant-striding bay. Connections refused to lose any faith and with the 2000 Guineas-Poulains-Irish 2000 Guineas masterplan laid out at Moulton Paddocks the wave of positivity seemed sufficient to carry Native Trail to glory here.

Any fears that Buick might be prisoner to tactics were certainly not troubling the man himself, who rode here with the calm of one of the all-time greats. Staying behind and on the rail, he kept the favourite in his own rhythm with main market rivals Ivy League and Buckaroo to his outer and the 100-1 shot Malex taking up
front-running duties. There was a point three out when Ryan Moore on Ivy League looked as if he might be able to keep him pinned in, but Native Trail is an imposing prospect at the best of times and was coming out no matter what.

As Wexford Native stretched on with Kevin Manning looking to escape, it was New Energy who loomed as a genuine danger in the slipstream of Native Trail and despite the much improved effort of the runner-up he found that giving a headstart to the winner was always a losing battle.

"He is an exceptional horse and a joy to ride- he's uncomplicated and is there when you need him," Buick said.

"I knew from a fair way out I would be having to work my way out, but I had the horse to do it as he's got plenty of size and it was actually very straightforward. On faster ground, you might have seen a more explosive performance as this ground blunted his turn of foot a bit. He will get a mile and a quarter."

Appleby was not ruling out another stand-off between the stable's Newmarket one-two in the Gr.1 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.

"In all sports, you like to see the best two take each other on, whether it be tennis or football teams. At the moment these colts are the best around over a mile, so you'd like to see them have a crack at each other," he said.

"He lost nothing in defeat at Newmarket - Coroebus is a horse we thought highly of and had they be drawn together it could have been a closer contest. We'll never know that, but this horse doesn't have to prove himself any more. We all know that the St James's Palace is a fantastic race and the last chance for these three-year-olds over a mile to compete against each other."