Young rider keen to get back on Classic prospect and emulate his unexpected and profitable success in Dubai

Rain was the last thing on anyone's mind when James Doyle enjoyed the most rewarding moment of his eight-year riding career in Dubai less than a month ago. In the heat of the early evening at Meydan racecourse, he rode an accomplished race on Cityscape to take the Dubai Duty Free, one of the richest turf races in the world with a prize of £1.9m for the winner. In the space of two minutes, Doyle earned more money than in his entire career to that point.

The weather has proved to be more of a problem ahead of another significant booking for Doyle on Saturday, however, as Top Offer, the third-favourite for the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket two weeks today, is a non-runner in the Greenham Stakes here due to the demanding ground. As a result, Roger Charlton's colt will go to the Classic without a prep race, but Doyle is still looking forward to their date on the Rowley Mile, the next important step in a season that, even in its infancy, has changed the path of his career.

Doyle maintained his momentum with a winner for Charlton here on Friday, and has three more booked rides for the same trainer at the track on Saturday as Steve Drowne, Charlton's main jockey until this year, is currently sidelined due to recurring bouts of dizziness, with no date set for a possible return.

"It's never nice to gain from someone else's misfortune," Doyle said , "but I'd been waiting for a chance for a while, and it didn't look like it was going to happen at one point.

"From some people's point of view, it was arguably a bold shout by Mr Charlton and Prince Khalid [Abdullah, Cityscape's owner] to put me on the horse in Dubai having not ridden a horse with a decent chance in a Group race before, let alone a Group One, but it all came together.

"All the best jockeys in the world were in Dubai, so they could have chosen someone else, and it gives you a lot of confidence to be offered an opportunity like that. I'm really looking forward to this season, too. There's all the nice horses that won last year, and going into the season with great confidence off the back of that really helps."

Doyle did not look like the new boy in the Group One field at any stage of the Duty Free, and grabbed the initiative by kicking Cityscape into a clear lead at the top of the straight. The six-year-old was trying the nine-furlong trip for the first time, but it was obvious he would not be caught from the moment Doyle made his move.

"I don't remember that much about the race, it was hard to take it all in," Doyle says. "After I'd won the race and done all the interviews, I just sat down and had a moment to myself and looked at the paper and it was just breathtaking really. It's not often that pots like that come along.

"It's been a fantastic help, it's helped me out big time. I was doing all right but I wasn't really earning a whole lot of money, I was making enough to get by and pay the mortgage. I might buy a bigger house now."

Top Offer will now go to the Guineas with one start behind him, though it was sufficiently impressive for Doyle to believe that he has a realistic chance.

"I've sat on Top Offer a few times at home," he says, "and he's felt like a really good horse. He moves well, he's got a good temperament, and he's quite a professional horse too. It's amazing for a horse to be third in the betting for the Guineas on the back of a Newbury maiden win [last August], but he put the race to bed in a matter of strides when he quickened up."

The financial reward for the Guineas will not be as rich as the Duty Free, but the status that comes with winning a Classic would be priceless. Doyle has proved himself against the top riders once already this year, and the Guineas will be a chance to do so again.

"When the Carnival started in Dubai and all the best jockeys and horses came over, I realised that you have to be so sharp against them," he says.

"One day, I second-guessed myself, and the moment was gone. What I learned was that if something comes into your mind you've just got to do it, and believe in yourself really. You can't second guess yourself against the best jockeys in the world, because you don't get a second chance."

Richard Hughes lost his appeal on Friday against the decision of the British Horseracing Authority to reciprocate a 50-day ban imposed by the Indian racing authorities in February. He must now wait until 30 April to return to the saddle.

Hughes admitted he was "disappointed" at the decision and is looking forward to returning to racecourse action, ruling out taking the matter further.

• Camelot cut to 7-4 favourite for Newmarket Classic
• Nephrite third behind stablemate Requisition in Listed race

Camelot shortened again at the head of the market for the 2,000 Guineas as another of his potential rivals failed to impress on Sunday. Nephrite, who had been fifth in the betting lists for the race a week on Saturday, was only third at odds of 4-9 on his seasonal reappearance at The Curragh and is now unlikely to appear at Newmarket.

Aidan O'Brien, the trainer of Nephrite, was able to take the setback in his stride since he also trains both Camelot and Requisition, the winner of the Listed race in which Nephrite was beaten. Nephrite, he said, had "always looked very pacey" and had failed to see out the seven furlongs on rain-softened ground. The trainer said he would now be dropped in trip.

O'Brien has notably failed to confirm that Camelot is a definite runner in the Guineas, for which he is now a best price of 7-4 from 9-4, and he once more declined the opportunity to do so when interviewed on At The Races. However, he said: "We've had one eye on the Guineas with him for a long time and that's the way we're looking at it".

Of Requisition, who made almost all the running and kept on dourly, O'Brien said: "We'll have a look at some of the Guineas with him, maybe an Irish or whatever, something like that. We'll wait and see."

The Ballydoyle trainer had three winners on the card, including in the Group Three Gladness Stakes with Excelebration, having his first run since joining O'Brien from Marco Botti's Newmarket yard. The four-year-old cruised through the race and won as easily as odds of 2-7 suggested he would.

His next task will be stiffer, as he is expected to take on Frankel in Newbury's Lockinge Stakes next month. Excelebration finished behind Frankel three times last year.

"I'd imagine that is what we'll be looking at now," O'Brien said. "Physically he's very well made. He's done very well over the winter and you couldn't be happier with his first run."

• Irish trainer seeks to maintain 28 per cent success rate
• Sea The Stars' half brother still to show full abilities

Which trainer has maintained a 28% strike rate in Britain since 1995, despite racing his horses almost exclusively in the best races? Berate yourself severely if you named someone who is actually based in this country. The answer is John Oxx and the Irishman has a big chance of another English Classic next Saturday.

Instinctively wary of media exposure, Oxx became highly visible in the summer of 2009, when he attracted widespread acclaim for his handling of Sea The Stars, the winner of six Group One races in six months. Born To Sea, second-favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, is a half-brother to that sensational colt but, thanks to the identity of his trainer, would still have to be respected if he were the son of a pit pony.

"I don't have anybody putting pressure on me to run horses in England," Oxx explained last week, when asked about his record here. "Unlike trainers who are based in England and probably have owners who want to see their horses at Royal Ascot or in the Guineas or the Derby, mine only go if they have business going."

His average is four runners in Britain per year, yet he has two victories in the Derby to his name, and two more in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot. Few men are better placed to benefit from the millions being poured into British racing by Investec, sponsors of the Derby, and Qipco, backers of the Champions Series.

Even so, he is content with the state of prize money in Ireland and is hardly the kind of man to chase high-profile contests elsewhere just to keep his profile high. "We have opportunities here, they do most of their racing at home and, if a horse is chosen to travel, it is usually worthy of the undertaking."

While he does not expect to find another horse like Sea The Stars in his stable or anyone else's, Oxx notes that Born To Sea has the potential to be much better than he has shown. "He has a degree of his brother's ability, we just don't know how much," he says. "We're still guessing about him."

When Born To Sea won his debut race at The Curragh in September, the Racing Post was rather breathless in reporting that he "possesses a more potent turn of foot than his sibling did at this very early stage of his career". Such excitement seemed premature when he was then beaten at Leopardstown in October but, around 15 minutes after the race, it became clear that he was injured.

"He tore a muscle at the top of his quarters," Oxx says. "It must have happened at that start of the race, he pitched on to his nose when the stalls opened. As the race developed, he seemed to be climbing, he didn't have the push from behind. He did well to run as well as he did."

Born To Sea is now fully recovered, has had "a good winter" and is enjoying a trouble-free preparation. Whether he is good enough to beat the hot Guineas favourite, Camelot, is not a question the trainer dare answer directly. "In a minute and a half, we'll know."

Oxx says he usually has no budget to buy yearlings at auction and must rely on the horses bred by his regular clients. This means he experiences some good years as well as others in which "you wouldn't have anything remotely near Group One standard".

So far, the signs for 2012 are promising. He also has Akeed Mofeed, second-favourite for the Derby and being prepared for a trial race at Leopardstown on 13 May, despite a recent setback. Call To Battle also has the Epsom Classic as a possible target, which he may perhaps reach via the Chester Vase on 10 May. Saddler's Rock will be aimed at Royal Ascot's Gold Cup.

Oxx would far rather map out plans for such talented beasts than contemplate the day when he no longer has such responsibilities. At 61, he is now fielding queries about retirement, though the question draws his heartiest laugh of the conversation. "It's not even remotely on the horizon. Most of us just have to keep working. I haven't made enough money to be stopping now."

• 'If there's any question then he won't be there'
• Trainer recalls 'mess' he made with St Nicholas Abbey

Aidan O'Brien has refused to commit long-time ante-post favourite Camelot to next Saturday's Qipco 2000 Guineas, despite insisting that the colt's preparation for the first Classic of the new Flat season had gone without a hitch.

Speaking at Sandown after seeing his colt Imperial Monarch take the Classic Trial under his son, Joseph, O'Brien was reluctant to commit the unbeaten winner of last year's Racing Post Trophy to the Guineas.

"It's so far, so good, but we won't force him to do anything. We've always had one eye on the Guineas and we're looking at the race," he said. "Everything is going smooth so far but I'm afraid to commit him. If there's any question then he won't be there. If all those boxes are ticked he'll run."

Asked whether he had learned anything from his handling of St Nicholas Abbey, another son of Montjeu who finished only sixth when the even-money favourite for the 2000 Guineas two years ago, O'Brien replied: "You mean the mess I made of him?

"Nick is only coming back now. He lost his brilliance in the spring of his three-year-old career, maybe because we tried to force him. It's only coming back now. He lost it all. It's only now he's starting to quicken like a top horse again, like he did in the Breeders' Cup and in Dubai. Maybe I forced him a bit in the spring."

O'Brien's comments may to an extent have been aimed at advertising future Coolmore stallion St Nicholas Abbey, but also appeared to reflect genuine fears that the rest of Camelot's campaign could be undermined by a hard race, possibly on testing going, at an early stage of the season.

O'Brien junior, on board Camelot for both victories last season, is set to retain the ride at Newmarket presuming he is eventually given the go-ahead to race.

The teenager gained plenty of plaudits for his thoughtful ride aboard Imperial Monarch, keeping the favourite wide throughout and forfeiting ground on the home turn before making it all up in the final stages to win going away by one and three-quarter lengths.

"We walked the course before racing and on the outside was where all the tyre tracks were from the vehicles and the ground had become much more compacted there," he said. "I was a good six or eight lengths back on the turn but I was happy with that as I was travelling a lot better than those on the inside."

The winning trainer refused to take credit for the successful tactics. "Joseph can make his own mind up," he said. "He knows the horses and he can make the decisions. We didn't say we were definitely going to do it but we'd walked the course together and I can't say I was surprised when he came wide like that."

• Prosser predicts ground 'on the easy side of good'
• Soumillon to ride French raiders in both Classics

Record rainfall has caused the abandonment of several fixtures this week but Newmarket's director of racing, Michael Prosser, is maintaining a sunny disposition, buoyed by encouraging forecasts before this weekend's Guineas meeting. He went so far on Monday as to predict that the going will not even be soft.

John Gosden, whose 25-1 shot, Fencing, will try to turn around form from last year with Camelot in Saturday's race, admitted: "Camelot looked something special and I suspect the ground at Newmarket will play into his hands. It looks like being on the soft side of good at best."

However, Prosser, fresh from walking the course, said: "I suspect it will be on the easy side of good over the weekend but I would be surprised if it's much softer. I tend to concentrate upon two weather forecasts and both are showing that, although there is some rain to come in the next 24 hours, Thursday and Friday are set to be dry and warm. Where they disagree is whether more showers will come on Friday night or Saturday morning and how much we'll get.

"Obviously I would be happier if any rain that did arrive finished before racing starts but, looking at the positives, we have got 32 metres of fresh turf which hasn't been raced on since last October and it's in really excellent condition. We've had a warm, sunny day today and I can almost see the grass growing in front of my eyes. If a horse wouldn't gallop on this, it wouldn't gallop on anything."

French-trained horses have won the 2,000 Guineas 16 times since 1900, the most recent being Makfi two years ago, and if anything this year's entry looks stronger than usual, with the first three home in the Prix Djebel in early April all set to renew rivalries. The Jean-Claude Rouget-trained Abtaal, unfortunate not to catch French Fifteen on his reappearance, will be ridden by Christophe Soumillon, who also partners the same trainer's Mashoora the following day in the 1,000 Guineas.

"Christophe has done all the work on both horses and he will keep the rides. The French jockeys ride the French-trained horses and that's the way it has always been with Sheikh Hamdan's horses," said the owner's racing manager, Angus Gold.

"Jean-Claude has always been keen to bring both horses to Newmarket. The idea is that a strong gallop over a mile should suit Abtaal more than waiting for Longchamp, where there is always the possibility that they won't go any pace."

French Fifteen, who beat Abtaal in the Prix Djebel, was bought by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al-Thani before that race and the Sheikh's brother, Mohammed, has also since bought a share in the third home, Hermival, also set to run.

Sheikh Abdullah's son, Prince Fahad, whose investment business, Qipco, sponsors both Classics, will have his colours carried in the 1,000 by Lightening Pearl, the winner of last year's Cheveley Park Stakes, and his racing advisor, David Redvers, warned against ignoring her claims.

"My worry is whether she will get a mile but Ger [Lyons, her trainer] and Johnny Murtagh [her jockey] are both adamant that won't be a problem," he said. "If it came up very soft, we'd have to discuss whether we still wanted to run but as long as the going is suitable I think she's got a big chance. In fact, I think she's a laughable price at 20-1. I saw her on Saturday and she was swaggering around the yard, looking fantastic."

Should Top Offer take the 2,000 Guineas, extended interviews with jockey James Doyle or trainer Roger Charlton should not be anticipated. The pair are due to fly out to Hong Kong immediately afterwards, where Doyle will ride Cityscape in the Champions Mile the following day.

"We've got about 20 minutes after the race to get on a light aircraft to Heathrow for the connection, so we're tight on time but I'm really looking forward to it," said Doyle.

Sir Henry Cecil said that he hoped to give Frankel a gallop on Newmarket racecourse about an hour before Sunday's card.

• Jockey admits getting drunk and passing out at Royal Ascot
• Rider happy to be back after lengthy ban picked up in India

Richard Hughes arrived here for his first race-riding action since March, saying he was "glad to be back" after becoming "sick of house-sitting". "The weather's stopped me playing golf, so I was nearly driven mad," he added.

Three losing rides may have left him in a similar mood, though none of the trio were especially fancied and one, Sputnik Sweetheart, outran her odds of 7-1 to be second. This was a start and Hughes, who went straight to Kempton for the evening meeting there, will have had a busy four days when he turns up at Newmarket for Guineas weekend.

Relaxed and happy as he sat on a bench outside the weighing room before racing, Hughes revealed that he will ride Trumpet Major in Saturday's 2,000 Guineas, in which his main employer, the champion trainer Richard Hannon, still has four horses entered. "A real street-fighter," the colt will have "every chance" in Hughes's estimation.

The jockey believes it is particularly to Trumpet Major's benefit that he has had a run this season, in contrast to the more fancied Camelot and Top Offer. "To be honest, I didn't think he'd go on the ground in the Craven [at Newmarket in April] but he managed it. He wouldn't want it too soft, though."

Hannon has no runner in Sunday's 1,000 Guineas, so Hughes may find himself missing the fillies' Classic and going instead to Salisbury to ride Tassel, among other promising beasts. "As long as I'm riding, I don't mind where it is," he said, though there are limits to that sentiment.

Next Tuesday, for example, he intends to play golf rather than seek rides at the two northern tracks which stage Flat racing that day. "I won't be going to Newcastle, places like that", he said, reflecting a view he has long held, that frenetic activity is the enemy of longevity.

Now 39, he would dearly love to be champion jockey for the first time but is phlegmatic about the fact that others have got a head start on him over the past month, while he has been serving a ban controversially imposed by the Indian stewards while he was riding there in March. The pace-setting jockeys have achieved 16 winners already but Hughes says he never takes an interest in the standings until the Glorious Goodwood meeting at the beginning of August.

"I won't be going hell for leather. I'll take my time and, if I'm anywhere near at Goodwood, then I'll step it up a gear."

As it turns out, he feels he may not have missed as much in April as he would have done in other years. "With the ground being so wet, we've been a little bit slow this year with our two-year-olds," he says. "Just a little bit, probably only 10 days' difference but usually we'd be starting to find our Coventry [Stakes] horses by now. There's probably a week's delay in that. They're stacking up there, ready to go."

Also ready to go is A Weight Off My Mind, Hughes's autobiography, to go on sale in just over a fortnight's time on the day of the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury. A press release promises an "explosive" prologue in which the jockey recalls the time he "drank a bottle and a half of champagne, took 14 pee pills, ate 10 whole oranges and passed out in the toilets at Royal Ascot".

It can safely be assumed that Hughes had nothing to do with the sensationalist tone of the press release, since he discusses his alcoholism with nothing but gravity. "A lot of people didn't know that, the journey I had to take. I'm glad I had a lot of sobriety behind me before I started writing about it. It's not as if I'm sober a year and writing about it, I'm sober seven years.

"I managed to keep my career going. Many alcoholics can juggle a lot of balls at the one time and get away with it. I was doing that and I got away with it but the guilt was unbelievable, knowing I could have been better. People saying, 'Well done', when you felt like you were a bit of a fraud, you know? That was the hard bit to deal with.

"It's there in the book. I didn't hold back on that. It might help someone else in a similar position, if they recognise it. Although people didn't recognise it in me. But I was a bit of a happy drunk, I didn't get in trouble, I didn't get arrested. A lot of people will relate to what I was going through."

Hughes's book should be worth reading, if his Saturday columns in the Racing Post last year are any guide. Many racing professionals have failed to make much of such opportunities but he was consistently engaging and provocative.

"I was a little bit apprehensive when the Racing Post asked me to do it again," he says. "I told them that I don't want it to be a tipping column. I try to let people know something that they didn't know before. Hopefully I can keep that going but you can run out of subjects. If there's a big controversy happens in the week, I can talk about that, it makes my column easier. But I'd like to give people more insight into what goes on in racing, I think that makes it interesting."

Hughes was so outraged by the ban he was given in India that he initially said he would never go back there, despite having enjoyed success there over several years that included a streak of eight consecutive Classic victories. Now, it seems, he is prepared to relent a little, in the right circumstances.

"I said I'd never go back in the heat of the moment. I'd probably have to be very careful who I was riding for, if I did go back for the Classics. One of the owners would have to be in the stewards' room to protect me. I didn't have that, last season.

"There's a bit of politics and that's the way it is. If a steward has a runner in the race, he stands out of the room for the race but they're not going to turn their back on him, you know what I mean? All the stewards, they're all big owners and there's no outside owner, apart from the guy I was riding for last year.

"I had a good old time there. I ride Bombay quite well, so I'm sure someone will ask me back. But the price would be higher."

• Ground conditions 'a question mark' for hot favourite
• Parish Hall taken out as 18 remain for Saturday Classic

Joseph O'Brien, who will ride Camelot, the hot favourite, in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday said on Thursday that the possibility of soft ground is "a question mark" for the son of Montjeu, who has so far raced only on a sound surface. The going on the Rowley Mile is currently soft, after the track received 25mm of rain during Wednesday night, but the forecast is for drier weather ahead of the Classic.

Camelot is top-priced at 7-4 for the Guineas and as short as even money with Ladbrokes, thanks to an easy win in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster last October. The going at Town Moor was good to firm, while it was good when Camelot won his only other start, in a one-mile maiden at Leopardstown.

"There has to be a question mark over the ground," O'Brien, the son of Camelot's trainer, Aidan, said. "It's an unknown and there's a lot of top-of-the-ground in his pedigree. He's a good-moving horse and he'll be a better horse on faster ground.

"The ground is an unknown, but we won't know until he goes and does it. He seems to have wintered well and we're looking forward to it. He's come to hand fairly quickly and he's ready for his first run of the year."

Camelot was one of 18 final declarations for the 2,000 Guineas at the 48-hour stage, when Parish Hall, last year's Dewhurst Stakes winner, was the most notable absentee as a result of the soft ground. As expected, Godolphin withdrew both Mandaean and Mighty Ambition, with Frankie Dettori switching to ride Talwar for Jeremy Noseda.

The market is dominated by horses trained overseas, with Camelot followed in the betting by Abtaal, trained by Jean-Claude Rouget, John Oxx's Born To Sea, a half-brother to Sea The Stars, and French Fifteen (Nicolas Clement). Trumpet Major, the Craven Stakes winner, is the shortest-priced British-trained runner at 10-1.

O'Brien Sr will be chasing major success on two continents this weekend, as he sends Daddy Long Legs, the UAE Derby winner, to Churchill Downs to contest the Kentucky Derby, also on Saturday. However, the colt will need to overcome a draw in stall one in a 20-strong field, which is widely believed to be the worst possible place to start.

Bodemeister, whose trainer, Bob Baffert, suffered a heart attack less than two months ago while preparing a horse for the Dubai World Cup, is expected to start favourite for the "Run For The Roses", although no horse without at least one start as a juvenile has won the Kentucky Derby since 1882. Union Rags, the runner-up in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile, is another leading contender.

Fergal Lynch, who accepted he had deliberately stopped a horse from winning in August 2004, has been granted a jockeys' licence by the Irish Turf Club. However, the terms of the licence prevent him using it to ride in Great Britain.

"In simple terms, he's not banned or disqualified in England, he fulfilled our licensing criteria and was given a licence, albeit restricted for a period of time," Denis Egan, the chief executive of the Irish Turf Club, said.

"The licence is subject to review in a few months' time. He was penalised [for his earlier offences in Britain] and served his ban. He has been riding here for six months using a Spanish licence, as we have had no issues with him in that time.

"If he misbehaves in Ireland, then the licence can be reviewed."

Graham Lee, who rode Amberleigh House to win the Grand National in 2004, partnered his first winner since switching codes to ride on the Flat when he steered Northern Fling to victory at 20-1 in a handicap at Musselburgh.

"I'm training differently," Lee said afterwards, but I'm eating well, obviously watching [my weight] like mad but I'm enjoying it and feeling good, which is a first in a while."

Brilliant trainer has gone four years without a Classic success in Britain

Fourteen trainers from Great Britain, France and Ireland will saddle runners in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday. The 13 who are not Aidan O'Brien have been training for a combined total of more than 300 years, and have won 15 English Classics between them.

The one who is Aidan O'Brien has held a licence for 19 years and if Camelot, the hot favourite, wins the Guineas, O'Brien will have 15 all by himself. Yet it is O'Brien, who has seen and done it all so many times before, who may need this Classic more than any of his rivals.

It will not be a career-changer for O'Brien if either Camelot or his second-string Power takes the Guineas, as it could be for a trainer like John Quinn or Alan McCabe. His talent needs no advertisement, and he could retire on Sunday and still be remembered in 50 years' time as one of the most successful trainers that Flat racing has seen.

O'Brien, though, has a different set of pressures and objectives, and a different master too. It is not whether you win Classics, but how many that counts when your stable's primary role is to create stallions for the Coolmore Stud, the world's most successful, and lucrative, bloodstock operation. And winning Classics, in Great Britain at least, is something that, for the last four years, O'Brien has failed to do.

Such is the ubiquity of O'Brien-trained runners in the world's major races that his losing streak in the English Classics has gone relatively unnoticed, but since Henrythenavigator beat New Approach by a nose in the 2,000 Guineas four years ago, O'Brien has saddled at least one runner in the two Guineas races, the Derby, Oaks and St Leger, a total of 53 horses in all, without adding another success to his already extensive list.

Some of his losers, of course, were pacemakers or rank outsiders, horses who ran in Classics because they had the pedigree to do so even if they didn't have the form, and took part as a shot to nothing. Some of those ran far better than might have been expected, including At First Sight, the runner-up in the 2010 Derby at 100-1.

Plenty, though, had both the pedigree and the form to be worthy favourites. There are 9-4 and 3-1 shots sprinkled throughout O'Brien's losing streak in the Classics, and the most pertinent of them all with today's race in mind was the shortest price of all too. St Nicholas Abbey started the even-money favourite for the 2,000 Guineas two years ago but finished only sixth, and the parallels with Camelot are too obvious to ignore.

St Nicholas Abbey arrived at Newmarket as a lightly raced son of Montjeu. So does Camelot. St Nicholas Abbey had completed his two-year-old campaign with an impressive success in the Group One Racing Post Trophy. So did Camelot. And Camelot will also set off as favourite not just for the 2,000 Guineas this afternoon, but for next month's Derby at Epsom too, for which the Newmarket Classic is often said to be the best of the trials.

St Nicholas Abbey did not run in the Derby, indeed he did not race again as a three-year-old, which shows how quickly promise can turn to dust in the early weeks of the Flat season. Camelot, meanwhile, is even more of an unknown quantity, having beaten a total of eight horses in his two races to date.

An important difference, though, is that while St Nicholas Abbey was running as an advertisement for his sire, one of Coolmore's star performers, Camelot, is one of the candidates to be his successor, as Montjeu died at the relatively young age of 16 earlier this year. It was a huge loss to Coolmore, following on from the retirement of Sadler's Wells, Montjeu's sire, in 2008 and left a significant gap in their roster. A Classic win for Camelot would make him one of the favourites to fill it.

If any of this these precedents and possibilities tumble through O'Brien's mind as the runners start to parade before the Guineas, it will not show. His intensity and attention to detail is the same whether he is saddling a maiden or a Group One winner, and he focuses so tightly on his horses and the mission at hand that he can seem almost detached from everything else.

In addition to the professional pressures, though, on Saturday there is a personal one too. Joseph O'Brien, the trainer's oldest son, has not been officially installed as the yard's principal jockey, but the fact the he rides Camelot, with Ryan Moore aboard Power, is the next best thing to a coronation.

Aidan O'Brien has already ticked off all the English Classics. How he would love to do it all again, with his son – and possible heir as the master of Ballydoyle – holding the reins. It could all start with Camelot, and after 53 straight losers in Flat racing's showpiece events, the finest trainer of his generation is overdue.

• Winner made hot favourite for the Epsom Derby in June
• Victor ends trainer's Classic drought with hard-fought success

Camelot ended trainer Aidan O'Brien's four-year Classic drought with a hard-fought victory under his son Joseph in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday. He was immediately cut into a top-priced 6-4 favourite for the Epsom Derby in June, for which he promises to be much better suited.

The 15-8 winner, who had been ante-post favourite since his brilliant win in the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster in October, lived up to his lofty reputation in the colts' Classic as he threaded his way through the field from an unpromising position to get home by a narrow margin from French Fifteen (12-1) with Hermival (16-1) back in third.

O'Brien Sr confirmed that his unbeaten colt, who should certainly improve on breeding for the step up to a mile and a half at Epsom, will run in the Derby next: "You would imagine looking at him [that] the Derby would be a very suitable race for him."

Asked about the possibility of attempting a bid at the Triple Crown, for which he would have to win the Derby and the St Leger at Doncaster in September, O'Brien was his normal guarded self. "We will go home and the [owners] will discuss it among themselves. The Derby is something to look forward to – but we take it one race at a time," he commented.

O'Brien added: "It's one of those unbelievable days. We knew from the statistics that Camelot had a lot against him, we knew he had a lot to overcome, but we always thought he was very special. I was worried about the race and I'm glad I didn't say anything to Joseph.

"I'm delighted for everybody and all those who work with him every day. We are very lucky to have such a horse and many special people who look after him. Obviously I learned a lot from running St Nicholas Abbey in the Guineas two years ago and it's only now he's getting the brilliance back he had at two."

Winning jockey, O'Brien Jr, said: "He has a lot of class and speed, I always felt I was getting there. He got a bit tired in the last 100 yards on his first run [of the season], but hopefully he will come on for it. I didn't get the best run through, I was a long way back, but he was very relaxed and will be much better going a bit further."

The field broke into three groups from the stalls with Abtaal prominent on the far side, Caspar Netscher showing up well in the centre and Redact and Trumpet Major leading the horses on the stands side. Caspar Netscher and Trumpet Major took over two furlongs out, but could not sustain the gallop.

Camelot managed to weave his way through the pack on the near side, but had to dig deep to get the better of French Fifteen by a neck. Hermival, on the far side of the course, was two and a quarter lengths away in third.

• Bookmakers quoting colt for Triple Crown glory
• Winner remains unbeaten after Classic success

The most impressive feature of what was, in terms of the distance, a narrow win for Camelot in the QIPCO 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday was that at no stage did it seem to be in any real doubt.

Joseph O'Brien, Camelot's 19-year-old jockey, looked confident even with just a handful of rivals behind him at the halfway point, and though he had to come between horses to run down French Fifteen in the last few strides, there was something relentless about his stride and finishing speed that made victory for the hot favourite seem inevitable from a furlong out.

There was a neck in it at the line, but in another half-furlong, Camelot would have powered clear. The son of Montjeu appeared to be still moving through the gears at the end of the one-mile trip, which is no great surprise as he is bred for middle-distances and was a winner over Saturday's as a juvenile. "We'll take it one race at a time," Aidan O'Brien, his trainer, said, "but you'd imagine looking at him that the Derby would be a very suitable race for him."

It was a typical piece of understatement by his trainer, who had previously saddled 53 horses in English Classics without success following Henrythenavigator's win in the 2,000 Guineas four years ago. The next two or three weeks will be thick with Derby trials in Ireland and England, but it will be a great surprise if any horse produces a more promising rehearsal for Epsom than Camelot.

The bookmakers certainly agree, with one going odds-on for the Derby, while a brief offer of 6-4 quickly vanished and 5-4 is now the best price with the major layers. Ladbrokes, meanwhile, make him 3-1 to emulate the exploits of the legendary Nijinsky in 1970 and win the Triple Crown of Guineas, Derby and St Leger.

"This horse always had an incredibly special amount of class," O'Brien said. "I was very worried when Joseph said what he was going to do in that ground. A horse can have a lot of speed, as we saw when he won the Racing Post Trophy [at Doncaster last autumn], but to do it on fast ground is one thing. To do it on that ground when we know he wants the other. But I'm glad I bit my tongue.

"I saw him coming [and] weaving, gaps were coming and horses were wandering. It was his first run of the year too, and our horses have all been getting a bit tired on their first runs.

"He's looked like a different horse from the day he won his maiden, from the day he came from the sales. John and Caroline Warren [Camelot's breeders] said he was very special from the day he was born. He was special all the way along. We'll have a discussion early next week and if everyone decides that the Derby is the route we're going to take, then that's what we'll do and we'll take it one day at a time."

This was the 15th English Classic win of O'Brien's training career, but his first with his oldest son in the saddle, which made it feel almost like a fresh start.

It was a nerveless performance by the rider, whose height suggests that his career as a Flat jockey is on borrowed time, but even if that proves to be the case, it is difficult to believe he will not pick up several more major races before weight catches up with him. "Before Joseph could walk, he was involved in this, he's never ever known anything different," O'Brien said. "It's been his life all the way. I'm learning to shut my mouth and say nothing, like I did when we were walking the track."

Joseph O'Brien was as composed in the winner's enclosure as he had been throughout the race, and it seems that even the prospect of riding the favourite in the Derby next month is unlikely to affect his equilibrium.

"I was a long way back but I was very happy with him all the way," he said. "Anyone that doubted him before the race, he's proved them wrong. All the stats were against him, but he proved he has plenty of speed.

"I had a plan coming into the race, and it came together pretty well. He had a little blow a few yards from the line, but it was his first run of the year and hopefully he can come on from that. A lot of things have to come together and go right for him to end up in the Derby, and hopefully he will.

"I think he'd want better ground than that. It was sticky old ground out there and he wasn't in love with it."

The home challenge for the Guineas proved disappointing, with French Fifteen and Hermival, both trained in France, second and third, with Trumpet Major the first British-based runner home in fourth. O'Brien's second-string, the second-favourite Power, beat only one opponent home. This race was all about one horse, though, and Camelot did as much, and more, as anyone could expect.

The Coolmore Stud operation can hardly be criticised if it decides to skip the challenge so many are calling for

It requires a fairly optimistic outlook on life to get involved with racing in the first place, so it was inevitable that after Camelot's success in the 2,000 Guineas on Saturday, which guarantees that he will start favourite for the Derby assuming he stays sound, there would be plenty of talk about the Triple Crown.

Few recent winners of the Newmarket Classic have been bred to stay even 12 furlongs, never mind the extended 14 at Doncaster for the St Leger, and, though there is speed in his pedigree too, Camelot appears to have a better chance than most of winning the three races that count towards the Triple Crown.

There are fewer racing fans all the time who can remember the last Triple Crown winner, as it is now 42 years since Nijinsky completed the set, and scarcely any who can remember the one before that (Bahram, in 1935). As a result an attempt to make Camelot the 13th true winner of the Crown – or 16th, if you count three who did so when the races were all held at Newmarket during the Great War – would generate great interest for its novelty value alone.

It would, in other words, be "good for racing" but the flipside of that is that it will be deemed "bad for racing" if, having added the Derby to the Guineas, Camelot were to swerve the Leger in order to contest the Arc, the Champion Stakes or the Breeders' Cup. And since there are some very sound reasons why any or all of those races might well be a better target for Camelot than the Leger, it is worth bearing in mind that traditions like the Triple Crown can sometimes be more curse than blessing.

The reason for this is that a link with the past needs to have at least a little relevance to the present and future and the simple fact about the Triple Crown is that it does not. The problem, as everyone knows but fewer will admit, is the Leger, which has become detached from the remainder of the Classics over a period of many decades. It is a relic of a different age and it turns the Triple Crown into a museum piece too.

It is not a fad or fashion, as defenders of the Leger like to claim. Modern breeders, the ones who pay stallion fees to the Coolmore Stud where Camelot will eventually stand, want speed ahead of stamina, and they are prepared to pay for it. If Camelot does go to Doncaster with two Classic victories already in the bank, the best thing that could happen in terms of his value as a stallion would probably be a brave defeat due to his stamina running out shortly after the two-pole. And in a sport, and business, that is supposed to be all about winning, that cannot be right.

If John Magnier, the owner of Coolmore Stud, feels the inclination to lose money every time Camelot covers a mare over the course of a stud career that could last for 20 years, it will be a sporting decision, and one that racing will applaud. If, however, he decides to stick to the commercial approach that has turned his bloodstock operation into one of the most successful that racing has seen, he can hardly be criticised.

Even in the far-off days when it mattered – and racing was significantly less competitive – a Triple Crown winner was a rarity and, even if Camelot becomes the latest horse to complete it, it will not suddenly become a realistic, or relevant, target for future Classic generations. Hoping, or expecting, otherwise only invites disappointment.

The latest news and best bets for a busy bank holiday in our daily horse racing blog

5.25pm Silly horse name allowed through

Chris Cook: Somewhere in Ireland, the person employed to check racehorse names is about to have their day ruined by the realisation that they have missed Xilobs God, an ex-pointer who made his debut under rules in the 5.10pm at Down Royal. The name is intended to be read backwards.

Much as we all enjoy a giggle over this sort of thing, I wouldn't like to be the person who gets such a kick out of giving their expensive thoroughbred such a daft name.

4.30pm Windsor Palace (66-1) shocks Abbey

Chris Cook: We've had a right turn-up at The Curragh, where St Nicholas Abbey, the 2-5 favourite, failed to reel in his stablemate Windsor Palace in the Mooresbridge Stakes.

Aidan O'Brien fielded three of the seven runners and the race was supposed to be between St Nicholas Abbey, winner of the Breeders' Cup Turf in November, and John Oxx's Sharestan, the Irish Lincoln winner. O'Brien's other two, Robin Hood and Windsor Palace, seemed to have a kind of joint-pacemaker role.

Robin Hood made the running with Windsor Palace just behind and everything else was settled some five or more lengths behind. Windsor Palace, under Colm O'Donoghue, moved alongside the leader at the turn into the straight but both horses were still available at huge prices at that point.

But St Nicholas Abbey took an age to get going; this was, after all, his first race over a distance as short as 10 furlongs since he was stuffed at 4-11 in a Listed race last April. He eventually ran on to be second, beaten a length, but never looked like reeling in the winner.

Windsor Palace's only previous success was in a Dundalk maiden on the all-weather in 2007. He was last in his first three runs of 2011, including in this race, when he was a pacemaker for So You Think, who won by 10 lengths.

Joseph O'Brien is bound to be criticised for riding St Nicholas Abbey with so much confidence, since he must surely have won if he had maintained a handier position relative to the pacemakers early in the race. I suppose he may say, privately, that the pacemakers should have gone faster and were not supposed to be setting the kind of reasonable pace they would be able to sustain more or less to the line.

It is hardly unknown for O'Brien Sr to win races with the 'wrong' horse. Only yesterday, Homecoming Queen won her trainer the 1,000 Guineas from the front, rather than the fancied Maybe.

In the last two Derbys, O'Brien's fancied runners have finished behind their pacemakers. Last year, Recital (5-1) and Seville (13-2) were sixth and 10th. The pace was forced by Memphis Tennesse (20-1, fourth) with Treasure Beach (25-1, second) racing prominently and going past the leader in the straight under O'Donoghue, who did a similar thing today.

In the 2010 Derby, O'Brien had Jan Vermeer (9-4, fourth) and Midas Touch (6-1, fifth) but neither finished within four lengths of the 100-1 shot At First Sight, who made the running and was only passed by Workforce.

3pm Last week's competition . . .

Chris Cook: . . . was won by fatdeano, whose winnerless Friday left him on +30.50, an excellent score that his rivals couldn't match. Tanias had a slosh, though, picking both Titus Gent (14-1) and Lindoro (6-1) to get to +27.50.

Fatdeano wins a copy of Richard Hughes's forthcoming autobiography.

2.40pm Excellent fields at Chester

Will Hayler: I can't ever remember seeing such competitive field sizes for Chester's May meeting as day one has produced this year. We've got used to seeing six and seven-runner contests in recent years for contests like the Lily Agnes Stakes and the Cheshire Oaks, but there's an incredible 14 and 12 runners respectively this year.

Not only that but a newly introduced five-furlong conditions race, the sort of contest which usually struggles to attract more than a handful of runners, has got 11 runners.

Chester will surely be delighted, particularly with the support from local trainer Tom Dascombe, who has five runners in the opening contest, which he now sponsors, including the Wayne Rooney-owned debutant Pippy.

Re the Chester Cup (see below), Donald McCain has warned that further rain might see Overturn pulled out of the contest and the forecast certainly doesn't look too hot.

2.10pm Chester Cup draw now available

Chris Cook: Overturn is likely to start favourite on Wednesday when he tries to win the Chester Cup for the second year in succession, having been given a fair draw in stall eight. Donald McCain's veteran, who was second in the Champion Hurdle when last seen, made all the running in last year's Cup from stall one, beating Tastahil, who had started from stall three.

The third and fourth-placed horses from last year's race, Mystery Star and Mount Athos, ran well from wide draws in 16 and 19 and connections must have hoped for a bit more luck this time. Alas, they're drawn in 18 and 12 respectively.

Gulf Of Naples has been given the nightmare draw in 19, widest of all, and he is now available at 8-1, having been a best price of 6-1 this morning.

The inside berth in stall one has gone to Dazinski, who may now attract interest at 25-1. Although extreme hold-up tactics have sometimes been used on him, he is described as having either "tracked leaders" or been "prominent" in all four of his handicap wins, one of which came on his only previous start at Chester.

The full card for Wednesday's race is here.

Six times in the past 10 years, the Chester Cup has been won by a horse drawn five or below, but Greenwich Meantime had only two drawn wider than him when he won from 16 in 2007, while Anak Pekan achieved his second win in the race from 15 in 2005.

The Chester Cup card is the start of three excellent days' racing on the Roodee, where the famously tight turns of the mile-round circuit will present runners with a challenge they meet nowhere else.

Today's best bets, by Tony Paley

It's safe to say the Flat season sparked into life at the weekend but what was the pick of the action? Camelot may have only won an average 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday by a narrow margin but the manner of the victory, coupled with the memory of his classy performance in the Racing Post Trophy in October, suggests we are dealing with a top-notch performer in the making at middle distances.

His stablemate Homecoming Queen was visually far more impressive in the 1,000 Guineas yesterday but, while it's impossible to knock her display on the day, there's a suspicion she won't be able to match that standard again, given her overall profile and the way the race panned out. The whippet-like filly was reportedly ultra-fit beforehand and that is likely to have been a big factor, given that ground conditions were probably more testing than the official description of good to soft.

Maybe the best individual performance of the past couple of days came from a colt who suffered defeat. We had our card marked in advance by the knowledgeable handicappers in the States that Bodemeister was the horse with the potential to go for the elusive Triple Crown but what we weren't expecting was the poor tactical ride he got from Mike Smith in Saturday night's Kentucky Derby. Bodemeister may have finished second but he did remarkably well to finish as close to the winner as he did, given the suicidal pace he was asked to set by his jockey. This is a horse we will be hearing an awful lot about, provided the race hasn't left its mark.

Amidst all this high-class sport, one race which may have gone under your radar was the Thirsk Hunt Cup on Saturday afternoon. I had been warned in advance that Godolphin insiders were not envisaging defeat for the top weight, Farhh. The Group One entries he had been given this season were a big clue and Farhh had apparently been working like a top-class sort at home. He did not let his supporters down, either, with one of the easiest victories in a handicap you're ever likely to see.

Godolphin run another intriguing horse in a handicap this afternoon in the shape of Terdaad (4.50) at Kempton. He has evidently had his problems, making just one appearance last season, but that was a striking victory at Salisbury and, though he's 9lb higher this time out, he is almost certainly going to prove better than his current mark if staying sound.

Away from the all-weather, looking out for horses with proven fitness who can handle the testing ground in evidence everywhere is the key and that makes me sweet on the appropriately named Tidal Run (5.15) at, of all places, Bath. The Hurricane Run filly, who bumped into a similarly progressive type last time out, has plenty in her favour in a race in which all her five opponents have questions to answer.

Andrew Balding is a dab hand with sprinters, as his father Ian was before him, and at Windsor the unexposed Highland Colori (3.30), who looked a horse to keep on the right side of when running an encouraging second over track and trip a fortnight ago, appears a tasty bet, if you pardon the pun, in division two of the davisbakerycaribbean.com Handicap.

The quality racing is at The Curragh, where St Nicholas Abbey (4.25) is back on home soil following his excellent reappearance second to the underrated Cirrus Des Aigles at the Dubai World Cup meeting in March. It will be a treat to see him strut his stuff again but he makes little appeal as a betting medium today, trading at short odds on ground that will not be ideal.

Finally, there is an intriguing contest at Kempton away from the sand as a hoard of bizarrely dressed individuals will hurtle down the turf track for the Mascot Grand National at 3.30. Why this has not been a bigger talking point in recent days is beyond me. As you can see, it's quite a spectacle!

Tipping competition - a new week starts tomorrow!

As today is a bank holiday, the start of this week's tipping competition will be held over until tomorrow.

Click here for all the day's racecards, form, stats and results.

And post your tips or racing-related comments below.

• Trainer hails colt at Ballydoyle press briefing
• Daddy Long Legs also likely to be going to Epsom

Under a pallid sun here on Monday at the most powerful racing stables in Britain or Ireland, Aidan O'Brien was all calm authority as he supervised hordes of beautiful thoroughbreds, 42 of them still entered in one or other of the Classics at Epsom next month. Just the day before, however, he experienced one of the nightmares of parenthood, witnessing a horrible accident involving his 18-year-old son.

Joseph O'Brien was thrown at racing speed into the Longchamp turf when his mount, Furner's Green, trained by O'Brien Sr, broke a leg after finishing a close third in the French 2,000 Guineas. The horse could not be saved but the jockey was unharmed, which the trainer is disposed to regard as an extraordinary piece of good fortune.

"Yesterday might have been one of the greatest days of all," he said, suddenly grave after a jokey discussion of other subjects, "because Furner's Green turned over after the line at full stretch, accelerating more than any horse. It was just very sad and sorry that he lost his life but we were very lucky that Joseph was OK.

"If he had got there a length earlier, he might have been in front and there might have been four horses coming behind him. And at that speed, when those Flat horses turn over …

"You don't dwell on those things, just move on. A very lucky day."

Instead of suffering the crippling injury that his father feared, Joseph was here, posing for pictures with Camelot, the 11-10 favourite for the Derby a fortnight on Saturday. O'Brien Sr has enthused over many horses before now and by no means all became champions but Camelot, winner of the recent 2,000 Guineas, is already a proven talent.

"I don't want to blow him up in any way and I don't want people to think that I'm trying to," said the trainer, who then described Camelot as "very exceptional from day one, when he was born". The horse, he said, impresses with "his looks and his pedigree, his movement and his presence".

"As anyone can see, he's a very good-looking horse, a very good-actioned horse and usually those horses are too good to be true." On arrival at Ballydoyle, Camelot is said to have performed a trot that would have pleased judges at a Daddy dressage competition. "His movement is perfection, really."

O'Brien has a stunningly accurate replica of Epsom's tricky Tattenham Corner on his gallops and Camelot, along with the rest of the string, does at least one canter round it every day. Even so, the trainer cannot predict how the colt will cope on the big day and this feature has not helped him add to the two Derbys he won a decade ago. "We're used to coming home very humbled," is how he put it.

Camelot may be part of a big team, since O'Brien has 24 others still in the Derby and names another, Daddy Long Legs, as a potential addition. "All these horses are bred and reared to turn up in the Derby. It's very hard, if they're well, not to let them take their chance."

The partners in the Coolmore bloodstock operation, his employers, will narrow down the team "closer to the time". Ernest Hemingway may run in a major trial, the Dante, at York this week, if the ground is not too soft.

O'Brien is well placed to dominate Epsom. Maybe and Kissed, the first two in betting on the Oaks, pleased him in their work on Monday, while he could run St Nicholas Abbey, Memphis Tennessee and Treasure Beach in the Coronation Cup.

More moderate expectations are held for his Excelebration, who will take on the unbeaten Frankel in Newbury's Lockinge Stakes on Saturday. "To have any horse good enough to compete with Frankel is great for us," he said, but, asked if he had identified any possible weak spot in the red-hot favourite, smilingly replied: "If you find one, you might let me know".

• Colt impresses in gallop ahead of his next target at Newmarket
• Trainer pleased with runner's preparation for Group One race

Already the favourite for next year's 2,000 Guineas on the strength of his achievements this season, Dawn Approach will attempt to improve Jim Bolger's impressive record in the race further when he lines up in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday week.

Bolger has mapped out a provisional campaign for the colt next year along the lines of "Newmarket, maybe the Irish Guineas, the St James's Palace Stakes and then we'll see". But in doing so the trainer knows that, even if the colt fulfils that ambitious plan, it may well be from another stable, with Sheikh Mohammed having bought a 51% controlling interest in Dawn Approach after his Royal Ascot victory in the Coventry Stakes.

"Anyone who is over 18 years of age understands how these things work," said Bolger, who said no discussion has yet taken place as to who will train Dawn Approach next year.

The symbiotic relationship between Bolger and the Sheikh's Darley bloodstock operation has indirectly produced some impressive benefits, not least the extensive Beechy Park complex which Bolger bought seven years ago to operate as a satellite yard alongside his principal Coolcullen base.

It was at Beechy Park with its selection of immaculately manicured gallops, three different types of grass offering working horses a variety of surfaces upon which to stretch their valuable legs, that Dawn Approach worked on Tuesday morning over five furlongs with his stablemate Leitir Mor as part of his build-up to next week's race.

"When we might have taken horses for a racecourse gallop a few years ago, we can now bring them down the road but still give them some variety," said Bolger.

Although he would never be as candid as to say that the sales of Teofilo and New Approach to Darley directly paid for the new yard, the financial injection they provided has changed the focus of the training operation.

He has amassed a high-quality group of 70 broodmares at Beechy Park and, through the terms of his sale of New Approach and Teofilo to Darley, is able to send a number each year to both stallions. It is, therefore, with extra relish that he has been able to celebrate New Approach's dramatic success with his first crop of two-year-olds this year.

An unprecedented three winners for the stallion at Royal Ascot attracted justifiable attention but nothing has flown the flag for their sire as effectively as Dawn Approach, who effortlessly moved up to Group One level when taking the National Stakes at The Curragh last month.

"I'm sure he has improved again since then," he said. "I was a little concerned about the going [there] as it was on the soft side and he hadn't run since June. I wasn't certain I had him at his peak.

"As it happened, he seemed to do it very easily. He came out of the race very well and was very fresh two days later. I think he only dropped a couple of kilos and he had it back on within three days. On his work this morning I couldn't be more pleased. Hopefully he will hold his form into the Dewhurst."

Bolger was not ruling out the possibility of further subsequent challenges for Dawn Approach this season. "If Sheikh Mohammed wanted him to go to America [for the Breeders' Cup], I'd be happy enough but, if it was left to me, I wouldn't do that," he said.

Having bred Dawn Approach from one of his own mares, Bolger will have the emergence of future siblings to look forward to. However, at this week's Goffs Orby Sales he will be present to see a yearling full-sister go under the hammer.

"You have got to keep the show on the road," he said, hoping that it would be a case of adieu rather than goodbye for the filly. "The books will always need to be balanced. Hopefully the new owner will be kind enough to send her back to me to train her."

Dawn Approach's stablemates have now taken the Dewhurst in four of its last six renewals, most recently when Parish Hall scored 12 months ago.

Conspicuous by his absence since, Parish Hall was talked of as a Classic candidate at the start of the season until a leg infection derailed plans to run him in a Derby trial and the subsequent recovery has been slower than Bolger hoped or expected.

"It's taken a long time for the infection to heal but he is just starting to come right again and he's back in work," said the trainer. "We're hoping to get him ready for the Dubai World Cup."

• Sheikh Mohammed to keep colt with Ireland's Jim Bolger
• 66-1 shot Aaim To Prosper wins Cesarewitch a second time

Jim Bolger was provided with extra cause to celebrate a fifth win in the last seven years of the Dewhurst Stakes, as Sheikh Mohammed altered course by announcing that Dawn Approach would remain with the trainer next season.

The decision, preceded by the battling victory of the 3-10 favourite, further cemented a unique relationship between Bolger and the Sheikh's racing and breeding operation that has previously seen Bolger's most talented performers moved to join the Dubai team.

It was in the colours of Princess Haya, the Sheikh's wife, that Dawn Approach's sire, New Approach, sold by Bolger after winning the Dewhurst in 2007, took the following year's Derby. But, as part of that deal, the trainer was able to send a number of his mares each year to the stallion, and it was one of those matings which produced gold in the form of Dawn Approach.

Although the decision to leave the colt in Bolger's care could not be considered a complete surprise, it is nevertheless noteworthy with the Emirati trainers employed in Newmarket under the Sheikh's Godolphin flag having nearly always assumed control of horses bought by the operation as two-year-olds.

"It was Sheikh Mohammed's decision," said the Godolphin racing manager, Simon Crisford. "The colt won't run again this year. He'll go back to Ireland, he'll come back for next year's 2,000 Guineas and we'll take it from there. He could be aimed at the major 10-furlong races in the summer."

One and a half furlongs out, Leitir Mor, the stablemate of Dawn Approach sent across to perform pacemaking duties, was still in front and briefly giving concerns to those who took the odds on the winner. "We might have to buy that one as a lead horse too now," was Crisford's comment.

But the unflappable Bolger insisted that he had never been concerned about the prospect of saddling a one-two in the wrong order.

"There were no anxious moments," he said. "He just has a lazy style of racing. There were never any concerns." Deflecting admiration over his record in the race, he went on: "I haven't looked at the statistics. I'd maybe be wondering what happened the other two years.

"As soon as I saw this horse last October as a yearling I liked the look of him. In fact it was then that I first thought of the Dewhurst. But he can be a very gross horse and it won't be easy over the winter to keep the weight off him."

Bolger and the jockey Kevin Manning were in the Newmarket winner's enclosure again when Trading Leather took the Autumn Stakes.

Sheikh Mohammed has been a less frequent visitor to British racecourses than usual in recent months but, with the meeting sponsored by Dubai, his return was rewarded with further well-timed successes. In the Middle Park Stakes, Reckless Abandon, bought to stand at his Darley Stud from 2014, pluckily maintained his unbeaten record by taking under an inspired ride from the veteran Frenchman Gerald Mossé.

The colt, who had already given his trainer Clive Cox the first Group One success of his career when taking the Prix Morny earlier in the season, was allowed to get across to the stands' rail from an unfavourable position in stall two and relished the role, rallying when challenged to hold off fellow 9-4 joint-favourite Moohaajim by a neck.

Mossé had already performed a miracle just to stay on board the well-named Reckless Abandon who had charged towards a running rail when first coming out on to the track. "Just as the lads let him go, he jumped forward and he did get close to the rail," Cox said. "Gerald did a pretty amazing job to sit tight but it all ended well. He is a very talented horse. He can be quirky but we can deal with that. For now, I just don't want this feeling to end."

With Dawn Approach remaining as 5-1 favourite for the 2,000 Guineas, bookmakers quoted Reckless Abandon at around the 20-1 mark, but Cox was coy about moving up in trip next season. "I think we need to digest this and we'll see," he said. However, it would not be surprising if the Sheikh's men offer some input into the decision and vote against allowing a Classic clash with another of their own.

A crowd of 9,514, representing a modest increase on the previous year's total, also saw Aaim To Prosper become the first horse to win the Cesarewitch Handicap twice. Having not found his way to the winner's enclosure since his 2010 success in the race, punters had long since abandoned hope and he was returned at odds of 66-1.

• Colt gets the breaks to land Juvenile Turf
• Trainer mulls attempt on next year's 2,000 Guineas

Aidan O'Brien became the second European trainer to saddle a winner at this year's Breeders' Cup when George Vancouver took the Juvenile Turf by a length and a quarter here on Saturday. Ryan Moore, the winner's jockey, enjoyed a little more luck in running than Richard Hughes and William Buick on the beaten favourites Sky Lantern and The Fugue on Friday, and that made all the difference as George Vancouver was able to stamp his class on the race and beat the US-based runners Noble Tune and Balance The Books.

Dundonnell, trained by Roger Charlton and ridden by James Doyle, launched a challenge at the top of the stretch but faded to fourth, while Godolphin's Artigiano, from Mahmood al-Zarooni's yard in Newmarket, was sixth.

Moore was travelling well on the home turn but, like Buick and Hughes, he was against the rail and in need of running room. The pace in the race had been generous from the start, however, thinning the field slightly and offering him a little more space to work with. Moore got the split he needed around the furlong pole, and George Vancouver quickened immediately into a decisive lead.

"Ryan gave him a super ride and he has been crying out for fast ground all year," O'Brien said. "His dad [Henrythenavigator] was the same, and all the Henrys [sons of Henrythenavigator] have been the same, and we have been destroyed with soft ground in England all year.

"His first two runs [with Joseph O'Brien, the trainer's son, riding] were in very bad ground, then Joseph said we should go to [the all-weather track at] Dundalk with him for the fast ground and he won very easily.

"We knew that a mile would be fine for him, even though he has loads of speed, but ground was what we were always hoping would make the difference. Ryan rode him with real confidence, he had confidence in him from [riding him at] Deauville [in August] and he thought that this race and this track would really suit him."

This was O'Brien's seventh Breeders' Cup success and a fourth for Moore, the pair having won the same race 12 months ago with Wrote.

"The whole way around, I was able to save him up," Moore said. "He travelled very easy and he had a small gap but there was that much more there that he had plenty to go through and actually I was in front a little bit too soon on him.

"Yesterday, when horses were steady in those races, horses were still travelling turning in and that's when it's hard to find more room. There was a bit of pace today and you can make a bit more room for yourself when you have a bit more pace in the race."

George Vancouver may now be prepared with next year's 2,000 Guineas in mind, though the ground would need to be fast for him to show his best form.

"We always thought he could be a Guineas horse," O'Brien said. "Ground is vital to him and today he showed that a mile is well within his compass next year, so we're delighted with him."

Starspangledbanner, a former winner of the July Cup and Golden Jubilee Stakes, ran an excellent race for O'Brien in the Turf Sprint, but he could not maintain a searing early pace all the way to the line and faded in the closing stages to finish 10th behind Mizdirection.

"I said to Joseph, if he's rocking, let him rock," O'Brien said. "His best performances have been over five and six furlongs, so maybe this six-and-a-half is just a bit too far, but we can have some fun with him next year."

Rosie Napravnik became only the second female jockey to ride a winner at the Breeders' Cup meeting with a brilliant performance on Shanghai Bobby in the Juvenile.

Shanghai Bobby was just behind a brutal early pace to the far turn and moved up towards the lead running towards the top of the stretch. He seemed sure to be swallowed up by the chasing pack with a furlong to run, however, before finding more all the way to the line for Napravnik to beat He's Had Enough by a head.

Shanghai Bobby, who is part-owned by the Coolmore syndicate, is a son of Harlan's Holiday and will now be aimed at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs next May. Coral quote him as the 8-1 favourite.

"People ask me what the biggest race I want to win is and what my goals are," Napravnik said. "This is all part of the goal, to be on this kind of level, riding horses for such connections as Starlight Racing and Coolmore partners and [trainer] Todd Pletcher.

"Shanghai Bobby is just such a talented horse, a really cool horse to be around. It's part of what my dream has been, to ride this sort of athlete. It couldn't be a better feeling.

"He gets a little lost when he's out there by himself, but as soon as they came to him, he knew he was back in the heat of the battle. I don't think we've seen the best of him, he's got unlimited talent."

Rider who beat alcoholism says he has ample ammunition for 2013 championship race but fears threat from Ryan Moore

Richard Hughes has had an eventful winter since finally achieving a lifetime's ambition by becoming champion jockey last year, two decades into his career. There has been time with the family, of course, including a three-week holiday in Barbados, but he has also made four sorties to India to ride there, returning in time to cheer home his father's winner at the Cheltenham Festival nine days ago.

"I kept meself busyish," is how he puts it, hunching into a chair in the freezing weighing room at Doncaster this week, Caribbean comforts long forgotten. It is day one of the new Flat season and Hughes is here to begin the long campaign in defence of his title, the finishing line more than seven months distant.

"Now that I've done it, it takes a lot of the pressure off because I know how to get it done," Hughes says. And he is off to a flyer, not only because he will get a winner that day on his second ride of the season, but because he is here and able to compete in the first place. At this point last year, he was serving a 50-day ban, controversially imposed by Indian stewards, which kept him on the sidelines until 1 May.

It is a measure of Hughes's success that he was able to give his fellow riders that kind of start and still beat them hollow, his final tally of 172 winners putting him 41 clear of the runner-up. "In the last month, I took it easy, because I more or less had it won. I think I was playing golf at the end of October in Portugal."

Hughes's winter has been less productive, with victory in the Indian Eclipse the highlight, but the key detail is that he returns unsuspended: "I got out squeaky clean, thank God."

Another English-based jockey, Martin Dwyer, has not been so lucky, being recently banned for almost two months by the Mumbai stewards despite video evidence that his wayward mount was wholly to blame for his failure to win.

"It's unfortunate," is Hughes's cool response and he describes the culture there as one of suspicion and rumour, which puts jockeys at risk of capricious punishment. But he rides there each winter because otherwise, at five foot nine, he might struggle to keep his weight in check.

With the extra month to work with and a strong team of horses at the stable of his main employer, Richard Hannon, Hughes is aiming at 200 winners this year. At the same time, he feels his chance of another championship is being overstated by odds of 4-5. "It's a little bit naive, that. Ryan [Moore] was upsides me last year when he got injured. He can ride near whatever he wants in most races. He'll be very hard to beat, if Ryan wants it."

Asked what other jockeys could make a title challenge, Hughes mentions Graham Lee. "Up north, he's going to have a free run at it. A lot of the Newmarket trainers were using him last year. If I had a runner up north, I'd put him on it."

Hughes will follow his established gameplan, keeping a sensible limit on his number of rides and the miles he has to cover, at least until Glorious Goodwood in early August. Then, if he is still in contention, the work-rate will increase.

He is confident that Hannon will again provide plenty of winners. "We've got an abundance of three-year-olds that are probably well handicapped because we ran them at two just to get them out and managed to get a mark. But you should see the difference in them now. The way they're galloping isn't the same as what they're rated. Last year, we had Trumpet Major and one or two more but we didn't have an abundance. This year, we do."

Toronado is a live runner in the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby, in which Hughes feels he has had only one notable chance so far. "Can't wait to ride him in a race. We're very happy with him at the moment, he's showing us all the right signs." Sky Lantern will give him a big chance in the 1,000 Guineas if the ground dries out, while Olympic Glory – "a huge horse, looks great" – will go for the French 2,000.

Very few jockeys reach the age of 40, as Hughes did in January, with so much to look forward to, but then even fewer achieve a new career peak at 39. He credits his situation to the determined effort he made to overcome alcoholism, which threatened for so long to blight his life. "The past seven or eight years, I've changed as a person. I set myself out to do it and I've done it. When I started, I always thought I would be a champion jockey. When I moved to England and I started to really get going, I got very close a few times but it wasn't foremost in my mind. Foremost in my mind was having a good time.

"When I was riding winners, I wasn't happy. I said: 'When I get that new house, I'll be happy; when I get that fast car, I'll be happy; if I ride three winners tomorrow, I'll be happy.' I was never happy."

But he is now? "Oh, yeah, very. Content. And if I ride a winner, I appreciate it. I never appreciated anything before."

Successful over hurdles before dedicating himself to the Flat, Hughes still harbours ambitions to ride over fences, at least once. It had better be soon, he recognises, because he would already be very senior for a jump jockey.

At some point in the next decade, he will quit the saddle and start training: "Definitely not in Ireland and definitely Flat horses," the exact opposite of his father, Dessie, who trains jumpers on The Curragh and sent over Our Conor for a devastating Triumph Hurdle win at Cheltenham. "I've seen the torment Dad goes through," says Hughes Jr, only half joking as he adds that it takes four years to find out if a jumper is any good, during which time the good ones invariably become injured.

But he has serious hopes for his father's runners in the Grand National a week on Saturday, Rare Bob and Tofino Bay. "If my rides don't look good at Lingfield [that day], I know where I'm going."

Richard Hughes's hot tips for 2013

TORONADO 16-1 for both the 2,000 Guineas and the Derby. "He's showing an awful lot of pace at home."

OLYMPIC GLORY "He's doing really well." Runs at Newbury on 20 April en route to French Guineas.

SKY LANTERN "We think a lot of her," but fast ground is "a must". A 1,000 Guineas candidate.

VAN DER NEER Plans remain fluid but "we like him a lot". Entered in the Guineas.

ZURIGHA "We think she's quite nice." Sixth in a Group Two when last seen but thought to be better than that.

• Colt has suffered setback in pre-season training
• Trainer hopes to run horse in Derby trial

The protracted agony of those with ante-post bets on Kingsbarns for the 2,000 Guineas was finally ended on Friday when the colt was ruled out of the race by his trainer, Aidan O'Brien. A most impressive winner of the Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster in October when last seen in public, the three-year-old suffered a setback last month and his participation in the Newmarket Classic had seemed progressively less likely since then.

"Kingsbarns is back riding out and cantering," O'Brien was reported as saying in a quote on the Post's website. "He's also doing some swimming and, while we are playing catch-up with him after his hold-up, we're hoping to have him ready to run in one of the Derby trials."

Earlier, the trainer's jockey son, Joseph, had said: "He was working very well before he had the setback and he's an exciting horse for this year." But there is bound to be some scepticism about his chances of making the lineup for a Derby trial, since the meaningful trials take place within a fortnight of the Guineas on 4 May.

The Derby is seven weeks away and that time may pass very slowly indeed for those who have staked heavily on Kingsbarns for the 1 June race. They had already been spooked this week by Thursday's news from bookmakers of "several eyebrow-raising bets" on his stablemate Mars.

A spokesman for Betfred was moved at the time to suggest that Mars "could be Ballydoyle's No1 hope for the Derby". Betfair's users on Friday had Kingsbarns trading at 15-2 for the Derby, a point bigger than Mars and two points bigger than the favourite, Telescope.

There has also been support for a third O'Brien Derby candidate, Battle Of Marengo, who has been declared to run at Leopardstown in Sunday's Ballysax Stakes, a race the trainer used as a stepping stone for his first two Derby winners, Galileo and High Chaparral.

"He's in good form," said O'Brien Jr, though he added that a lot of rain on top of yielding going would be unwelcome. "There's no denying he gets through it all right, but I've always thought he was a better horse on better ground.

"He's a lovely moving horse and the day he won in Leopardstown last year on good ground, my saddle slipped. I couldn't push him at all in the straight and he still broke the track record."

The stable also has Foundry, the winner of his only race, in the Ballysax and O'Brien Jr held out hopes for "a nice race" from him but said Battle Of Marengo was "obviously the form horse".

O'Brien Sr has a strong hand in the race but he has rather got out of the habit of winning it, doing so only once in the past eight years. Jim Bolger, who has won it for the past three years, saddles Alpinist and Beyond Thankful, who he describes as "a little more exposed" than his stablemate.

Alpinist rolled through the Curragh mud to win his maiden last month but Bolger believes better ground will suit him. "He's very well and we're hoping he can make the step up, but it won't be easy," the trainer said.

"He has plenty of speed and we could have stayed at a mile if we'd wanted to, but we made a decision to come for this race and go down the middle-distance route."

Josh Hamer became the third jump jockey in four weeks to be taken to hospital by air ambulance after a heavy fall at Wetherby. Hamer was reported to have been briefly unconscious but came round before being flown from the track to Leeds General Infirmary.

"He knows exactly where he is," said Tony Carroll, trainer of Hamer's mount, Arctic Wings. "His arms and legs are moving fine, but he does have some middle back pain and they are taking him to Leeds for some precautionary examinations." Very sadly, Arctic Wings suffered fatal injuries in the fall.

Ballabriggs, the 2011 Grand National winner, has been retired. His trainer, Donald McCain, announced the decision, which follows a lacklustre performance in last Saturday's renewal of the Aintree race, when the horse was pulled up approaching the Canal Turn on the second circuit.

McCain said: "As my first Grand National winner, I will always be grateful for what he has done for the yard and that afternoon at Aintree will never be forgotten. He also won at the Cheltenham Festival in 2010 and he's been a brilliant horse for the stable."

Ballabriggs will spend his retirement on the Isle of Man with another retiree from McCain's yard, Cloudy Lane.

McCain said: "As my first Grand National winner, I will always be grateful for what he has done for the yard."

• Sir Henry Cecil eyeing Newmarket Classic for winner
• Victorious filly impresses after clear signs of inexperience

Two significant contenders for the 1,000 Guineas appeared on the Rowley Mile here on Wednesday, and while the first was no surprise to anyone, the other seemed to appear from nowhere. Just The Judge, who proved little more than that she is still alive and sound in a racecourse gallop before racing, remains favourite for the Classic at 6-1, but she has been joined at the top of the market by Hot Snap, who gave Sir Henry Cecil his eighth success in the Nell Gwyn Stakes later in the afternoon.

Hot Snap, who is a half-sister to the multiple Group One-winner Midday, had made only one previous start before Wednesday's race, in a maiden on the all-weather at Kempton last autumn. As a result she was sent off at 10-1, and was briefly the same price for the Guineas after striding through the Nell Gwyn field from last to first to beat Sky Lantern, the favourite, by two-and-a-quarter lengths before steady support forced her down to 6-1.

Sky Lantern was carrying a 3lb penalty for her success in the Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes last season but Hot Snap showed her inexperience throughout the race and can only improve significantly for the run.

"She will want at least a mile and I expect her to come on quite a lot for this," Cecil, who was speaking in a whisper as the result of a chest infection, said afterwards. "There's a possibility she could be a Guineas filly, otherwise she will be a nice one for Royal Ascot. She has only worked on the grass once this year, and the idea was to let her find her feet, let her come through and Tom [Queally] rode her exactly as I wanted. She will be much better in three weeks' time."

The Nell Gwyn winner has not gone on to take the 1,000 Guineas since Speciosa completed the double in 2006, and three of the six Classic winners since went to the Guineas without a trial. Hot Snap, though, looks like the sort of horse for which trials were designed, desperately in need of experience but beautifully bred, full of potential and now much more likely to show her best form when it matters most.

Sky Lantern is now out to 16-1 for the Guineas and, though she will be 3lb better off with the winner next time, it requires a good deal of optimism to imagine her cutting into Wednesday's deficit, never mind reversing the form.

Garswood needed three attempts to lose his maiden status as a juvenile but Richard Fahey is convinced that he is the best three-year-old in his yard and may well decide to test against the finest milers of his generation in the 2,000 Guineas after his easy success in the European Free Handicap.

Tony Hamilton soon settled the winner towards the rear of the field and then cruised through approaching the final furlong on the way to a two-and-a-quarter length defeat of Emell.

Garswood concluded his four-race two-year-old campaign with a second-place finish in the five-furlong Cornwallis Stakes at Ascot, which tends to highlight more sprinters than Classic winners. Wednesday's success at seven furlongs offered no real clues about his stamina for a well-run Group One at a mile but there is an obvious way to test it and the quality of the Guineas field looks a little thin behind Dawn Approach, the even-money favourite.

"He's been doing that to all my better horses at home, so I'm delighted he's come here and done it as well," Fahey said. "We haven't got anything to go with him – and he's the best horse we've got this year by a long way.

"He was always going to be a better three-year-old but when you get beaten in two maidens when you think you're a certainty, it's frustrating. He was sitting in his races and we were asking him to go and he was thinking, what am I doing? He was just learning his trade.

"We'll speak to the owners [David Armstrong and Cheveley Park Stud] to see where we go. There's nothing there to say that he won't stay, so we'll see what happens. It will be hard not to go."

Garswood is now top-priced at 25-1 for the 2,000 Guineas, having been available at 66-1 on Wednesday morning.

The Fielden Stakes has been seen as a Derby trial in the past but the Derby in question this year appears to be the one at Chantilly, as its winner Intello was a rare runner at the course for the trainer Andre Fabre.

Fabre travelled to Newmarket in search of good ground and Intello justified the trip with a three-and-a-quarter length success.

"He'd won two small races and I wanted to bring him over here and run him on good ground," Fabre said. "I was happy today even though the field was not top class [and] he will be entered for the French Derby."

If there was an Epsom horse on the card it was probably Mahmoud al-Zarooni's Improvisation, who will be steered towards one of the recognised Derby trials after taking the 10-furlong maiden. The same race was won by Commander In Chief less than two months before his Derby victory in 1993 – and Improvisation can be backed at 50-1 to follow suit.

• All-the-way winner shortened for colts' Classic
• Richard Hughes thinks winner is live Derby hope

"I've never ridden a real champion mile-and-a-half horse," Richard Hughes said after winning the Craven Stakes on Toronado here on Thursday, but the smile on his face reflected the increasing possibility that he has now.

Toronado was an odds-on chance to beat three rivals in the Craven Stakes, the most significant of the domestic trials for the 2,000 Guineas, and he did so with such a fluid mix of speed and strength that he is now a 7-2 chance for the first colts' Classic and as short as 5-1 for the Derby in early June.

Toronado beat Dundonnell by half a length in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster on his last start as a two-year-old, but he had the same horse more than four lengths adrift this time as he quickened away inside the final quarter mile.

Richard Hannon's colt, a son of the Derby winner High Chaparral, is now unbeaten in four starts, and will be the leading British-trained contender for the 2,000 Guineas on 4 May, behind only Dawn Approach, last year's Dewhurst Stakes winner, in the betting.

"I'd have been gutted if he didn't win like that to be honest," Hughes said. "I said to the girl leading us up that if he didn't win two or three going away, I'd be disappointed. He quickened away from them, then got into the Dip and quickened again up the hill, and there's not many that can do that.

"He's the real deal, fingers crossed. He's bred to get the Derby trip, and I always felt that he was more of a Derby horse, but now that he's got stronger, he's got a bit more pace. Even a month ago, I said he wouldn't have the electric turn of foot of Canford Cliffs, but the more serious work we've done closer to the race, the more pace he's showed."

Hannon, too, is starting to think about Epsom as much as Newmarket, and the chance that he may finally have a Derby horse in his yard.

"He's a machine," Hannon said. "He quickened and quickened again. There's no doubt this horse will go a mile and a half, and he's got the speed to go around places like Epsom. I was speaking to John Magnier [the co-owner of High Chaparral] the other day, he knows pedigrees and he said that he's got loads of speed all right, but he can stay."

Mark Johnston plans to run Windhoek in the Dante Stakes, the leading British trial for the Derby, at York next month after his narrow success in the Tattersalls Millions Three-Year-Old Trophy.

Windhoek was making only the second start of his career having suffered an injury after winning a maiden at Nottingham last May, but showed impressive determination to hold off strong challenges by Greatwood and Ghurair, the even-money favourite, by a short head and a neck.

"He was 30kg overweight and I think he'll come on a lot for that," Johnston said. "The Dante is certainly on the cards."

Greatwood, who ran on strongly in the closing stages, is also likely to contest a Derby trial and is a 33-1 chance for the Epsom Classic, while Ghurair was pushed out to 33-1 (from 16-1) for the 2,000 Guineas.

Tony McCoy, the multiple champion National Hunt jockey, was said to be "fully conscious" and with "movement in all limbs" after suffering a chest injury in a fall at Cheltenham on Thursday. He spent last night at Gloucester Royal Hospital but is expected to be released on Friday.