The Qipco 2000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday featured a field of eleven horses, led by Ballydoyle's promising star City Of Troy.
He has given Aidan O'Brien and his Coolmore owners renewed hope for a Triple Crown after going undefeated in his first three games of the previous season.
Winning all three Classics is still something O'Brien would love to do after coming so close with Camelot in 2012—the horse won the Guineas and the Derby before coming in a three-quarters-length second to Encke in the St Leger. Since Nijinsky won it in 1970, no horse had won it.
When City of Troy, an American Triple Crown winner in Justify, won the Dewhurst last season, it appeared imposing.
The bookies believe that Rosallion, trained by Richard Hannon, poses the biggest threat to him after he won Group One in France last autumn. Haatem, the cosy Craven scorer, is also run by Hannon.
Karl Burke's Night Raider, who has only made two appearances on the all-weather surface and won by nine lengths on the first try and five lengths on the second, may be at the top of the list among the many other undefeated colts with unrealized potential.
His jockey Danny Tudhope said: “He obviously wasn’t up against much in either of his races but he couldn’t have been more impressive. His work at home has been absolutely outstanding, and he’s really maturing into himself. I sat on him on Tuesday morning for a little breeze, and he felt a million dollars. He had a gallop on grass for the first time at the Craven meeting and I thought he handled the track unbelievably well. You might say there’s a question mark over him getting the mile, but from the way he’s finished his races, I’d say he’ll stay no problem.”
With three victories at Kempton, Charlie Appleby's Notable Speech has followed a similar trajectory to Night Raider, and Clive Cox's Ghostwriter is likely to hold on longer than most considering how he won the Royal Lodge at two.
Charlie Hills' Iberian won the Champagne Stakes with Rosallion trailing him, and Alyanaabi, trained by Owen Burrows, came closest to defeating City of Troy in the Dewhurst.
The three O'Brien-trained athletes who were not declared at the 48-hour mark were Diego Velazquez, Henry Longfellow, and River Tiber.