'It's beyond my wildest dreams'

An emotional Frankie Dettori lifts the 2000 Guineas crown, and Oisin Murphy and Mawj make their presence felt

- MARCUS ARMYTAGE

QIPCO Guineas Festival, Newmarket, Cambs

THE recurring theme of the 2023 Flat season is likely to be Frankie Dettori’s retirement, but starting it by winning the QIPCO 2000 Guineas, on Chaldean, his last ride in the Classic, was beyond even the jockey’s wildest imagination.

OK, it may not quite have been up there with Sam Waley-Cohen winning the Grand National on his very last ride, but it was a terrific start if you discount the less positive dress rehearsal – Dettori was unseated leaving the stalls in the Greenham Stakes at Newbury a fortnight before. This weekend’s performance was perfect from Andrew Balding’s Frankel colt, the second favourite.

Given that Frankel’s offspring generally improve in leaps and bounds from two to three years old – and that Chaldean already had the distinction of being the stallion’s only two-year-old, Group One-winning colt – it was just a case of whether Aidan O’Brien’s big hitters turned up; they did physically, but not metaphorically.

The trainer was worried about sending them overnight because of security surrounding the coronation, but they ran like they had spent the night out on Newmarket High Street.

On Saturday, Dettori was never out of the front rank on the right flank of the field all the way. Hi Royal, ridden by Oisin Murphy, kicked clear two out and Chaldean went after him, reeling him in just inside the final furlong, before Dettori had the luxury of easing down for the last few strides to win by a comfortable 1¾ lengths, with Royal Scotsman third.