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2025 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas Winner Field Of Gold. (Breandán Ó hUallacháin photo)
By Breandán Ó hUallacháin
Field Of Gold (1/1 favourite) won the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh, County Kildare, Ireland, on Saturday.
Field Of Gold, an unlucky runner-up to Ruling Court in the Betfred 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, England, last month, was an impressive three and three-quarter length winner of the first Irish classic of 2025 this afternoon.
Trained in England by father and son team of John and Thady Gosden, the Juddmonte Farms-owned son of Kingman was emulating his sire, who was also beaten at Newmarket before succeeding in Ireland.
The winner was ridden by six-time Irish champion flat jockey Colin Keane, following stinging criticism of his rider at Newmarket, Kieran Shoemark. Since then, Shoemark has been replaced as the Gosdens’ top rider, with the stable now having a ‘best available jockey’ policy.
With three of the nine runners in the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas in the Juddmonte ownership, Winlord (25/1) set the early pace under Chris Hayes. The race favourite, drawn in stall nine of the nine-runner field, was kept to the outside throughout the one-mile contest.
Hotazhell (9/1), the eventual third, sat in second in the early stages of the Group 1 contest, with Rashbar (14/1) on his inside on the rail.
Passing the three-furlong pole, Colin Keane looked at ease on the grey Field Of Gold, as he made a menacing move to close the distance to the leaders.
At the two-furlong marker, two of the Juddmonte-owned runners, Winlord and Field Of Gold, looked the main protagonists. Colin Keane asked Field Of Gold for his effort and he duly responded.
Within a matter of strides, this race was over as a contest, and he ran out a most impressive winner. The third Juddmonte runner, Cosmic Year (4/1), ran on well on the outside, but could only chase his half-brother (both horses are by the Juddmonte Farms stallion, Kingman) in vain.
Hotazhell, who had been prominent throughout the race, stayed on well to claim third position, and was the first of the home-trained horses to pass the wire.
The successful trainer, John Gosden, quickly compared the winner to his sire, Kingman, stating:
“He’s right up there with his father (Kingman). I think he’s as good as his father right now. The Irish Guineas is on a very fair track, and I wanted to come here and prove he was a classic winner.”
Speaking to Racing TV after his Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas win, successful rider Colin Keane said:
“He’s a lovely big colt. He’s a very straightforward colt. When he left the stalls, pretty much instantly he relaxed and from then I was happy. I think if he keeps relaxing, these isn’t any reason he couldn’t go a little further (in distance). When I asked him, he wasn’t short of a bit of pace. He put them to bed quickly, I thought.”
The County Meath-born Keane is stable jockey to Ger Lyons since 2014, and won the Irish apprentice riders’ championship that same year. He won his first Irish jockeys’ championship three years later, with a total of 100 winners.
Saturday’s win is a fourth Irish classic for Colin Keane. He won this race in 2020, riding Siskin; the same year he also claimed the Irish Oaks with Even So, while in 2022 he won the premier Irish classic, the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, aboard Westover.
Field Of Gold is the third winner of the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas in the Juddmonte colours, following the wins of Kingman in 2014 and Siskin in 2020.
