Gstaad leads Irish Two Thousand Guineas field, O’Brien targets 13th win

Gstaad will carry more than favouritism into the Irish Two Thousand Guineas at the Curragh on Saturday. He will carry the question that follows every high-class juvenile into May: is he a genuine Classic horse, or just a colt with elite promise and one more proof point to find? For Aidan O’Brien, the stakes run even deeper. This is his chance to add a record-extending 13th Irish 2,000 Guineas and to remind the sport that his best colts still tend to find their place when the race matters most.

The Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas is a 1-mile Group 1 for 3-year-old colts and fillies, run under set weights of 9st 2lb. It carries a guaranteed purse of €500,000, with €285,000 to the winner, and the Curragh listed 10 declared runners for the 15:40 feature. It also opens the first two of five Irish Classics staged at Ireland’s home of flat racing, which gives the race a wider value than a single result. This is where the pecking order for the season starts to harden.

Gstaad arrives with the profile of a colt who keeps answering the basic questions. He has been first or second in every career start, and his Newmarket Guineas second to Bow Echo, by 2 3/4 lengths, was strong enough to keep him at the center of the mile conversation. He has not yet won in 2026, but the market still treats him as the horse to beat because his résumé already says he belongs at the top table. The issue now is not ability. It is whether that ability converts into a Classic victory when the pressure rises.

The opposition is real enough to prevent this from becoming an O’Brien parade. Charlie Appleby’s Distant Storm, who finished behind Gstaad at Newmarket, will be ridden by Billy Loughnane after William Buick’s six-day suspension, while Jamie Spencer takes the ride on Pacific Avenue. Karl Burke’s Greenham winner Alparslan enters as a live outsider at 12-1, with Sam James up, and Thesecretadversary, ridden by Seamie Heffernan, also stays in the mix at 8-1. Wayne Lordan will ride Neolithic for O’Brien, adding another layer to a race that looks tactical rather than straightforward.

The market makes Gstaad a heavy favorite at around 4-9, with Distant Storm at 4-1, Thesecretadversary at 8-1 and Alparslan at 12-1. That is the shape of a race that can either confirm a dominant colt or expose a reputation built a little faster than his win column. O’Brien’s last Irish 2,000 Guineas winner was Paddington in 2023, after a five-year wait. Another win here would push the record higher. A defeat would leave Gstaad’s class intact, but the proof still pending.