Native Trail leads 11 challengers for Irish 2,000 Guineas glory

Newmarket Guineas runner-up Native Trail will face a maximum of 10 rivals when he bids to go one better in the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas on Saturday.

Last season’s champion juvenile and a facile winner of the Craven on his reappearance, the Oasis Dream colt was a hot favourite to provide Charlie Appleby with a first 2000 Guineas success.

And while Native Trail was ultimately upstaged by stablemate Coroebus on the Rowley Mile, he will be well supported to bounce back to winning ways at the Curragh, where he won last year’s National Stakes.

Appleby’s charge is one of only two potential British challengers along with Andrew Balding’s Imperial Fighter, who finished third in the Burradon Stakes at Newcastle on his first start of 2022.

The home team is headed by the Joseph O’Brien-trained Buckaroo, who was narrowly beaten by leading Derby hope Piz Badile in the Ballysax at Leopardstown before impressively reverting to a mile in the Tetrarch Stakes over this weekend’s course and distance.

Aidan O’Brien could saddle The Acropolis and Ivy League in his bid for a 12th victory in the race, with the latter having been supplemented after finishing second in the Amethyst Stakes.

Jim Bolger has Boundless Ocean and Wexford Native in the mix as he looks to make it back-to-back wins following Mac Swiney’s triumph 12 months ago.

Atomic Jones (Ger Lyons), Duke De Sessa (Dermot Weld), Malex (Michael O’Callaghan) and New Energy (Sheila Lavery) complete the potential field.