Good afternoon from Newmarket on the first Saturday in May – 2,000 Guineas day, in other words, and a date that has been circled on the calendars of Flat racing fans since the 2025 turf season concluded in November.

The first Classic of the new campaign – one of just five all season – has a long and storied history that stretches back to 1809, and the original prize, as the name suggests, was 2,000gns, or £2,100. That, so Google tells me at least, is the equivalent of £220k today, so the actual first prize for this afternoon’s winner, which is a shade under £300k after a couple of supplementary entries earlier in the week, compares fairly well.

The race is about far more than the prize money, however, as the winner can expect to enjoy a long and – for his owners – highly lucrative career as a stallion. And it is also the first leg of the fabled Triple Crown of the English turf, the Guineas-Derby-St Leger treble that has been completed only twice in the last 100 years: by Bahram in 1935 and Nijinsky in 1970.

There is a £2m bonus up for grabs if one of today’s 15 runners can go on to complete the Triple Crown, but realistically many are bred to be best at between a mile and 10 furlongs and perhaps only Oxagon – by Frankel out of a Dubawi mare – and the unbeaten King’s Trail – by Sea The Stars out of a Dubawi mare who stayed 10 furlongs – could be seen as potential Triple Crown candidates.

The main supporting race on today’s card is the Palace House Stakes at 2.55, a five-furlong sprint where the hugely popular mare Asfoora will be running for the first time since her win in the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp on Arc day, while dual-screeners will also be looking forward to ITV Racing’s annual trip to Thirsk for the Thirsk Hunt Cup Handicap at 2.40.

All the news, betting moves, action, results and reaction will be here on the live blog as the afternoon unfolds, and the card here at Newmarket gets underway underway with the Chaloner Stakes, a six-furlong Listed contest, at 1.10.

Nato spokesperson Allison Hart said the alliance was working with the US to understand its decision to pull 5,000 American troops from Germany.

Echoing earlier remarks by the German defence minister (see post at 9:35), Hart said the move “underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility” for the region’s security.

In a statement on X, she said:

We are working with the US to understand the details of their decision on force posture in Germany. This adjustment underscores the need for Europe to continue to invest more in defence and take on a greater share of the responsibility for our shared security – where we’re already seeing progress since allies agreed to invest 5% of GDP at the Nato Summit in The Hague last year. We remain confident in our ability to provide for our deterrence and defence as this shift towards a stronger Europe in a stronger Nato continues.