Tales of war, exploration and rebellion lie behind names of 2,000 Guineas heroes

1 Brigadier Gerard is the brave, but vain, French hero of numerous historical short stories of the Napoleonic wars and also a novel, The Complete Brigadier Gerard, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Dick Hern's colt of the same name, owned by John Hislop, shocked the many who regarded the 1971 2,000 Guineas as a straight match between Mill Reef and My Swallow by beating them fair and square before going on to confirm himself one of the outstanding thoroughbreds of the last 50 years.

2 The surprise 1978 winner Roland Gardens, trained by Duncan Sasse for John Hayter, takes his name from a sought-after residential street in Kensington, just off the Old Brompton Road. According to Zoopla the average price for property in Roland Gardens stood at £1,729,075 in April. PrimeLocation has a three-bedroomed flat on their books for a mere £3.1m. Mind you, it does have two bathrooms.

3 Sue Magnier has never been afraid to think big when naming Coolmore's brightest prospects and King Of Kings, the 1998 winner, was none other than Jesus Christ himself. It is also the title