What can we expect after Charlie Appleby's clean sweep of the Guineas?

Charlie Appleby added his name to a select honour roll of history makers when he became just the third trainer in the past 80 years to complete the British Guineas double in a single year.  

The victories of Desert Flower and Ruling Court last weekend not only sealed a momentous few days for Godolphin – who also landed the Kentucky Derby and Oaks – but it could be a sign of things to come for Appleby should he be able to follow in his illustrious predecessors' footsteps. 

Success breeds success

Since the end of the second world war, only two other trainers have managed to win both the 1,000 and the 2,000 Guineas the same year and if Appleby continues the trend it will be far from the only Classic success he could enjoy this year. 

Noel Murless was the first post-war trainer to achieve the feat in 1967, when Fleet completed the double in the 1,000 Guineas. Unlike Appleby, who was enjoying his first win in Sunday's Classic, Murless was a dab hand at training 1,000 Guineas winners, with Fleet's success the third of his six victories. 

Murless found the 2,000 Guineas a tougher nut to crack and his success with Royal Palace that year was his second and final success in the race. However, Royal Palace went on to further Classic glory when landing the Derby under George Moore, who also partnered Fleet to her Guineas success. 

Murless's flying start to the 1967 season proved a sign of good things to come, with the trainer enjoying arguably the best campaign of his career. He ended the season with 63 victories and enough prize-money to seal the sixth of his nine champion trainers' titles. 

It would take a further 38 years before another trainer completed the Guineas feat but Aidan O'Brien has reigned supreme since, not only achieving the Classic double with Footstepsinthesand and Virginia Waters in 2005 but repeating the achievement in 2012, 2017 and 2019. 

On all four occasions more Classic success followed those Newmarket victories. In 2005, Scorpion won the St Leger and seven years later O'Brien's dominance was even more pronounced when he won both Epsom Classics with Camelot and Was, and was only denied the clean sweep when Encke edged out Camelot in the St Leger. 

Camelot: multiple Classic winner came agonisingly close to landing the Triple CrownCredit: Patrick McCann

O'Brien's 2017 Classic campaign began with the Guineas wins of Churchill and Winter and the pair kick-started a championship-winning season for the Ballydoyle trainer, with Wings Of Eagles following up in the Derby and Capri in the St Leger. The victories contributed to a sensational season for O'Brien, who set a new record for Group and Grade 1 winners in a single year with 28 top-level successes.

More than just Classics needed for Appleby to regain trainers' crown

Classic wins do not automatically guarantee a British trainers' championship, however, as O'Brien found when losing out to John Gosden in 2019 despite the Guineas wins of Magna Grecia and Hermosa and the Derby success of Anthony Van Dyck. Appleby, champion trainer in 2021 and 2022, will need to pull out all the stops in the hunt for a third title but he could be poised for more success at Epsom, with Ruling Court and Desert Flower well fancied to strike again in June. 

Last year's Guineas winner Notable Speech could boost his championship chances in the older division with an entry in next weekend's Lockinge Stakes and Rebel's Romance is always a force to be reckoned with should he be campaigned domestically. Of his three-year-olds, Shadow Of Light was by no means disgraced in third in the 2,000 Guineas and could be a force to be reckoned with at Royal Ascot, while Appleby is sure to have a host of talented juveniles, including recent Ascot scorer Wise Approach. 

The Flat season may only just be under way but Appleby looks to be holding all the cards for a fascinating year ahead. 

Read more:

'He’s shown just how good he is' - Ruling Court gives Godolphin a third 2,000 Guineas in four years as Field Of Gold comes up short 

1,000 Guineas star Desert Flower 'the best filly we've had' says Charlie Appleby as phenomenal weekend for Godolphin is completed 

'Buzz' at home of St Leger after 2,000 Guineas hero Ruling Court sparks Triple Crown dream 

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