Next stop Royal Ascot: fairytale horse Tip Two Win set for St James's Palace

Although owner-breeder Anne Cowley admitted she was still letting Tip Two Win’s brave runner-up effort in the 2,000 Guineas fully sink in, she declared that a trip to Royal Ascot next month would be the next stop for the three-year-old.

The Roger Teal-trained colt finished a length-and-a-half second behind Saxon Warrior in the season’s first Classic at Newmarket on Saturday, belying his odds of 50-1, and Cowley is now keen to take in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes at the royal meeting.

Rewatch Tip Two Win's brave second in the 2,000 Guineas

She said: “It’s all just sinking in as it was a fantastic run from a very brave horse. I think the winner is something special and could go on to be anything – so it was a case of a potential champion beating a good little one.

Roger Teal: trainer of 2,000 Guineas runner-up Tip Two WinCredit: John Hoy

“He was entered in the Ascot race [St James's Palace] before he ran on Saturday and after speaking to Roger about it I think we'll be going to Ascot. Then we'll take it as it comes, but I think a trip to the Breeders' Cup in November would be the goal at the end of the year.”

View the St James's Palace card, for which Tip Two Win is a 13-2 shot

Have it your way

Tip Two Win lined up at Newmarket on the back of a couple of successes at Doha in Qatar over the winter, and Cowley continued: “I missed his first win over there in December as I was in Kentucky and had to watch the race on my business partner’s phone in a Burger King car park.

“Admittedly it wasn't the ideal place, but we needed something to eat at the time and it was closest.

"However, I did travel to Qatar in February for his next run and he won well, so we were hopeful we had a nice horse on our hands.”

Cowley currently has six horses in training – three with Seamus Durack, a couple with David Flood and Tip Two Win.

Unique trial: Tip Two Win prepared for the Guineas by winning two races in DohaCredit: Juhaim qrec

She said: “I prefer to go for smaller yards as I think the horses get more individual attention than somewhere with over 200 horses.

“But whichever way you look at it nobody can turn geese into swans and if the horse is no good, then he is no good, so it makes me feel even more privileged to have one like Tip Two Win. I will remember Saturday for a long time.”

Food for thought

Homebred Tip Two Win has now won £297,108 after eight runs, but, as Cowley explained, things don’t always turn out so rosy.

She said: “I can remember one day I was in my local Sainsbury’s when Seamus phoned me to say he had a horse for sale that might suit me, so I bought it there and then – I only went in for a loaf of bread but came out with a horse.

“We called him Goodbye Inheritance as when I got home I told my son and he replied, ‘That’s goodbye inheritance then’. It didn’t work out with him, but that’s horseracing and nobody’s fault.”

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