Ten Sovereigns the wrong currency to be trading as 2,000 Guineas favourite

A bout of spring madness has broken out on the 2,000 Guineas front ever since Too Darn Hot was removed from the equation on Saturday. In his place as favourite is a colt whose capacity to last home over the Rowley Mile was questioned by his own connections after he landed the six-furlong Middle Park Stakes.

Ten Sovereigns certainly merits his place in the field but it requires an implausible leap of faith to back him at 5-2. Lest we forget, he was described by Donnacha O’Brien after the Middle Park as "a natural sprinter". Father Aidan all but concurred when he added: “He probably won’t get much further than a mile – if he gets a mile.”

So what has brought this about? Is there such a shortage of depth among the Classic milers that Ten Sovereigns might win by default? That happened 20 years ago, when Island Sands took the Classic from a pair of relative duds in Enrique and Mujahid.