2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes The 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes was a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings. It was run over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it was scheduled to take place each year in early April. The event was originally held at Ascot. The present grading system was introduced in 1971, and the race was classed at Group 3 level. It was staged at Newmarket in 1978, and transferred to Salisbury in 1979. It was discontinued after 1986. The race served as a trial for the 2000
The Great Match (horse race) Handicap, run at York, before finishing unplaced in his final three racecourse appearances, including the Ascot Gold Cup, and then retiring to stud himself. The Great Match (horse race) The Great Match is the name given to a match race between two of the most famous British thoroughbred racehorses of the 19th Century - Voltigeur and The Flying Dutchman. The race took place at York on 31 May 1851 for a purse of 1,000 sovereigns. The Flying Dutchman was a five-year-old, who had won the 1849 Epsom Derby and St Leger and, as a four-year-old, the 1850 Ascot Gold Cup.