Tudor Minstrel began his 1947 by winning a minor race at Bath and then started 11/8 favourite for the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. Ridden by Gordon Richards, Tudor Minstrel won the one mile 2,000 Guineas by eight lengths, from Saravan, with Sayajirao in third. The winning margin was the biggest recorded in the race in the 20th century. Richards eased the colt down in the final furlong, leading contemporary observers to believe that Tudor Minstrel could have won the race by twenty lengths. In the aftermath of his Guineas win, he was described as the "horse of the century".