The Home of Racing

The 2000 Guineas was first run on April 18th 1809, named after the original guaranteed prize of 2000 Guineas (worth approx. £110,000 today.)

• Most successful jockey - Jem Robinson, 9 wins (1825, 1828, 1831, 1833 – 1836) 
• Most successful trainer - John Scott, 7 wins (1843, 1843, 1849, 1853, 1856, 1860 – The Wizard, 1862)
• Most successful living jockey – Lester Piggott (7 wins)
• Sir Michael Stoute, responsible for the 2001 Stan James 2000 Guineas winner Golan, is the most successful current trainer with five victories. His other four winners were Shadeed (1985), Doyoun (1988), Entrepreneur (1997) and King’s Best (2000). Aidan O’Brien reached the four-mark last year when George Washington triumphed, following on from King Of Kings (1998), Rock Of Gibraltar (2002) and Footstepsinthesand (2005).
• The most successful current jockey in the Stan James 2000 Guineas is Kieren Fallon with four victories, all in the last 7 years – George Washington (2006) Footstepsinthesand (2005), Golan (2001) and King’s Best (2000). Mick Kinane has 3 2000 Guineas wins.
• Most successful owners - 4th Duke of Grafton and 5th Earl of Jersey, 5 wins (1800’s)
• Most successful recent owner – Mrs J Magnier
• Fastest winning time - Mister Baileys (1994), 1m 35.08s, He is at present at home with his owner, Mr Paul Venner of Baileys Horse Feeds.
• Widest winning margin (since 1900) - Tudor Minstrel (1947), 8 lengths
• Longest odds winner - Rockavon (1961), 66/1
• Shortest odds winner - St. Frusquin (1896), 12/100
• Most runners - 28, in 1930
• Fewest runners - 2, in 1829 and 1830

Winner of 1st 2000 Guineas:

• Horse – Wizard. His racing colours where Light Blue trimmed with Black and a Black Cap, GEH looking onto tracking colours location and whether someone still owns them.
• Jockey – Bill Clift
• Trainer – T. Perren
• Owner – Christopher Wilson

Births of 1809:

Dr William Penny Brookes – in 1850, he began an Olympian Games that became ‘Olympic-like’ in the early 1860’s. His games were sponsored by Greek Billionaire Evangelis Zappas, who later went on and paid for the refurbishment of the Panathenian stadium in Athens which was used for the Olympics in 1870, 1875, 1896 and 1906. Zappas also paid for the building of the first indoor Olympic Arena. Barron Pierre de Coubertin failed to mention the two previously mentioned men when he selfishly promoted himself as the sole founder of the Modern Olympic Games.

Felix Medelssohm Batholdy – 3 February 1809 in Hamburg, Germany. Sometimes called the ‘classical romantic’. Born in the first generation of romantic composers.

Edgar Allan Poe - Best known for his poems and short fiction, Edgar Allan Poe deserves more credit than any other writer for the transformation of the short story from anecdote to art. He virtually created the detective story and perfected the psychological thriller. He also produced some of the most influential literary criticism of his time - important theoretical statements on poetry and the short story - and has had a worldwide influence on literature.

Louis Braille - Louis Braille was the inventor of Braille (1821), a world-wide system used by blind and visually impaired people for reading and writing. Louis Braille was born in Coupvray near Paris, France. His father, Simon-René Braille, was a harness and saddle maker. At the age of three, Braille injured his left eye with a stitching awl from his father's workshop. This destroyed his left eye, and sympathetic ophthalmia may have led to loss of vision in his right. Braille was completely blind by the age of four. Despite his disability, Braille continued to attend school, with the support of his parents, until he was required to read and write.

Abraham Lincoln, February 12th 1809– 16th president of the USA. Heguided his country through the most devastating experience in its national history-the CIVIL WAR (1861-1865). He is considered by many historians to have been the greatest American president.

Charles Darwin, Evolution Theory, February 12th 1809 - Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist whose revolutionary theory laid the foundation for both the modern theory of evolution and the principle of common descent by proposing natural selection as a mechanism.

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), Prime Minister and author. The grand old man of British politics; leader of the Liberal Party and prime minister in four governments from 1868 to 1894; responsible for major reforms in every sphere of national life, and for the development of imperial foreign policy; divided the party on the issue of the Irish Home Rule; stamped his moral authority on the politics of his time; a considerable scholar and author in his own right.

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892) - was acclaimed very early in life as "the greatest poet of our generation, perhaps of our century"

Inventions:

The Light Bulb – Contrary to popular belief, Thomas Edison did not invent the Light Bulb but improved upon a 50 year old idea. In 1809, Humphry Davy (inventor of the Davy Lamp) an English Chemist invented the light.

Events of 1809:

William Henry Cavendish Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland – Was Prime Minister in on April 18th 1809.

George III - was King of Britian and Ireland from 25th October 1760 until 1 January. 

James Madison – President of USA in 1809

April 14 – Napoleon I defeats Austrians on the Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria