The 1,000 Guineas produced a surprise winner on Sunday as Ghanaati romped to victory in the season’s second Classic.

The Barry Hills trained filly surged to the front of the field over the final three furlongs of the race, and then held on to the lead to deny second placed Cuis Ghare. Super Sleuth finished the race in the third place.

The unexpected win took jockey Richard Hills to his third 1,000 Guineas title, and delighted both Hills and his father.

“I’m very lucky, I get all the glory by doing the steering,” Richard Hills said after the race. “The ones at home do all the work and I’m appreciative of them all.”

The hot pre-race favourite, Rainbow View, put in a disappointing performance, coming home fourth after struggling to make an impression on ground too soft for her liking. It was the filly’s first defeat in five races.

“She was in good form. She’d worked well,” trainer John Gosden said. “She hated the ground. It’s nobody’s fault. We’ve had an incredibly dry spring here. It was just good to firm yesterday.”

Trainer Brian Meehan will run Super Sleuth in the 1,000 Guineas on Sunday despite the presence of overwhelming favourite, Rainbow View, in the field.

Super Sleuth stood her ground in the final forfeit stage for the 1,000 Guineas and will be one of 15 runners to take on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile in the opening fillies’ Classic of the season.

Super Sleuth’s participation in the race sets Meehan up for a possible Newmarket Guineas double, with his Delegator the favourite to win Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas.

“Super Sleuth ran a fabulous race at Newbury and deserves to have a crack at the Guineas,” Meechan said on his webiste. “We thought she would just need that first run of the season and she should improve. We are looking forward to seeing how she gets on and I am sure she will not let us down.”

Aidan O’Brein also has a runner in the mix, in the form of Heart Shaped Box, with Jim Bolger’s Cuis Ghare and Kevin Prendergrast’s Shimah rounding off the Irish challengers.

20 racehorses stood their ground in the second forfeit stage for the 2009 1,000 Guineas on Monday.

The most notable absentee was Nell Gwyn Stakes winner, Fantasia, who was withdrawn from the race by owner George Strawbridge.

Strawbridge has instead opted to run his Fillies’ Mile winner, Rainbow View, in the year’s first Classic. The John Gosden trained filly was installed as the bookies favourite after drifting as far as 8-1 in the betting markets earlier in the day.

“She is fine and worked very well so we don’t know where it has come from,” John Gosden’s racing secretary, Peter Shoemark, told the Press Association.

Chevely Park winner, Serious Attitude, is positioned second in the 1,000 Guineas betting markets, with Alan Bailey’s Aspen Darlin priced third by several bookmakers.

“It looks like it’s going to be a very hot renewal this year but Aspen Darlin has earned a chance to be in the race,” Bailey told the Press Association.

“She was half a length behind Serious Attitude in the Cheveley Park Stakes and people have forgotten that she ran in three Group races in under a month.”

French raider Natagora answered questions about her ability to stay over a mile in a most emphatic manner on Sunday as she took victory in the 2008 1,000 Guineas.

The French filly won by half a length as she maintained her lead throughout the race, eventually holding off a late charge by Spacious to win the 1,000 Guineas by half a length. Irish runner Saoirse Abu took third place.

“I can’t believe it. I had so much confidence, the only thing for me was to try to get a good position without using too much energy,” said Natagora’s rider Christophe Lemaire. “She gave all she had and is a fantastic filly.”

The 1,000 Guineas results provided yet another disappointment for John Gosden, whose runner Infallible had been priced as race favourite by several bookmakers. Infallible didn’t even qualify for minor honours, coming home in 4th place.

Infallible’s loss, paralleled by an equally uninspired performance by Raven’s Pass in the 2,000 Guineas put pay to speculation that the trainer was headed for the first ever Classics Grand Slam.

A large contingent of the 1,000 Guineas runners will now head to the Irish 1,000 Guineas in Curragh.

Tens of thousands of racing fans will converge on Newmarket racecourse this weekend to celebrate the launch of the summer flat racing season – the Guineas. While the racing is likely to be of the highest order there will be nothing summery about the experience, with rain predicted to fall on Suffolk throughout the weekend.

Although the weather may force race goers to swap coiffure for raincoats, the wet conditions will be welcomed by several of the trainers fielding entries in the 1,000 Guineas stakes. Foremost amongst these will be Pascal Bary, trainer of second favourite Natagora.

7/2 priced Natagora wintered in France and spent her pre-season training working over the notoriously heavy ground at Maissons Laffitte. Should conditions deteriorate further Natagora can look forward to pressing home a significant advantage over the horses that wintered on the well drained tracks of Suffolk.

John Gosden will be hoping to pick up one of two Guineas victories in the 1,000 Guineas on Sunday. While speculation that the trainer is on the verge of achieving a Classics clean sweep border on the fanciful, there’s little denying that he’s in with a good chance of claiming the fillies’ race.

Gosden will field two of the three shortest priced runners for the 1,000 Guineas 2008. His top ranked runner is race favourite Infallible, priced at 10/3 by William Hill. A John Gosden entry also occupies third place in the 1,000 Guineas 2008 odds tables with Muthabara priced at 4/1 by William Hill.

Punters looking to capitalise on longer odds runners in the 1,000 Guineas Stakes will be paying special attention to Aidan O’Brien’s Savethisdanceforme. Priced at 8/1 by William Hill, Savethisdanceforme looks to be an excellent each-way punt, particularly given her trainer’s knack for crafting Group One race winners.

Eighteen of the finest thoroughbred fillies in flat racing stood their ground for the 2008 1,000 Guineas yesterday as race organisers at Newmarket racecourse began final preparations for a big weekend of Guineas racing.

While much of the media’s attention has been focussed on the 2,000 Guineas, punters around the world have been sizing up the prospects of the fillies in the 1,000 Guineas.

Infallible is currently placed as outight favourite for the 2008 1,000 Guineas, priced at 10/3 by William Hill. Infallible’s odds are a reflection of a brilliant win in the 1,000 Guineas trial at her last Newmarket outing.

English Muthabara is also in the frame, priced slightly off the pace at 4/1.

The English runners at the 2008 1,000 Guineas face a foreign threat in the form of French racehorse Natagora who stands alongside Muthabara in second place in the 2008 1,000 Guineas odds tables.

Natagora, trained by Pascal Bary, comes into the 2008 1,000 Guineas on the back of a win at the 2007 Cheveley Park Stakes. Hatoof was the last French filly to win the 1,000 Guineas, taking the race title in 1992.