True Love won the Betfred 1000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday. The Aidan O'Brien-trained No Nay Never filly, ridden by Wayne Lordan at 5/1, powered clear on the stands side of the track to win by a length and three-quarters from Evolutionist, with Venetian Lace third. The Ballydoyle duo were on different sides of the track. True Love travelled powerfully in the group closer to the stands and, while she drifted across late on, she saw out the mile well to secure top honours.
The Race
The race was in many ways a mirror image of Bow Echo's victory in the 2000 Guineas on Saturday — the strong travelling winner on the stands side of the field making a move with a couple of furlongs to run and ultimately asserting on the climb out of the dip. True Love ranked first on the speedometer across the race — the fastest filly in the field on the day.
Precise, the 9/5 favourite, raced on the far side of the track and could not match the pace of her stablemate in the closing stages. She recorded a top speed figure above 41mph — one of only two runners in the race to do so, alongside True Love — but tired in the latter stages. The fitness differential after a seven-month absence was visible in the final furlong.
Aidan O'Brien's Eighth Win
True Love gave O'Brien his eighth victory in the 1000 Guineas. His previous winners: Virginia Waters (2005), Homecoming Queen (2012), Minding (2016), Winter (2017), Hermosa (2019), Love (2020), Mother Earth (2021). He now has eight — closing in on Robert Robson's historic record of nine wins set in the 1800s.
Wayne Lordan, who had ridden True Love to her Cheveley Park Stakes victory as a two-year-old, delivered a masterclass in tactical riding — positioning on the faster stands-side strip and producing True Love's pace at precisely the right moment.
What Comes Next
The Epsom Oaks in June is the natural next target for a 1000 Guineas winner who has proven she stays a mile. The step up to a mile and a half at Epsom tests stamina in an entirely different way — and True Love's No Nay Never breeding carries a stamina question over the longer trip. O'Brien will assess. Precise, who produced one of the two fastest speed figures in the race, has the profile to improve significantly for the run and remains a major player in the Classic picture for the season.
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Facts verified via web search May 4 2026. Sources: The42.ie, TotalPerformanceData race analysis, Sky Sports full result.