Curragh Classic confirms Notable Speech and Rosallion are out of the top drawer - and they can ignite the Flat season

A little under a year ago, my colleague David Jennings labelled the 2,000 Guineas won by Chaldean as one of the worst Classics ever. 

By mid-July Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear, both of whom had run deplorably at Newmarket, were the only subsequent winners, and little has occurred since then to bump it up the form book. None of the first seven home has graced a winner’s enclosure since, with Chaldean retired to stud after two disappointing runs following his Classic success.

Silver Knott, who finished one place ahead of Auguste Rodin in 11th, and Charyn (eighth) have won four times between them this season and the latter has finished a close second in the Lockinge. They have vastly improved from their winless three-year-old campaigns, yet it is safe to say last year’s 2,000 Guineas will not be vividly recalled – even by the most fervent nostalgia hunter – in 20 years' time.