Call To Victory is the Winner of 65th 2000 Guineas

2000 Guineas (Group 1), the first classic race of the year, was held on Sunday, 12 July at the Veliefendi Racecourse. 10 colts of 3-year-old, staged a challenging competition during the race, which is considered as one of the most important rehearsals for 3-year-old thoroughbreds, towards the Gazi Derby.

Call To Victory (Victory Gallop - Serap Gelin / Mountain Cat), favorite thoroughbred of the race and having an impressive racing performance with 8 in a row victories, crossed the finish line in first place with his jokey Ahmet Çelik. The race was held on 1600 meters on turf.

The successful colt, owned by Ayşegül Kurtel and trained by Orkun Özelcanat had its first start in April 2019 in Bursa, finishing the Condition-1 race in fourth place. 2 months later, his farewell to maiden was again on the turf of Bursa Racecourse. Sadun E.G. Atığ Trophy (G3) in Istanbul was his first Group race experience, where he also was the winner. His last 2-year-old triumph was at the Group 1 Çaldiran Stakes.  Including his 2000 Guineas victory, Call to Victory has 9 wins (7 of which are Group races) in 10 starts of his racing career.

Total amount of the prize money distributed for this year’s 2000 Guineas was over 1,5  Million TL, including 600.000 TL first prize. After his 2000 Guineas triumph, Call to Victory’s earnings reached to 3.556.719 TL including the breeder’s premiums.

Call to Victory’s jockey Ahmet Çelik won the 2000 Guineas previously in 2016 with Graystorm. Following his second 2000 Guineas victory with Call to Victory, he told in the post-race interview: “We won very good races with Call to Victory. When he wins a race, he becomes more ambitious at the following race and he knows how to win.  We will see what he is capable of at the upcoming races. I previously won this important race with Graystorm, in 2016. They are both distinctive champions with different characters."

Vernazza (Authorized - Dentelle / Mr Sidney), representative of successful stallion Authorized, finished the race in second place with his jockey Halis Karatas and followed by Group race winner  Full Throttle (Mendip - Cure Notice / Sri Pekan) with Gökhan Kocakaya and Alihan (Agresivo - I Am That Chick / Closing Argument) with Ayhan Kurşun. Kingsman (Popular Demand - Fluent / Ultramar) with Hışman Çizik, crossed the finish line in 5th place.

Call to Victory’s finish time was 1.34.53, being the fourth fastest time of 2000 Guineas, following the performances of Hep Beraber (2018), Maracaibo (2008) and Yamanlarbeyi (2019). The margins of the race were 2 Length – 1,5 Length – 4 Length – Neck.

Please click here to watch the 65th running of 2000 Guineas (G1).