Dubai: Godolphin’s Buratino, the only horse to have beaten English 2,000 Giuneas (G1) favourite Air Force Blue, will be hoping for a repeat performance when the 208th running of the famous colt’s Classic takes place at Newmarket racecourse, England on Saturday.

Trained by Mark Johnston, Burtanio handed the highly-regarded Irish raider a shock defeat when landing the Group 2 Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot last June.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then and it is with good reason that Air Force Blue goes into the 1,600 metre contest as a market-leader in light of his impressive victory in the Group 1 Dubai Dewhurst Stakes over seven furlongs of the Rowley Mile in October.

Buratino and Air Force Blue face 10 rivals several of whom has genuine credentials of winning a race which is the first in the 2016 QIPCO British Champions Series and the first British Classic of the season.

Less than two months after he saddled his very first runner as a trainer, Owen Burrows is relishing the prospects of having a first Guineas runner in Massaat.

A former jump jockey who was the assistant to the five-time 2,000 Guineas-winning trainer, Sir Michael Stoute, for 12 years, 41-year-old Burrows recently took over the licence from Barry Hills to train at Kingwood House Stables in Lambourn.

Massaat, who races in the colours of Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, was runner-up to Air Force Blue in the Group 1 Dewhurst but Burrows believes that his colt is a much more experienced horse now and is capable of taking the fight to his vanquisher once again.

“Air Force Blue beat him by three and a quarter lengths in the Dewhurst but the winner was match-hardened then, having already won a Group 1 and been to Royal Ascot, while Massaat was big and raw and was coming straight from a maiden race,” said Burrows.

“I would like to think that we will at least be able to narrow the gap on Saturday.

“It’s extremely exciting to be contesting a Classic with only my tenth runner – I have to pinch myself to check that it’s true.

“I have been very pleased with how Massaat has developed physically over the winter and, although we contemplated running him in a trial, once we looked at the timing of things we realised that it would be beneficial to go straight for the QIPCO 2000 Guineas.”

“He did a racecourse gallop at Newmarket at the Craven Meeting and then did a very nice piece of work last Friday, so I am confident that he is in good shape,” Burrows added.

“It is hard to say what Massaat’s ideal trip will be at this stage, as he has such a good temperament and relaxes in his races, so I’m sure that he will get ten furlongs if we need him to. Paul [Hanagan, his jockey] is adamant that he has the speed needed to be competitive over a mile.”

“Good ground would be perfect for him but he won his maiden on good to soft so if it was good to soft again on Saturday I wouldn’t be too worried.”

Top Irish handler Aidan O’Brien, seeks a record eighth 2,000 Guineas success, also saddles Air Vice Marshal.

Other leading contenders include Marcel, successful in October’s Group 1 Racing Post Trophy; and Stormy Antarctic, the brilliant last-to-first winner of the main trial, the Group 3 Novae Bloodstock Insurance Craven Stakes, over this course and distance a fortnight ago.

The 2,000 Guineas is just one highlight of a superb first day of the two-day QIPCO Guineas Festival which has also attracted outstanding fields for its other Pattern Races – the £100,000 (Dh536,638) Group 2 Dunaden At Overbury Jockey Club Stakes and the £60,000 (Dh321,000) Group 3 Pearl Bloodstock Palace House Stakes.