Guineas report: George Washington lived up to all of the pre-race hype by delivering a convincing Classic victory in the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.

Punters who kept the faith with the Aidan O'Brien-trained colt and with jockey Kieren Fallon backed the horse down from 2 to 1 into 6 to 4 to give both their fourth success in the race.

And although the slow early pace may not have played to the strengths of the winner, George Washington's supporters were never made to feel too nervous in the race as he hit the front well over a furlong out and stayed on strongly for a two-and-a-half-length verdict over Sir Percy.

Initially keen from the stalls, Fallon had settled the winner, already a dual Group One winner as a two-year-old, towards the rear in the early stages of the mile contest and waited until past halfway before making a move. But when he was asked to quicken, George Washington responded on meeting the rising ground and readily went clear when seeing daylight.

Sir Percy boxed on well under Martin Dwyer but could not get on terms with the impressive winner, while Olympian Odyssey ran a fine race in third for Barry Hills, having made most of the early running.

The issue for now is what the future holds for George Washington, who was added to the English Derby field at the latest supplementary stage.

"I didn't believe he could get a mile," said O'Brien, who was still to see the race half an hour after its conclusion having been at the start to supervise the preparation of the winner. He could get any trip. He is in the Derby because we thought if he got a mile then we might want to go that way, but I don't know. I don't want to overstretch him - you know, with elastic you can't pull it too far."

The stewards held an inquiry into the fact that George Washington failed to return to the winner's enclosure after the race, leading to a somewhat muted atmosphere in the presentation, but took no action.

O'Brien explained: "He saw the other horses going in the other direction and he didn't want to follow. Physically he is mature but mentally he is still like a child. He is getting better, but after he had just done so much to please us I didn't want to get into an argument with him.

"He's a horse who's always thought he was so superior from the time he was born to his companions that he developed this attitude that he is absolutely different class to every other animal around. It's all part of his make-up. He can intimidate other horses just by looking them in the eye.

"He might not be great with crowds or people but he loves racing," said O'Brien. "There has been a bit of pressure. This is our first three-year-old colt to win this season, but Kieren kept telling me not to worry."

But O'Brien and Fallon were unable to add yesterday's 1,000 Guineas to Saturday's success, as Rumplestiltskin, who went off as the 3 to 1 favourite, could only finish seventh of the 13 runners.

Instead, Speciosa struck a blow for the lesser lights of horse racing with a 10 to 1 victory for trainer Pam Sly. Sly, more known for her modest jump racing horses than Classic winners, beat off the might of the Godolphin and Coolmore racing empires to lift the fillies' classic by two and a half lengths.

Jockey Micky Fenton made all the running by the stands rails and easily held off Confidential Lady (12 to 1), with 16 to 1 chance Nasheej in third and Silca's Sister (13 to 2) fourth. Sly (62) said: "It's just marvellous. I hope it's given all the little people hope - don't give up, you can do it."