In all the furore about the stature of the first classics of the season and whether Sheikh Mohammed was cuddling up to them with sufficient vigour, nobody doubted that a straight mile at whatever Newmarket course was still a test. Try telling that to Aidan O'Brien this morning.

"A bit of a disaster," was O'Brien's succinct comment yesterday after Sunspangled trailed in behind Wince in the Sagitta 1,000 Guineas. The winner's name was as good a description as any of the frustration written on O'Brien's face.

Orpen, the warm favourite for Saturday's 2,000 Guineas, beat only Auction House home in the 16-runner field as Godolphin's Island Sands made most to hold Enrique by a neck. Sheikh Mohammed watched his winner from Kentucky, where the sluggish early pace would have been regarded with contempt by the locals. It certainly didn't help the hard-pulling Orpen, whose tank emptied fully three furlongs out. Remarkably, the same happened in the fillies race.

Sunspangled, who is bred to get 12 furlongs already, never looked happy and finished just 15th, with Tommy Stack's Fear And Greed two places ahead of her.

Far from cut-throat classic examinations, the races appeared to be run with the half-hearted air of trials: just what Newmarket traditionalists fear most.

"There was no pace again," said O'Brien as Sunpangled was led around post-race. "I didn't think I'd see that in both Guineas. It was a mess of a race, the same as yesterday."

A couple of hundred yards away, Henry Cecil and Kieren Fallon were celebrating their second 1,000 in three years. Wince had been heavily backed down to 4 to 1 favourite and, despite having the stature of a future steeplechaser, she was the one who quickened out of trouble best to overhaul Valentine Waltz.

The latter was just denied second by the fast finishing Wannabe Grand. Beaten with Enrique on Saturday, Cecil made up for it with his sixth 1,000 Guineas. The injured Bionic had been thought to be his number one filly, but Cecil rang up owner Prince Khaled Abdullah in Riyadh last week to tell him how good a substitute Wince was proving.

It was hardly a "get on now" call, but Cecil admitted: "She had been really pleasing me since the Fred Darling and I was very much encouraged when Enrique ran so well. I am not the sort of person who would ever say that I am going to win races like this, but I did say I would be very disappointed if both were not in the first three."

Fallon compared the clear run enjoyed by Wince with Enrique and couldn't help thinking about what might have been a magnificent double.

"I wish I had got the gaps for Enrique, but it's a great feeling to have won this. I could see challengers coming from both sides but she really stuck her neck out," said the champion jockey.

Cecil is considering the Entenmann's Irish 1,000 Guineas for Wince, as is John Gosden for the fourth, Capistrano Day. Fear And Greed is also likely to go for the home classic after a less-than-clear passage at the two pole when the French filly Moiava cut right across her.

"We both went for the one gap, he won and I was the meat in the sandwich," said Jamie Spencer, who told connections the filly may have made the first six without that interference.

Sunpangled, in contrast, could be upped in distance, a move that Mick Kinane said "would be an advantage. She was never going today and didn't like the ground."

Sunpangled is now 9 to 1 for the Epsom Oaks, but Wince's success sent bookmakers to work cutting the price of her stablemate Ramruna, with Corals making her clear favourite. The Derby market was hardly affected by the 2,000 Guineas result.

Island Sands, under a wonderfully shrewd ride from Frankie Dettori, looked to beat milers and sprinters pure and simple. The Irish-bred colt is likely to attempt the Guineas double at the Curragh.

Yet again, the most significant Guineas trial emerged as having happened behind closed doors in the sands of Dubai in April, and Dettori said afterwards: "The trial has worked out again. Island Sands really surprised us by winning it going away and, although we didn't have Cape Verdi feelings, we knew we had a good Guineas chance."

In a race where popular fancies such as Commander Collins and Compton Admiral bellyflopped, no splash was louder than Orpen's. For a colt with suspicions about stamina hanging over him, he gave himself no chance by running so freely in the early stages.

The stewards ordered him to be routinely dope tested, but O'Brien said yesterday that nothing physically wrong had emerged. "He just ran very free. It's disappointing and we'll have to wait and see about the Irish Guineas," he said.

The classic season is, after all, only just beginning.