Two classics, two big fields, two races of utterly contrasting shapes at Newmarket last weekend. The 2,000 Guineas was cloaked in intrigue sufficient to see out the summer, while Finsceal Beo bewitched those who cherish the sight of a champion at work.

Finsceal Beo exudes a simple beauty in ruling by force of will. She races prominently, strains for the lead and squeezes the life from her opponents. There is nothing ambiguous about her. She is a sinister queen, downright nasty in her racing demeanour.

To race against Finsceal Beo is to run on a treadmill that has yet to meet its match. She should cut a swathe against her sex until she encounters colts. Even then, the portents are ominous. Arch Swing is as masculine as fillies come, yet Finsceal Beo carved her up into slivers of a Sunday roast.

And yet, she is not to everyone’s taste. Some will tire of her primacy – whence they should embrace a colts’ division headed by Cockney Rebel after his 2,000 Guineas triumph. But for how long? That is anyone’s guess. The whole deal hung by a thread at the start, when Strategic Prince almost carried Cockney Rebel towards the unfavoured far rail. In which case Cockney Rebel would have been silenced– as were Dutch Art and US Ranger, both of whom threatened in adverse circumstances.

Therein lies the rub. Would Dutch Art have overhauled Cockney Rebel had they not raced on opposite sides? Would US Ranger, who got isolated in the centre, have trumped them both? And what, pray, might have happened had Teofilo been on show?

That one is even harder to call. The Dewhurst Stakes won by Teofilo, much lauded in October, looks more like fool’s gold. Strategic Prince, Haatef and Adagio finished in a heap on Saturday, as they had seven months ago. Strategic Prince fared best once more, yet he toiled to finish eighth. Not good enough by half.

That was the biggest surprise within the surprise of Cockney Rebel’s 25-1 triumph. Another was the resurgence of Dutch Art, who fell foul of the run of the race. Dutch Art looked doomed after flunking his prep, but his effort emphasised Peter Chapple-Hyam’s ability to ripen a horse for the big day. He must bring those skills to bear on the Derby preparation of Authorized, who is now favourite in Teofilo’s expected absence.

Dutch Art was unfortunate but not unlucky. The race on his side was led out by a pair of sprinters who folded two furlongs out. This proved more detrimental to his chance than any perceived track bias. There was none at all when 29 sprinters later pelted down the same track in two distinct groups but one blurred entity at the wire.

Michael Prosser, Newmarket’s clerk of the course, deserves a slap on the back for this. Intense watering of the track was both necessary and fraught with risk. In contrast to the three-day event at Badminton, Prosser delivered a surface that was beyond reproach and free of vagaries.

On a broader canvas, the Guineas festival threw up countless clues for Epsom – in particular the Oaks prospects of Dalvina, who brought a glint to Jamie Spencer’s eye. The festival tends to shape the course of a season: with Ballydoyle and Godolphin silent, racing is poised for another year in which financial democracy governs the winner’s circle.

As much was evident from trade press adverts taken by Tattersalls and Doncaster, rival auction houses which trumpeted the comical detail that both had sold the first three home in the 2,000 Guineas. It was almost as confusing as the outcome to the race itself. But the message from Newmarket was much easier to digest. It held that classic horses can emerge from any source, for any price, and from any stable. That is rarely true of any sport these days.

And spare a thought for ante-post punters scarred by the collective absence of Teofilo, Holy Roman Emperor and Sander Camillo. They will have railed against the contemptuous words of British bookmakers, whose platitudes of grief were thoroughly exposed when Irish layers Paddy Power refunded all bets on Teofilo. Like the Dewhurst, they were guilty of empty rhetoric.