Neil Gow (1907–1919) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who won the classic 2000 Guineas in 1910. In a racing career that lasted from spring 1909 until July 1910 the colt ran ten times and won seven races, attracting attention both for his racing ability and for his difficult and unpredictable temperament. He raced four times against the 1910 Epsom Derby winner Lemberg, winning twice outright and dead-heating on a third occasion. Neil Gow was one of the best British two-year-olds of 1909, when he won the National Stakes at Sandown Park, the Imperial Produce Stakes at Kempton Park and the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster. After winning the Craven Stakes on his first appearance of 1910 he overcame a strong field to win the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket. He finished fourth in the Derby and then dead-heated in the Eclipse Stakes. He was injured in training later that year and was retired from racing at the end of the season. He had limited success as a breeding stallion before his death in 1919. Background Neil Gow was a chestnut horse with a white blaze and four white socks bred by his owner Lord Rosebery, the former British Prime Minister. His sire, Marco, a male-line descendant of the Godolphin Arabian, was a versatile breeding stallion whose progeny included winners of the Grand National (Sprig) and Kentucky Derby (Omar Khayyam). Neil Gow's dam Chelandry won the 1000 Guineas in 1897 and became an outstanding broodmare, whose descendants included Gallant Fox, Never Say Die and High Chaparral. Rosebery named the colt after the Scottish fiddler Niel Gow but "corrected" the spelling. He sent his colt into training with Percy Peck at his stable in Exning, Suffolk. Racing career 1909: two-year-old season Neil Gow made his debut in the Woodcote Stakes at Epsom Downs Racecourse in June. He failed to settle in the race and finished unplaced behind Varco. In the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot later that month he finished third to an Admiral Hawke (a brother of Pretty Polly). On his next appearance he ran in the £5,000 National Breeders' Produce Stakes over five furlongs at Sandown in July and won easily from sixteen opponents despite being left behind at the start. Later in July he won a Prince of Wales's Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse, establishing himself as one of the leading British colts of his generation. Neil Gow was then