Run at Newmarket on Wednesday 28 April 1880 there were seventeen runners and the 2000 Guineas was won by Petronel a black colt belonging to the Duke of Beaufort and ridden by George Fordham. Fordham had frequently been champion jockey but was nearing the end of his career in 1880, capturing the prize worth ¨4,850. Petronel started at 20/1 and beat a very moderate field, winning by a head from the Duke of Westminster's Muncaster with R.C. Naylor's The Abbot beaten a further three-quarters of a length in third.