By Tom Frary
While the G1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes was robbed of The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), Newmarket's feature produced a thrilling three-way go to compensate as well as a rarity in its winner with Godolphin's Shadow Of Light (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}–Winters Moon {Ire}, by New Approach {Ire}) completing the Middle Park-Dewhurst double on Saturday. Tracking the leader Seagulls Eleven (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}) up the centre as the five-runner field remarkably split into two groups, the William Buick-partnered even-money favourite veered across the track late on to join the stand's-side pair Expanded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and Ancient Truth (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Getting on top inside the last 50 yards, he mastered Ballydoyle's unexposed colt by a neck, with the fellow Charlie Appleby-trained G2 Superlative Stakes winner Ancient Truth the same margin away in third.
In recent times, since Diesis (GB) completed this tricky double in 1982 those to have tried it include the impressive Middle Park winners Lujain in 1998 and Dream Ahead in 2010 before the race was put on the same day as the Dewhurst for a few years. In 2017 U S Navy Flag pulled it off with the races again split apart by a fortnight, but it remains one of the more difficult feats given the complexity of excelling over six and seven furlongs at such a tender age.
“He's some horse to do what he has done the last few weeks and full credit to the team,” Appleby said. “You have to have total confidence in the team around you to try this and they gave me all the right signals. William felt he was picking up all the time up the hill and once he got company he found again, so he is a horse we will train towards the Guineas and if he doesn't stay he can drop back for a Commonwealth Cup–he's bang in the Guineas picture having done what he's done and hopefully in the spring on a sounder surface he'll be able to travel into it better.”
“You can mark up Ancient Truth too, as he ran a bit fresh and paid for it in the last 100 yards,” he added. “I actually thought he was going to be the one who was going to hit the rising ground and see it out the best, because at that stage William was under the pump a little bit but he ran very creditably and will do very well from two to three.”
Buick said of the winner, “He's a good Middle Park and Dewhurst winner now and he's obviously an exceptional horse. The race didn't really play to him at all–with a five-runner field, you just think we will race up the middle and everyone will have their chance. I needed cover and he was a six-furlong winner stepping up to seven in soft ground, so I had to conserve where I could. I knew if I showed him daylight too early, he would probably burn out so I had to follow Oisin. Luckily, I've managed to make touch with Ryan and James and once I did my fellow got really competitive.”
“He hit the rising ground and was well on top in the end,” he added. “He is really tough and responded to everything I asked him–what really pleased me the most is, for such a quick Middle Park winner, how he showed that stamina over seven furlongs on this soft ground here. I can't remember many horses I have ridden, especially 2-year-olds, who would be able to do that. He was running on his own doing fine but once he got a sniff of the opposition, he found another gear.”
As far as the runner-up is concerned, this was a case of being pitched into the spotlight much sooner than would have been expected but Expanded is obviously one of Ballydoyle's brighter prospects among their juvenile colts. There is precedent for the bold move of throwing such a raw 2-year-old into the deep end, with Tendulkar (Spinning World) beaten a short head and a head by Rock Of Gibraltar (Ire) and Landseer (GB) in the 2001 renewal also on his second run and first since May.
Aidan O'Brien was taken aback at how The Lion In Winter's able deputy ran just seven days after his Curragh debut and said, “Ryan felt he would have won had he not been taken on [by Ancient Truth], as he was too much of a baby for that. It's incredible to do what he's done, we asked the impossible there and he is definitely a Guineas horse.”
He added of The Lion In Winter, “It's a foot infection and they can take a while and can come very quick overnight–it's just an abscess that could release and be gone in a couple of days, but could take 10 days. I don't think we will be pushed to run again and he has had his two runs, which is great. He's learned plenty now and I think talking to the lads, we won't be rushing to run again. You race them at two to teach them for next year and I suppose we saw plenty from him the last day. It would be tough ground here too and that might not have been ideal to bottom him in that either.”
JUST IN TIME
gets up late to land the Group 1 @DarleyStallions Dewhurst Stakes and become just the fifth horse ever to complete the Middle Park/Dewhurst double.
Sprinter or miler?@godolphin | @WilliamBuickX pic.twitter.com/09p6UE6N9s
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 12, 2024
Pedigree Notes
Shadow Of Light, who had already emulating the Middle Park success of his G1 Prix Morny-winning half-brother Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal), is out of Winters Moon (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}) who was third in this meeting's G1 Fillies' Mile. She is a half-sister to the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud hero Mandaean (GB) (Manduro {Ger}) and the G1 Prix Saint-Alary heroine Wavering (Ire) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}).
Wavering was responsible for the triple listed scorer and G1 Prix Rothschild runner-up Life In Motion (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Street Cry's group-placed duo Switching and Flowrider, while the second dam Summertime Legacy (GB) (Darshaan {GB}) was successful in the G3 Prix des Reservoirs and was third in the Saint-Alary. Winters Moon's yearling colt is by Too Darn Hot (GB), while her foal is a full-brother to the winner.
Saturday, Newmarket, Britain
DARLEY DEWHURST STAKES-G1, £528,750, Newmarket, 10-12, 2yo, 7fT, 1:26.70, sf.
1–SHADOW OF LIGHT (GB), 129, c, 2, by Lope De Vega (Ire)
1st Dam: Winters Moon (Ire) (G1SP-Eng), by New Approach (Ire)
2nd Dam: Summertime Legacy (GB), by Darshaan (GB)
3rd Dam: Zawaahy, by El Gran Senor
O/B-Godolphin (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-William Buick. £299,854. Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, $678,056. *1/2 to Earthlight (Ire) (Shamardal), G1SW-Eng, G1SW-Fr, $634,415. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Expanded (Ire), 129, c, 2, Wootton Bassett (GB)–Jigsaw (Ire), by Galileo (Ire).
1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O-Coolmore, Westerberg & Mrs A M O'Brien; B-Whisperview Trading Ltd (IRE); T-Aidan O'Brien. £113,681.
3–Ancient Truth (Ire), 129, c, 2, Dubawi (Ire)–Beyond Reason (Ire), by Australia (GB).
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. TDN Rising Star. O/B-Godolphin (IRE); T-Charlie Appleby. £56,893.
Margins: NK, NK, 3HF. Odds: Evens, 12.00, 1.63.
Also Ran: Seagulls Eleven (Ire), Rock Of Cashel (Ire). Scratched: The Lion In Winter (Ire).
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