By Sean Cronin
Godolphin's Silver Knott (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}–God Given {GB}, by Nathaniel {Ire}), who ran fourth to subesequent G3 Acomb S. victor Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in his July 15 debut at Newbury, graduated by two lengths in an Aug. 3 Kempton novices' heat last time and laid down a marker for next year's Classics with an impressive tally in Saturday's G3 Fasig-Tipton Night Of The Stars Solario S. at Sandown. Held up in touch at the tail of the six-runner field for the most part, the 9-4 second favourite made eyecatching headway on the bridle in the straight and lengthened clear once shaken up for control approaching the furlong marker to easily outclass Wahaaj (Ire) (Gregorian {Ire) by 3 1/4 lengths.
“It's nice to have these winners at this time of year and it's nice to unearth these type of horses,” said Charlie Appleby. “A few of them are starting to put their heads above the parapet now and announce themselves. Over the next month to six weeks it is an exciting time, but I'm sure there are plenty more out there from other stables who will emerge. We have a few more to run in the next couple of weeks. We won the Gimcrack with Noble Style and had Victory Dance win at Newbury, so we will try not to butt heads too much and look for the right ones to step up in trip. This might be one of those horses, he's got a pedigree to die for and one that suggests as he goes up in trip we'll see further improvement. The more you can get to dream about in the winter it shortens it and then we see what reality brings in the spring.”
Silver Knott, half to a yearling colt by Dubawi (Ire), becomes the 58th pattern-race scorer for his sire (by Shamardal) and is the first of two foals produced by multiple Group winner God Given (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), whose career high came in the G1 Premio Lydia Tesio. The March-foaled bay's second dam Ever Rigg (GB) (Dubai Destination), who also threw multipe Group 1-winning sire Postponed (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), is a daughter of G1 Moyglare Stud S. heroine Bianca Nera (GB) (Salse). The latter is also the granddam of GIII Beverly Hills H.-winning GI Yellow Ribbon Invitational second Turning Top (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) and G3 Winter Derby victor Robin Hoods Bay (GB) (Motivator {GB}). Silver Knott's Group-winning fourth dam Birch Creek (GB) (Carwhite {Ire}) produced G1 Moyglare Stud S. runner-up Hotelgenie Dot Com (GB) (Selkirk), herself the dam of G1 Fillies' Mile and G1 Falmouth S. winner Simply Perfect (GB) (Danehill).
Saturday, Sandown, Britain
FASIG-TIPTON NIGHT OF THE STARS SOLARIO S.-G3, £60,000, Sandown, 8-20, 2yo, 7fT, 1:29.56, gd.
1–SILVER KNOTT (GB), 129, c, 2, by Lope de Vega (Ire)
1st Dam: God Given (GB) (G1SW-Ity, MGSW-Eng & GSW-Fr, $492,122), by Nathaniel (Ire)
2nd Dam: Ever Rigg (GB), by Dubai Destination
3rd Dam: Bianca Nera (GB), by Salse
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN; 1ST GROUP WIN. (725,000gns Ylg '21 TATOCT). O-Godolphin; B-St Albans Bloodstock LLP (GB); T-Charlie Appleby; J-Pat Dobbs. £34,026. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-0, $47,501. Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Wahaaj (Ire), 129, c, 2, Gregorian (Ire)–La Belle Maison (Ire), by Titus Livius (Fr). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. (€20,000 Ylg '21 GOFOR). O-Mohamed Saeed Al Shahi; B-Newlands House Stud (IRE); T-Patrick Owens. £12,900.
3–Desert Hero (GB), 129, c, 2, Sea The Stars (Ire)–Desert Breeze (GB), by Dubawi (Ire). 1ST BLACK TYPE; 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O/B-The Queen (GB); T-William Haggas. £6,456.
Margins: 3 1/4, 2, 3 1/4. Odds: 2.25, 5.00, 2.13.
Also Ran: Defence Of Fort (Ire), Lady Bullet (Ire), Dornoch Castle (Ire). Scratched: The Foxes (Ire). Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
