The 2024 edition of the Future Champions Meeting provided plenty of talking points: from the controversial victory and likely disqualification of Alphonse Le Grande in the Cambridgeshire to a series of brilliant displays in the Group class contests.
Nine pattern class events took place over the two days, with Messrs Ralph Beckett, Aidan O’Brien, and Charlie Appleby claiming two apiece. They were solid results for the trio, but it was Appleby and the Boys in Blue of Godolphin who grabbed the two headline acts, courtesy of sizzling displays in the Group 1 juvenile events.
bet365 Fillies’ Mile – Desert Flower
By 2,000 Guineas winner Night Of Thunder and out of the Group 2 winning mare Promising Run, Desert Flower is bred to be smart. Four runs into her career, all the signs are there that Godolphin may have a superstar filly on their hands.
Arriving at Newmarket with wins in Maiden, Novice, and Group 2 company, the mount of William Buick was sent off as the 10/11f in a field containing a trio of regally bred sorts from the Aidan O’Brien operation – headed by January, who had finished a length and a half adrift of Desert Flower in the Group 2 May Hill Stakes – and promising sorts from the yards of Ralph Beckett, Sir Michael Stoute, and Adrian Murray. Not a straightforward task on paper, with Desert Flower racing on the softest ground she has experienced to date, but in the end, she made this look easy, joining battle with January a furlong from home before powering right away for a rout by more than five lengths.
That will be it for the current season for Desert Flower, but given the quality of this display, she will add a strong string to the Godolphin Classic bow in 2025, with the 1,000 Guineas over this course and distance the obvious target.
A little surprisingly, the Fillies’ Mile winners have a relatively poor recent record of following up in the opening Classic – Minding being the only filly to do the Fillies’ Mile double since 2000. That said, not many won this Group 1 as impressively as Desert Flower, who posted the largest winning distance since the race was transferred from Ascot to Newmarket in 2011.
The layers were suitably impressed – as big as 10/1 for the 1,000 Guineas before the race, Desert Flower is around 3/1 now, and favourite ahead of fellow unbeaten filly Lake Victoria with some firms.
Darley Dewhurst Stakes – Shadow Of Light
By one of the leading European sires Lope De Vega, and a half-brother to the Group 1 winning sprinter Earthlight, Shadow Of Light is another appealingly bred performer to have carried the famous silks with distinction in 2024.
Unlike, Desert Flower, Shadow Of Light wasn’t perfect ahead of his Future Champions assignment, but he wasn’t far off it. Four previous outings yielded three wins, with his only defeat coming when second by three-quarters of a length to Cool Hoof Luke in the Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes. However, he had bounced back from that loss in some style to slam the Group 1 winning Whistlejacket in the Middle Park Stakes over six furlongs. That effort was the single best piece of form on offer among the Dewhurst Stakes contenders, but Desert Flower had a question regarding the trip as he stepped up to seven furlongs for the first time.
The late withdrawal of The Lion Winter made his task easier on paper, but the new Even Money favourite still had unbeaten stablemate Ancient Truth and a pair of attractively bred sorts from the Aidan O’Brien operation to worry about.
Update from @Ballydoyle on today’s runners @NewmarketRace:
The Lion In Winter will not take his place in the Gr.1 Dewhurst Stakes due to a stone bruise in his foot. Ryan Moore will now ride Expanded.#Coolmore #Ballydoyle pic.twitter.com/AnhOi52KOQ
— Coolmore (@coolmorestud) October 12, 2024
Two furlongs from home, he looked up against it. Racing together up the near rail, Ancient Truth and Expanded were clear of a far-side group headed by Shadow Of Light and looked likely to fight out the finish. And then Shadow Of Light took off, doing remarkably well to make up the ground, despite drifting right across the track, and getting up to score by a neck.
William Buick was suitably impressed with the effort of his mount, stating in the aftermath, “I can’t remember many two-year-olds I’ve ridden that would be able to do that.” That’s high praise indeed, considering the talent Buick has partnered with over the years.
Having proven his stamina for seven furlongs, it appears that Shadow Of Light will be given the chance to tackle the mile at this track in 2,000 Guineas. Five Dewhurst winners have gone on to land the 2,000 Guineas in the current century, and Shadow Of Light is a general 6/1 chance to add his name to the list.
