The 2011 Royal meeting at Ascot provided Darley stallions with the perfect opportunity to showcase their talents.
Heading the list was Cape Cross (pictured) with three individual winners, a total no other stallion could better. The first winner of the week came on Wednesday when his son Julienas landed the ultra-competitive Royal Hunt Cup. Then on Friday, a double in consecutive races took his tally to three. First to trouble the judge was Namibian, a game winner of the G3 Queen's Vase, then followed thirty-five minutes later by Manassas, who beat twenty-four rivals in the Buckingham Palace Stakes.
Exceed And Excel, who stands at Dalham Hall Stud, again impressed with his juveniles. His highlight of the week was Best Terms, who remained unbeaten when taking the G2 Queen Mary Stakes. This took his tally of juvenile stakes horses at the meeting to seven since his first-crop raced in 2008, which is more than double what any stallion can muster. One must not also forget that his 2011 classic winner Excelebration ran a cracker when third to Frankel in the G1 St James's Palace Stakes on Tuesday.
Brown Panther provided an excellent winner for Shirocco. A three-year-old colt on a steep upward curve, he turned the King George V Handicap into a procession, winning by an eased down close home six-lengths. He is now likely to be trained for the last classic of the season, the St Leger for which he is a general second-favourite.
Another Darley stallion to hit the board on Saturday was Dubawi, when his four-year-old son Fox Hunt took the Duke Of Edinburgh Stakes. A progressive colt, this was his third win of the season off his highest ever mark and Stakes races now beckon.
