A round up of all the action for the Darley stallions over the past week
Darley stallions dominate in Dubai
The Meydan carnival is now a month old and Darley stallions continue to dominate the turf Group races with a brace of G2 victories on Thursday, 1 February.
The first to salute the judge was the Dubawi four-year-old Benbatl, who was winning his second Group race of the season for Godolphin in the G2 Al Rashidiya. A progressive son of the multiple G1-winning mare Nahrain, his near four-length triumph sets him up perfectly as one of the leading candidates for the G1 Jebel Hatta on Super Saturday before the G1 Dubai Turf on Dubai World Cup night.
Later in the card in the G2 Al Fahidi Fort Stakes, Jungle Cat gained a well-deserved first triumph in Stakes company, in the process completing a Group double for Godolphin. The son of Iffraaj has been a model of consistency, placing in eight Group contests from the major festivals as a juvenile at Royal Ascot, Goodwood and York to the top all-aged G1 sprints at Meydan and Royal Ascot (where a close fourth in the G1 King’s Stand Stakes behind Profitable). He will be aimed at the G1 Al Quoz Sprint, a race where he has only been beaten less than two lengths in each of the past two seasons.
Stakes double for Exceed And Excel
Performer maintained his position as Australasia’s premier juvenile on Saturday, 3 February when remaining unbeaten in the G3 Canonbury Stakes. Rated 115 by Timeform, the son of Exceed And Excel leads all other juveniles by upwards of 2lbs and looks a leading candidate to become his sires’ second winner of the world’s richest two-year-old contest, the G1 Golden Slipper.
Over the Tasman Sea, Excelleration became the second leg of a Stakes double for Exceed And Excel when landing the Listed Dunedin Guineas at Wingatui. Coming into the race on the back of a victory in the Listed Gore Guineas last month, she wasn’t extended to win by two lengths, recording a fourth career victory in eight starts.
Exceed And Excel, who will shortly be commencing this covering season at a fee of €50,000 Oct 1, Special Live Foal, has sired 143 individual Stakes winners including his four European stallion sons Outstrip, Buratino, Fulbright and Australian Champion two-year-old colt Sidestep.
Double Epaulette strike
Kildangan Stud’s Epaulette, who is standing at a fee of €7,000 Oct 1, SLF, sired a double on Saturday, 3 February through his first-crop sons Ojala and Best Of Me.
The Simon Dow-trained Ojala, who is improving at a rate of knots, was completing a hat-trick on his first start of 2018 when landing a well-contested handicap at Kempton Park from the multiple winners Motown Mick, Morning Has Broken and Windsor Cross. He has the size and scope to continue to progress and is rated a “nice horse” by his trainer.
Over in Italy, Best Of Me won his first start of the season, and second overall, when defeating eight rivals in a handicap over the minimum distance of five furlongs. He was one of 23 juvenile winners last season for the multiple G1-winner, rating his as Irelands leading living first-season sire.
Epaulette’s first Australian crop are only two and he has already sired two Group performing juveniles. Late in December Meryl won the G3 BJ McLachlan Stakes at Doomben and on Saturday he sired his second when his daughter River Bird was third in the G3 Widden Stakes at Rosehill. Only Exceed And Excel and Snitzel have sired more Group performing juveniles in Australia this season.
The continued rise of Dawn
Dawn Approach has been enjoying an excellent start to the season and on Friday he added his fifth winner of the year when Nomorecalls was victorious at Lingfield.
Bouncing out from the gates in front in the five furlong contest, he didn’t see another rival, eventually running out the easy winner by two-and-a-half lengths from previous scorer Reiffa (Epaulette). He has a lot more to come where the emphasis is placed on speed and he is reported to have an excellent attitude to both his home work and racing.
Dawn Approach, who is standing at a fee of €20,000, leads all second-crop stallions in 2018 with his progeny now recording seven victories.
Open success at Dalham Hall Stud
Dalham Hall Stud opened it’s doors with tremendous success last Thursday and Friday with all 14 stallions behaving impeccably for breeders and fans alike.
One of the stallions that really caught the eye was our G1-winning juvenile Charming Thought, who had a free nomination for 2018 up for grabs the best comments using the hashtag #thinkingCharmingThoughts. This popular competition is now closed with the winner being announced on Friday, 9 February.
