NOBODY has won the Darley Dewhurst Stakes more times than Aidan O’Brien, but even he will be bidding to achieve something nobody has managed in modern history, when Darkness Falls contests this afternoon’s Group 1 feature at Newmarket.

Having captured the prize on a joint-record eight occasions with Rock of Gibraltar (2001), Beethoven (2009), War Command (2013), Air Force Blue (2015), Churchill (2016), U S Navy Flag (2017), St Mark’s Basilica (2020) and City Of Troy (2023), his prime candidate for the 2026 renewal arrives with quite a different profile.

Two of O’Brien’s previous winners had debuted over five furlongs in April or May of their two-year-old career, four started off over six furlongs and the other two began over seven furlongs in the summer (one of those dropped back to six furlongs on his next start to win the Coventry Stakes).

Darkness Falls does not fit that orthodox profile. He debuted over further - a mile at Leopardstown in July - showing some signs of greenness in third behind Green Dreamer. He then posted a most impressive maiden win at the Curragh over the exact same distance.

By all accounts. it was quite the showing to put seven lengths between himself and subsequent Gowran maiden winner Albany County.

The Coolmore partners’ exciting juvenile went up in distance for his latest start, putting on a show over nine furlongs in the newly-upgraded Group 1 Golden Fleece Stakes at Leopardstown. He finished out considerably stronger than anything else in the line-up through the final three furlongs. The only one to get close to him in that regard was runner-up Jesus Green, who did the form no harm when winning a maiden at Navan this week.

So we have a powerful finisher over nine furlongs whose previous two runs came over a mile. Just how will he fare now taking the unusual step down in trip to seven furlongs for his clash with unbeaten Godolphin star prospect Desert Castle? That feels like the key question.

Unorthodox profile

None of O’Brien’s other winners of the race were stepping down in trip to seven for the first time when winning the traditional two-year-old champion-defining contest. In fact, no horse in modern times - since at least the 1960s - has done that on route to winning the Dewhurst. All the others had run over five, six or seven furlongs before facing into the Dewhurst.

What makes Darkness Falls particularly interesting is the mix of speed and stamina he seems to possess.

In one of his must-read weekly time analysis columns in The Irish Fieldlast month, Angus McNae detailed how O’Brien’s highly-regarded youngster quickened purposefully off a slow pace in his Curragh maiden win.

“The sharp turn of foot that he demonstrated in the seventh furlong saw him hit 40mph, which was the top speed in the race,” McNae wrote. “In so doing, his 11.14s seventh furlong was the fastest in the race.”

That offers encouragement that he could be effective now dropping back to seven furlongs for the first time this weekend. However, his RaceiQ data tells us he was only the sixth fastest of nine runners in the Golden Fleece, according to their top speeds recorded.

Another mixed message is in his pedigree. He is by an influence for middle-distance stamina in Camelot but is out of a No Nay Never mare, whose sole win came over five furlongs.

Darkness Falls has a huge engine and, if he can show it here in a seven-furlong Group 1, perhaps it might ignite another Triple Crown dream for connections, who have made no secret of their ambition to one day do the treble. A serious test lies in store at Newmarket first.

O’Brien is coming for his father’s record

IT’S almost five months to the day that this column flagged up a lightning-fast start to the flat season for Joseph O’Brien, and how it was preparing him to have a real crack at registering his highest-ever tally of winners.

What a season it has turned out to be for the 33-year-old.

Twelve months ago, O’Brien visited the winner’s enclosure 100 times in the Irish flat season, only marginally behind his career-best haul of 108 from 2021. Come the Sunday of the Irish Champions Festival (September 13th), he smashed that benchmark to set a new personal best for winners in a single campaign.

Could he ever go one step further and set a new outright record for most winners trained in an Irish flat season?

Heading into last night’s action at Dundalk, O’Brien was on 127 winners for the designated period - a whole 50 more than his nearest numerical pursuer, Aidan O’Brien (77), and more than three times as many as the next in the standings, Johnny Murtagh (42).

The national record stands at 152, set by Aidan O’Brien in 2018.

There’s a high chance it might prove a bridge too far to rattle off 25 more winners in a limited flat schedule at this time of year. From this point of the calendar to the end of the season in 2025, O’Brien pulled 10 more winners out of the bag.

However, he’s got better ammunition than ever before and it feels like it will only be a matter of a short number of seasons before the multiple classic-winning trainer topples his father’s record tally. The 2026 campaign has been one of real growth for a trainer already operating from the highest echelon.

AS a rule of thumb, punters should tread carefully when it comes to getting carried away in early-season hype. However, it would be unwise to sleep on a high-class performance from an up-and-coming mare at Gowran Park last weekend.

Witches Familiar made it three hurdling wins from three starts for Willie Mullins in Grade 3 novice hurdle company, following up a ready Galway Festival success on her previous outing, and she must now rate a most exciting prospect for the months ahead.

Dishing out a 10-length beating to the useful Switch From Diesel hinted at the potential for her to be a thorn in the side of the better winter mares in this division. She’s still only a four-year-old and could easily have more to come. Connections suggested the Royal Bond Novice Hurdle (now a Grade 2) could be next on November 29th at Fairyhouse. She’s one to take very seriously, even if it is early-season form.