Newmarket Saturday

Darley Dewhurst Stakes (Group 1)

NEWMARKET’S Future Champions Weekend certainly served up its share of intrigue, and provided Aidan O’Brien in particular with a heady mix of emotions.

After Friday’s embarrassment in the Fillies’ Mile, O’Brien must have been relieved and delighted to have saddled the first and second in the weekend’s – and indeed the season’s – most important race for juveniles.

In what became a remarkable O’Brien trifecta, father proved the son’s master with St Mark’s Basilica (Frankie Dettori) edging Wembley (Ryan Moore) ahead of race favourite Thunder Moon (Joseph O’Brien/Declan McDonogh).

The winner attracted late support, and was sent off at 10/1, winning by three-quarters of a length with Wembley a length and three quarters ahead of the third, who faded in the final 100 yards having thrown down a challenge to the winner a furlong out.

Unpick

There’s a lot to unpick in this race, with the first thing being that the winner was coming here only as a result of the contaminated feed debacle which saw him withdrawn from the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere on ‘Arc’ day.

He had previously finished third behind Thunder Moon in the National Stakes at the Curragh, just behind Wembley, and while reasons had been put forward to explain why the first two that day would beat him more comprehensively in a rematch, he proved the theory wrong, albeit underlining the strength of the Curragh contest.

Outsider Devilwala, drawn near the stands rail, made the running, pressed by Devious Company and Fivethousatoone, but St Mark’s Basilica and Thunder Moon took over with a furlong and a half left, and the former proved the stronger inside the last. Wembley, as he had in the National Stakes, came from further back than the pair he split, and it’s not hard to be positive about the trio.

The winner still looked green when asked to make a big run down the outer at the Curragh, ducking in initially before keeping on well, and any hint that his display there was down to temperament was scotched by this professional display.

He knuckled down well when asked, and kept pulling out more under pressure. As a Siyouni half-brother to Magna Grecia, he looks sure to make into a Guineas horse.

Wembley looks a miler already on the way he shaped here, and it would be no surprise to see him head to the Vertem Futurity at Doncaster next weekend.

The straight mile there looks sure to suit him, especially as O’Brien has intimated that Battleground – also engaged at Doncaster – is likely to be his representative in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf.

Strong traveller

Of the trio who dominated, National Stakes winner Thunder Moon had shown the best acceleration when getting himself out of a pocket at the Curragh.

He was again a notably strong traveller here, getting into a challenging position with some ease, but simply not looking such a strong stayer as the pair who beat him.

He might be best delivered late, to utilise his turn of foot more effectively, and in finishing ahead of the winners of the Solario, Champagne and Champions Juvenile (sic) Stakes, he arguably enhanced his own reputation, and is very much in the picture for the Guineas at either Newmarket or the Curragh.