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.