The first weekend in June was very productive for the European Darley stallions with seven Group or Stakes victories. It was topped off on Sunday with Belardo siring an impressive first winner at Haydock Park.
A lot of focus on Saturday’s 2,000 Guineas was on Shamardal’s Champion two-year-old Pinatubo and although he failed to win, he ran with great credit to finish third. Coming out of the race very well, he will aim to return to the winner's enclosure in the G1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Earlier on the Newmarket card, Farhh’s four-year-old son Far Above showed himself to be one of the fastest horses in training when winning the G3 Palace House Stakes over five furlongs. His long-term targets will be the G1 Nunthorpe Stakes, the G1 Flying Five and the G1 Prix de l’Abbaye, all over the minimum trip.
The Darley stallions sired the winners of two Group contests on Saturday at Lyon-Parilly. The G2 Prix Greffulhe is a recognised French Derby trial and Outstrip’s first-crop son Gold Trip won well to defeat Influx, a son of Golden Horn. This was Outstrip’s second Group winner of 2020, a figure unbeaten by any other European second-crop sire.
Later in the card Dubawi’s progressive daughter Ambition won her second Group race in the G2 Prix Corrida. A daughter of New Approach’s Oaks winner Talent, she looks destined for a further rise in class after another impressive victory.
Exceed And Excel has been enjoying an excellent 2020 and on Friday sired his world-leading 500th juvenile winner. On Saturday, he sired his 11th Stakes winner of the year when his three-year-old daughter Aquitaine won the Mick Dittman Plate at Eagle Farm. Later that day, his European-bred daughter Queen Supreme added more Black Type to her CV when running second in the G1 Horse Chestnut Stakes in South Africa.
Dubawi sired his second and third Stakes winner of the weekend at Haydock Park on Sunday. First to salute the judge was his son Lord North, who quickened well to win the G3 Brigadier Gerard Stakes. The progressive four-year-old landed the Cambridgeshire Handicap last season before signing off the year with a Listed win in the James Seymour Stakes.
A race later, Godolphin’s Space Blues won his second Stakes contest in the Listed Spring Trophy, beating Fast Company’s admirable son Safe Voyage. A four-year-old son of the G2-winning mare Miss Lucifer, Space Blues had won the Listed Surrey Stakes at Epsom last season before running a close second at Royal Ascot in the G3 Jersey Stakes. He finished the year with a second behind Too Darn Hot in the G1 Prix Jean Prat and a third in the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest.
Completing an excellent day at Haydock was Golden Melody, who became Belardo’s first winner with an excellent turn of pace to win the six-furlong maiden.
Also on Sunday in Italy, Teofilo’s four-year-old son Brasilian Man won his first Stakes race in the G3 Premio Ambrosiano. Bred by Diego di Romeo, the lightly raced Brasilian Man has been the model of consistency, winning or placing on seven of his eight career starts. Teofilo has now sired 90 individual Stakes winners.
Completing the superb weekend for Darley stallions was Sloane Garden at Golden Gate Fields. The four-year-old daughter of Iffraaj was winning her first Stakes race in the Listed Golden Poppy Stakes, run over a mile-and-a-sixteenth on fast turf. Bred by Jupiter Bloodstock and out of the Teofilo mare Sloane Square, she has now won three of her five starts since transferring to the US.
