Plenty to look forward to as potential stars shine

The Flat season may be drawing to a close but the autumn is a great time for catching early glimpses of talented young individuals who may well go on to become next year’s stars.

The Darley sires were represented by a raft of well-credentialed juvenile maiden winners on Wednesday, not just in the UK and Ireland but also in France and Italy.

Shirocco two-year-old Neckara got the ball rolling in Deauville when recording an impressive five-length win in the nine-furlong maiden. Trained in Germany by Andreas Wohler, the filly is a daughter of the Silver Hawk mare Narooma and was bred by Gestüt Park Wiedingen.

In Italy, Personal Approach became New Approach’s tenth individual winner with a length and three-quarters victory at Milan at San Siro. The Stefano Botti-trained colt was making his first racecourse appearance.

Teofilo colt Loch Garman, who holds an entry for next season’s Irish 2,000 Guineas, was another to impress on debut over a mile at Navan, winning by two and a quarter lengths.

His trainer and breeder Jim Bolger said after the race: “Loch Garman is a late maturing horse and Kevin (Manning, winning jockey) liked the way he did it. He quickened away out of the dip and while he got through that ground, he'd appreciate it better. He's a nice one to look forward to over the winter and is a nice big horse who should make a nice three-year-old.”

At Newmarket, both divisions of the one-mile British Stallions Studs EBF TBA Maiden fells to sons of Darley sires. Mujazif, a Wardstown Stud-bred son of Shamardal, took the first of these by three lengths in testing ground, while Medaglia d'Oro’s Crop Report landed the later division by five lengths. Both these victories were set in a quicker time that that posted by the 90-rated Hoarding (Elusive Quality) who won a good-class conditions race over the same distance earlier on the card.

Also among the impressive debutant winners of the day was the well-related Secret Number, a first-crop son of Raven's Pass. The half-brother to the Group One winners Dubai Destination and Librettist has plenty to live up to but made an eye-catching start to his racing career when who won on his debut despite missing the start by some five lengths. He clawed back the ground to battle his way home for a good win which saw the Darley-bred colt described in the Racing Post analysis as “a potential Group horse’.

His race was another to have been divided and the second division went the way of Greatwood, a son of Manduro who is well regarded by his trainer Luca Cumani. Bred by the Kingwood Patrnership from the Galileo mare Gaze, Greatwood had been placed on his two previous starts.