Shadow Of Light picks up European Champion Two-Year-Old title

Shadow Of Light is set to go straight to the Qipco 2000 Guineas after being crowned the Champion Two-Year-Old of 2024, giving Godolphin and Charlie Appleby their third such success in the last six seasons.

Appleby’s Pinatubo topped the ratings in 2019 with a magnificent mark of 128 and Native Trail led the way for Moulton Paddocks in 2021 on 122.

A ranking of 120 was good enough for Shadow Of Light to edge out exceptional filly Lake Victoria by one point, having completed a rare Middle Park-Dewhurst Group One double.

The son of Lope De Vega won his opening two starts at Yarmouth and Newmarket before finishing second in the Gimcrack at York.

He stepped up to a different level when landing the Middle Park by four lengths and returned to Headquarters to shade Expanded by a neck in the Dewhurst, when trying seven furlongs for the first time.

Appleby said: “Bar last year with Notable Speech being a left-field type having not run at two, as a rule you are always hoping to be in the first three in the Dewhursts and Middle Parks and the like, otherwise you are scratching around for a serious Classic contender.

“Given what Shadow Of Light, Desert Flower and to a lesser extent Ruling Court achieved it gives you confidence going into the spring and their three-year-old careers.

“We’re definitely going to try to see if Shadow Of Light stays the mile and we’ll probably go straight into the Guineas, I don’t want to test him over the mile beforehand, firstly timing-wise and secondly I’d rather keep the dream alive going into the Guineas.

“The way the horse relaxes and his mannerisms, he gives himself a chance to see out a mile. There’s question marks on the back of some of his pedigree, but if you actually dig into it there’s enough there to say a mile should be within his compass.

“I’m very pleased physically with how he’s done, he’s lengthened and as a physical you’d have a job to knock, he’s done all the maturing you’d want to see. With a clear run into the Guineas you’d have a job to knock him in the paddock.”

Expanded finished joint-third in the table on 118 after quickly backing up a narrow Curragh maiden win with that close second to Shadow Of Light in the Dewhurst.

His trainer Aidan O’Brien said: “We thought the world of him in the spring and we kind of ran out of time and he ended up not starting until late, but we always thought he was very good.

“I suppose what we did wasn’t really fair to him, to bring him back after a maiden to go straight into the Dewhurst – and it was only a few days after, really.

“He’s an unusual horse in that he has speed and we always thought he would get a mile-plus, so we always had it in our head that he had every chance of getting the Derby trip.

“He’s out of a Galileo mare, he has a very easy, relaxed way of going. His profile always suggested that he’d have no problem getting a mile and a quarter and could get further, so he’s obviously a very exciting horse.

“From his draw (at Newmarket), Ryan (Moore) ended up having to do a lot of the donkey work on him and that didn’t suit a horse that had only run a week before, but he didn’t surrender and was still going at the line, we felt.

“So we thought it was a very good run and he’s wintered very well, you couldn’t be happier with him looking at him now; he’s very relaxed and physically he’s a great size and shape of a horse. He could be very exciting.”

Stablemate The Lion In Winter was forced to miss the Dewhurst due to suffering a bruised foot but still shared third spot on 118 after building on a Curragh maiden win by taking the Acomb Stakes at York in impressive fashion.

The son of Sea The Stars is ante-post favourite for the Qipco 2000 Guineas and the Betfred Derby, and O’Brien added: “He’s good.

“We won’t rush him. He could go to the Guineas but obviously he looks a Derby-type horse, so we’re not sure and if he doesn’t go to the Guineas, we’ll start in a (Derby) trial.

“He’s not over-big, he’s a nice type of size. He looked mature as a two-year-old, obviously he has a great mind. When he went to York, I suppose he dominated the race and the way he quickened and found plenty just made him look very exciting to everybody.

“He had two very kind of easy runs; he won his maiden and then he won very easily at York, I don’t think Ryan even hit him in York. He had two very good experiences and that will stand him in good stead from two to three.”

On 117 were Godolphin duo Ancient Truth and the filly Desert Flower, Jessica Harrington’s Futurity Trophy winner Hotazhell and the Joseph O’Brien-trained Scorthy Champ.

Graeme Smith, handicapping team leader at the British Horseracing Authority, said: “Shadow of Light became just the third horse in more than a century to win both the Middle Park and Dewhurst, with his runaway success in the first of those earning him the title of European Champion Two-Year-Old of 2024 with a rating of 120.

“What’s unusual about this year’s classification is the level of competition at the top. There are eight horses rated between 117 and 120, and that really whets the appetite for some enthralling competition in their classic season ahead.”