Shadow Of Light puts Whistlejacket in the shade with comprehensive Middle Park victory

Charlie Appleby gave Godolphin their third Group 1 in a week when Shadow Of Light put his rivals in the shade in the Middle Park Stakes, a race that provided the trainer with his breakthrough success at the highest level in Britain ten years ago with Charming Thought.

All the chat beforehand was about Whistlejacket, who started at 4-5 to give Aidan O'Brien a remarkable eighth win in the Juddmonte-sponsored contest. However, he had no answer to the finishing kick of Shadow Of Light, who had the race won when William Buick fired him into the Dip before going clear to win by four lengths from the favourite. 

The winner has the Middle Park in his genes, being three-parts brother to Earthlight, who won the six-furlong contest in the all-blue in 2019 and is a now a first-season sire for the operation at Kildangan Stud in Ireland.

Shadow Of Light is now as short as 10-1 for the 2,000 Guineas, but the Commonwealth Cup would seem a more likely target for 2025 and he was given an opening quote of 6-1 by Coral for the Royal Ascot Group 1 sprint.

William Buick greets groom Kaloo Ram after winning the Middle ParkCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Shadow Of Light's success came six days after Rebel's Romance won the Group 1 Preis von Europa for Appleby, while Godolphin also struck at the highest level in Australia on Saturday when Broadsiding won the Golden Rose at Rosehill.  

Appleby said of Shadow Of Light: "He's got a pedigree for a race like this and we were very happy going into the race. It's a big step up from a maiden and then a novice going into a Group 2 like the Gimcrack last time. He gained a lot of education from that race and we came here with confidence we had more the finished article.

"We were confident he would handle the ground. We took him out of Newbury last week because of the ground but that was a different scenario as it was heavy. This ground was drying all the time and Earthlight handled soft ground so his pedigree suggested he would handle it."

The son of Lope De Vega was having just his fourth outing and Appleby said of the future: "We'll stick to what it looks like he's good at, which is sprinting."

Shadow Of Light in splendid isolation after his Middle Park victoryCredit: Alan Crowhurst (Getty Images)

Buick said: "It was a comprehensive win in the end – he was impressive. He's been showing us at home that he had improved and he's been taking his racing really well. The unknown was the ground obviously, but it was the same for all the others and I'm delighted with him as he's a very talented horse."

Godolphin managing director Hugh Anderson said: "Charlie has always said he had some nice two-year-olds to come such as Ancient Truth in the Dewhurst, Desert Flower in the Fillies' Mile as well as the juveniles in America. Hopefully we should be in a good position to have a strong end to the season."

Whistlejacket was well beaten by the winner but fended off 40-1 outsider Dash Dizzy to claim second, after which O'Brien said: "He has run a decent race but Ryan said he thought he could have done with a stronger pace. He was a bit slow out of the gates and took a lead whereas he likes things his own way."

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