Shadow Of Light and Desert Flower delight Appleby in workouts

Shadow Of Light and Desert Flower delight Appleby in workouts

By Racing TV
Last Updated: Wed 16 Apr 2025
is firmly on course for the Betfred 2000 Guineas, with trainer Charlie Appleby feeling confident he can make the step up to a mile.
Winner of four of his five juvenile starts, Shadow Of Light completed a quickfire Group One double in the autumn, winning the six-furlong Middle Park Stakes at before returning to the track just two weeks later to land the seven-furlong Dewhurst.
The Lope De Vega colt will head to the May 3 Classic as a 7-1 chance with the big-race sponsor and continued his “faultless” preparation with a racecourse gallop on Wednesday.
Appleby said: “I’m pleased with that work, he’s done very well physically and looks great. It’s all systems go towards the Guineas.
“His preparation has gone faultlessly. It was always the plan to come here, he was never in line to come for a trial.
“We’re stepping up to the mile and that’s the question mark of course, but you couldn’t be worried about that from what we saw in the Dewhurst. It was very testing ground and you have to bear in mind he’d won the Middle Park two weeks earlier.
“There is a question mark going up to the mile, but we have a lot of confidence from what we saw on Dewhurst day and what we’re seeing as a physical that he’ll see the mile out.
“If he does stay great, it will open up options for the summer, and if he doesn’t he’ll be dropping back for a Commonwealth Cup, it’s quite simple in that respect.”
Appleby has won two of the last three renewals of the 2000 Guineas, with Coroebus triumphing in 2022 and Notable Speech landing the race 12 months ago and the Godolphin trainer feels Shadow Of Light is a different prospect to either of those two contenders.
Watch how Shadow Of Light won the Dewhurst
He said: “Notable Speech came in as an all-weather horse who turned all the corners from the new year onwards and Coroebus was an Autumn Stakes winner who just needed more time physically.
“This horse is a half-brother to a champion two-year-old (Earthlight) and ended up being champion two-year-old himself, so he is pacier and naturally a more athletic horse. In the mornings everything is that bit more simple for him, whereas Notable Speech and Coroebus were slower burners.
“On the flip side, those two had done it at a decent level at a mile, whereas this fella hasn’t and until you’ve been there and done it, no matter how clever we all think we are, you’re not really going to know.”
Appleby has multiple 2000 Guineas options, including impressive Meydan Listed scorer Ruling Court who also worked at .
The Justify colt is already proven at a mile and while he is viewed as a potential Derby horse, an outing in the first Classic of the year is not out of the question.
Appleby said: “We planned originally to go to Sandown (for the Classic Trial on April 25) with him and after the work this morning we’ll decipher our plan on what we’re going to do.
“He’s in the Guineas mix for sure, as well as Sandown, and the Guineas is one of the best Derby trials anyway – we’ve seen the Derby winner come from it many a time.
“The Guineas might be a race we look towards as a trial for the Derby. I was very pleased with what I saw out there this morning from him and obviously he’s come here today off the back of a run in Meydan, which visually was very impressive and he’s come out of it very well.
“We would look at him as a Derby horse, but from we feel he could be competitive in a Guineas as well. He’s the sort of horse where if he finished third or fourth in a Guineas, you’d be delighted and thinking he’s ready to step up (in trip).
“He could go to Sandown and without sounding too bullish he’d probably take a lot of beating, but you wouldn’t learn as much as you would out there in a Guineas.”

Desert Flower delights in her spin

Appleby declared himself impressed after seeing his Betfred 1000 Guineas favourite Desert Flower put through her paces in a racecourse gallop at Newmarket on Wednesday morning.
The Night Of Thunder filly is the 11-8 favourite with the sponsor for Classic glory on May 4 after winning each of her four juvenile runs, culminating in Group One glory in the Fillies’ Mile last October.
Back on the Rowley Mile for her morning work, Desert Flower came home clear of her galloping companion, with Appleby enthusiastic about her Guineas chance.
He said: “She’s done great, she’s had a great winter and a few people have asked me whether she’s been in Dubai as she has a great skin on her.
“Physically she’s done very well, she’s a very powerful filly and you couldn’t not be impressed by her this morning.
“Those good horses can go on any ground, she’s shown that versatility and hopefully we get a clear run.
“She’s a funny filly in that if you were betting on her in running, from the three to the two furlong pole you’d be getting a little bit twitchy because she’s a big filly and takes a little bit of organising, but once she organises herself and finds that stride and that rhythm she sees it out.
“Before the Fillies’ Mile I thought she might just lose herself in the dip and she did, but once she hits the rising ground she’s away. She did it that day and I feel she’s done it again today.
“When you’ve got those unbeaten fillies they’re always exciting and she’s a Group One-winning filly.”
Desert Flower was joined in the racecourse action by Appleby’s 2000 Guineas entries Shadow Of Light and Ruling Court, along with the four-year-old Notable Speech.
The Dubawi colt won five of his seven starts last year, making the leap to Group One glory in the Guineas before adding further top-level success in the Sussex Stakes.
He disappointed on soft ground in the Prix du Moulin but finished his year with a fine third back on quicker conditions in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, with Appleby looking towards the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury, although the going would have to be suitable if he is to reappear next month.
The Godolphin trainer said: “I’m delighted with him, he looks great and I’m very pleased.
“I wasn’t going to bring him up here, but I just thought that ground was here and it was an opportunity for him to have an enjoyable day out.
“We’re looking towards the Lockinge with him, but he is ground dependent. We went to Longchamp pretty confident he wasn’t going to handle it, but until you’ve ran on it you don’t know and if they don’t turn up on that ground, you can at least put a line through it going forward.
“We were hopeful we were going to keep in training as a four-year-old and we know now not to waste a run by running him on slow ground.
“The race we’re working back from is the Queen Anne, all being well. I think he learnt plenty in America and that’s the sort of race I’ll hopefully be trying to work back from again – a swansong round Del Mar, he’ll enjoy that.”
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