Dual Group 1 Winner Shadow Of Light Crowned European Champion Two-Year-Old

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Dual Group 1 winner and leading 2,000 Guineas hope Shadow Of Light (GB) (Lope De Vega {Ire}) has been crowned the European Champion Two-Year-Old of 2024 with a rating of 120. 

The Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes winner joins fellow Charlie Appleby-trained colts Pinatubo (Ire) and Native Trail (GB) on the Champion Two-Year-Old roll of honour. 

“I would imagine he'll go straight into a Guineas,” Appleby said at the European Two-Year-Old Classification Press Conference on Tuesday. “I don't really want to test him over the mile beforehand. Firstly, timing-wise and secondly, I'd rather keep our powder dry and the dream alive going into the Guineas.”

He added, “On the evidence of what we saw at the back-end of last season, the way this horse relaxes and his mannerisms, he gives himself the best chance to see out a mile. There'll always be question marks on the back of some of his pedigree, but if you actually dig into it there's enough substance there to say a mile should be within his compass.

“I'm very pleased with how he's done physically. He was a strong individual at two, short-coupled, but he's lengthened. As a physical, you'd have a job to knock him. He looks great in his coat and has done all the maturing you'd want to see from two to three at this stage. With a clear run into the Guineas, you'd have a job to knock him in the paddock, that's for sure.” 

Lake Victoria | Horsephotos

Aidan O'Brien's triple Group 1/Grade I winner Lake Victoria (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) ended the campaign rated just 1lb inferior to Shadow Of Light. Victory in the Moyglare, Cheveley Park and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf saw Lake Victoria create history by becoming the first filly to win three races at the highest level at two and she rightfully ended the campaign as the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly.

O'Brien said, “We won't be in a rush with her this year-we will take our time with her. Obviously what she did was very unusual. You couldn't really believe that a two-year-old filly could do that–to win three Group 1s over three different distances. She's quick and she got the mile well in America. You'd imagine she's going to be a miler-type and might get a mile-and-a-quarter. But who knows? She's by Frankel and out of Quiet Reflection (GB) (Showcasing {GB}), who was very quick. Very unusual what she did. We haven't seen that before.” 

He added, “She's big, she's powerful and obviously has a great mind–a great constitution. She was obviously going through her races very easily and doing her work very easily. She travels very well in her races and, when she quickens, she puts her race to bed. A lot of class. That's what she has and it makes her very different.”

O'Brien also trained the joint-third horses [rated 118]  in the Classification, Expanded (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and The Lion In Winter (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), with the latter winning both his starts before suffering a bruised foot ahead of the Dewhurst-a race he was favourite for-which brought a premature end to his season.

The leading juvenile filly in Britain was Godolphin's Desert Flower (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who achieved a rating of 117 following an unbeaten two-year-old campaign that ended with a five-and-a-half-length success in the Group 1 Fillies' Mile.

On Expanded and The Lion In Winter, O'Brien commented, “We thought the world of Expanded in the spring but ran out of time so he didn't start until late. We always thought he was very good. What we did to him wasn't very fair, to bring him back a week after winning a maiden to go straight into a Dewhurst. He's an unusual horse in that he has speed and we always thought he'd get a mile-plus. We always thought he'd get a Derby trip–he's out of a Galileo mare and has a very easy and relaxed way of going. He's a very exciting horse.”

He added, “The Lion In Winter could go to the Guineas but obviously he looks a Derby-type horse. If he doesn't go to the Guineas he'll start in a [Derby] trial. He's not over-big, is a nice-sized type of horse. He looked mature as a two-year-old. Obviously he has a great mind and what he did is very unusual. When he won his maiden, he quickened up very well and when he went to York, I suppose the way he dominated the race and the pace that he showed and the way he quickened and found plenty, it made him look very exciting to everyone.”

A total of 42 horses achieved a rating of 110 or more last year. Notably, Wootton Bassett was responsible for 13 two-year-olds who achieved ratings of 100 or higher in Ireland last year.

The senior Irish Flat handicapper Garry O'Gorman commented, “That is unusually high. In terms of that Wootton Bassett and Galileo nick, there were two two-year-olds last year in Expanded and another horse I am really keen on, Green Impact (Ire), who won a Group 2 on Irish Champions Weekend. The two mares in question were trained by Aidan O'Brien-both were probably as bad as he has trained and they couldn't win maidens and were rated around the 60s. But both mares are responsible for horses rated 118 and 112 respectively.”

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