Appleby and O’Brien all set for mouthwatering Dewhurst

Charlie Appleby is confident a long-term plan can come to fruition when Desert Castle bids to provide him with a fourth victory in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on Saturday.

The Moulton Paddocks handler first claimed the Group One contest with superstar juvenile Pinatubo in 2019 and has since added to his tally with subsequent Irish 2,00 Guineas hero Native Trail (2021) and the top-class Shadow Of Light (2024).

Desert Castle has earned his shot at a race that traditionally goes to the season’s champion juvenile with wins on the July course and in Doncaster’s Champagne Stakes – and while in Aidan O’Brien’s Darkness Falls he meets a formidable rival, Appleby is expecting his Frankel colt to show what he is made of.

“He is an exciting horse and I can’t get away from that,” he said at Newmarket on Friday.

“I was excited before he had even broke his maiden, I felt he was the two-year-old we would hopefully be turning up with in a Dewhurst and thankfully we are nearly there.

“I think he’s come forward again. He’s straightforward and as a physical he was always imposing anyway, but mentally he is just in a better place.

“When he broke his maiden he ran away from the crowd a little bit and had a little bit of a jink, and when Billy (Loughnane) won on him in the Champagne he still had a little bit of a jig, but it is rawness as he has found it so easy at home.”

While Desert Castle heads ante-post lists for next year’s 2000 Guineas, Darkness Falls is the Derby favourite following a runaway success in the Golden Fleece Stakes at Leopardstown last month, with O’Brien even raising the son of Camelot as a potential Triple Crown contender.

He will face a sterner examination of his speed dropping back from nine to seven furlongs on the Rowley Mile, but the master of Ballydoyle is keen discover whether his charge is a legitimate Guineas contender himself.

O’Brien said: “He’s in good form, it’s two furlongs back from what he ran over at Leopardstown, so it will be interesting.

“It’s an unusual thing to do, but the thinking is if he is a Guineas horse we wanted to give him experience over the course and he will learn a lot and we’ll learn a lot about him.”

Of the mouthwatering clash with Desert Castle, he added: “It’s a good race and what it needs to be, it’s what we want.”

O’Brien is also represented by Coventry Stakes hero Great Barrier Reef, while Appleby has a second string to his bow in dual winner Jassas.

The small but select field of five is completed by the Andrew Balding-trained Gentle Hurricane, who was beaten just under seven lengths when fourth behind Desert Castle at the St Leger meeting.

Title-chasing Balding, who won last year’s Dewhurst with the ill-fated Gewan, said of his latest challenger: “I thought he ran very well in the Acomb on only his second start (second to Haffner) and we expected a lot more in the Champagne Stakes.

“We’ve got very few other places to go with him at this moment in time, so I hope he can run well. If he can finish in the top four we’d be thrilled and that would set him up nicely for next year.”

“The Dewhurst, for as long as I’ve been alive, has been the number one two-year-old race in Europe. It really defines which is the best colt of each generation, and it’s historically always a very strong race.”