Appleby ‘on the fence’ about Shadow Of Light plans

Charlie Appleby will be a keen observer of the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas on Saturday as he formulates a plan for his Newmarket Classic third Shadow Of Light.

The son of Lope De Vega thrived as a juvenile and claimed top honours when winning both the Middle Park and Dewhurst on the Rowley Mile last autumn.

He was only a length adrift of stablemate Ruling Court in the opening Classic of 2025 but having shown plenty of speed throughout his career, it could be his future is back down in trip, with the colt the general favourite for the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot.

However, the Moulton Paddocks handler is still to decide in which direction to head at the Royal meeting, with the weekend’s Curragh Classic set to prove a handy gauge for Shadow Of Light’s connections.

“I’m going to sit on the fence with him, but I’m still quietly confident he’ll get the mile,” explained Appleby.

“It’s hard to assess and if you go through the speed figures and everything else that went on in the Guineas, it wasn’t an end-to-end gallop by any stretch of the imagination. So it was hard to say he gets a mile for certain on the back of that.

“I think we’ll just watch the Irish Guineas and see what develops there. I think whatever wins the Irish Guineas will naturally become favourite for the St James’s Palace and then we can work out how close we were to them.”