RACING CONFIDENTIAL: Charlie Appleby gives the inside track on early Derby favourites, plus the latest horses to follow for Cheltenham
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Conversations with Charlie Appleby are always informative and it was no different when he began to discuss his dreams for the year. The Godolphin trainer can often be compared to a Premier League manager or a Formula One principal, in that he’s always expected to deliver big results no matter what – Appleby has some of the finest-bred horses in the world at his state-of-the-art Moulton Paddocks in Newmarket.
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He was, understandably, in high spirits when we spoke as he had just discovered Shadow of Light, a bouncing pocket rocket, had topped the European Two-Year-Old Classification with a rating of 120 – it confirmed him to be what we knew all along, that the colt was last season’s Champion Juvenile.
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After landing the Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes last autumn, Shadow of Light stamped himself as a horse capable of following the footsteps of Notable Speech, whom Appleby saddled to win the 2000 Guineas last May. The glint in his eye suggested a big run will be expected on May 3.
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‘I hope he is a horse that the public will latch on to,’ Appleby told Racing Confidential. ‘It is exciting to have one like him in the yard and this is the time of year when we all have reason to believe. The way we won the Dewhurst gives me every reason to believe he’ll see a mile out.’.
The quality of Shadow of Light is there for all to see given his pedigree – his half-brother, Earthlight, was another high achiever – but it was fascinating to listen to Appleby go a little deeper and put forward the name of forgotten horse that could go on to make a big name for himself.
