Charles Darwin proves a class apart in Norfolk Stakes. (Megin Coggin)
Royal Ascot Release
ASCOT, Berkshire, England—Aidan O’Brien’s stranglehold on the juvenile races at Royal Ascot this year continued as Charles Darwin justified 8/13 favouritism in the G2 Norfolk Stakes.
The imposing No Nay Never colt travelled powerfully in front under Ryan Moore and, after briefly being joined passing halfway, lengthened away to win by two and a quarter lengths.
Wise Approach (10/1), a winner at Ascot earlier this year, finished second, with US raider Sandal’s Song (9/1) taking third having raced prominently.
Charles Darwin’s winning time of 58.87s was 0.07s outside his sire’s own track record, set in this race in 2013, while it was a third juvenile winner of the meeting for O’Brien after Gstaad and True Love.
O’Brien said: “Charles Darwin is very fast – a big, powerful, strong horse. He has a very good mind as well, so he is very exciting. Ryan has always loved him – and everyone at home loves him. He looks like a four-year-old racing against two-year-olds.
“We were hoping that he would get a lead. He never sees the front at home in his work. He is always very happy to sit but, but he is very strong and very quick. Ryan does his own thing always. The gates open and he decides, so he was very happy. Ryan said he powered through the line.”
Comparing his formidable team of juveniles, O’Brien said: “Albert Einstein was always something that we have never seen before. Charles Darwin is a sprinter, and I don’t know how far he is going to get, whereas the horse [Gstaad] on Tuesday looked like he would get seven and that means he could get a mile.”
Moore said: “Charles Darwin is a very professional horse with a super attitude. He jumped very quick and showed good speed. I was just trying to control him the best I could. They came to me at about the two and a half, so I asked him to go, and he picked up well.
“He is a very good horse. He has a good brain and is a very strong, mature two-year-old, another No Nay Never like the filly yesterday. He is doing everything right and I could not be happier with him. He will get six furlongs.”
Charlie Appleby said of Wise Approach: “We felt we were probably drawn on the wrong side, but the most important part of today was for the future. I said to William, ‘today, just drop in, ride the race and get him to finish’. And he did all of that. Finishing second, you take the positives out of it and the positives are that he has run a really good race against a high-class horse in Charles Darwin. There is going to be a nice pot in this horse. He is versatile, five or six, but I think we could probably look to six now and ride a similar sort of race. I think he is learning with racing and doing it the right way around.”Wathnan Racing’s US advisor Case Clay said of the third: “It was a valiant effort from Sandal’s Song. He ran very well. He is a zippy horse and James McDonald said, once he got to the rise, he got a little bit tired. He probably was not used to that. We were beaten by a very good horse, but we are very happy with the effort. We are going to take him back to the US and try to get to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, with a race or two maybe in between.”
