Appleby all smiles after profitable Future Champions Festival

Sometimes it is OK to change your mind, and a change of heart from Charlie Appleby has been rewarded with a 2000 Guineas prospect destined to end the season as the champion two-year-old colt.

Two weeks ago, Shadow Of Light was an impressive Middle Park winner supposedly being put away to dominate the sprint division next season.

Now, he has played himself into the Classic considerations by adding the Darley Dewhurst Stakes to his CV in a battling display at Newmarket.

The son of Lope De Vega was all speed as he sluiced his way to Middle Park glory last month, but he showed an extra dimension as he became the first horse since US Navy Flag in 2017 to do the Newmarket Group One double.

For Appleby, the decision to supplement the colt into the race on Monday at a cost of £35,000 was vindicated in style and he explained he felt his star youngster was in a no-lose situation when making an extra outing for the year on the Rowley Mile.

“It’s important when they are fit and well to run them, and this horse came out of the Middle Park well and we made a collective decision that he had nothing to lose and everything to gain,” explained Appleby.

“Those people who don’t change their minds are often those ones who get stuck in a rut and you have to be open-minded in this game, because at the end of the day, they are living and breathing animals.

“We don’t know what we’re going to wake up to the next morning and you can come here with a horse you think is thriving and you wake up the next day and you don’t know what he might have done – and he could be coughing, have a temperature, anything.”

It was an extra race that not only provided Appleby with another Group One triumph on his local patch, but also leaves the Moulton Paddocks handler with a question to ponder over the winter.

The winner was trimmed to 10-1 by Paddy Power for next May’s opening Classic of the season and Shadow Of Light could now bid to thrive again in Newmarket early next season.

“William (Buick) said I have to train him towards a Guineas,” said Appleby. “On Guineas day, if he doesn’t stay, he can then drop back and go for the Commonwealth Cup – and that is the great thing about our programme, the way it is.

“William said he did it the right way round today, was finding all the way up the hill, and when they came to him, he really found again.”

It proved a profitable Future Champions weekend for Appleby, who made the short drive home with plenty of Classic aspirations, having also watched Desert Flower dazzle in the Fillies’ Mile on Friday.

It is safe to say there will now be no more U-turns by Appleby and both will have done enough for the year, with the 49-year-old able to head into the colder months with some hot prospects to warm up the fire, as he aims to dine out at the top table regularly during 2025.

“When you finish the season with what is looking like the champion filly and champion colt, you head into winter with a lot of nice dreams,” added Appleby.

“Most importantly from the team’s point of view, we had a few years where it was fantastic and we were on a wave that you just don’t want to die.

“Unfortunately, it did and we’ve had to regroup and rebuild – and to do that, it doesn’t happen overnight.

“We’ve made a conscious effort with the two-year-olds and some have asked why we have campaigned some of the older horses who have gone to America the way we have.

“Those horses going to America have done what they were asked to do and have served a purpose and have protected some of those horses back here.

“Horses like Arabian Crown, admittedly he hit a setback, Ancient Wisdom, Notable Speech, we’re going to need those horses next year. You need those older horses in your camp if you are hoping to campaign at the top table.”