Homebred Darlinghurst Sparkles In Group 3 Prix de Guiche At Chantilly
Darlinghurst continued his rapid rise up the ladder with success in the Gr.3 Prix de Guiche at Chantilly on Saturday recording a milestone 60 individual Group Winners for his sire Dark Angel. This was the fourth win of 2024 for the Jerome Reynier-trained three-year-old and the son of Dark Angel won in the silks of Jean-Etienne Dubois. Settled in second position by Christophe Soumillon as Kingsale set a decent tempo, he made smooth headway to takeover from the long-time leader with 350m left to travel. First Look emerged from the pack to pose a threat in the closing stages, but Darlinghurst wasn’t particularly hard pressed to win by a length. Grecian Storm finished another two lengths back in third. Having shaped with promise in two starts as a two-year old, Darlinghurst won twice at Cagnes-sur-Mer in January and February before graduating to Listed honours in the Prix Maurice Caillault at Chantilly in March. The form of that success has been franked by the runner-up Wootton Verni, who won the Gr.3 Prix Greffulhe recently, and Darlinghurst confirmed the race is worth monitoring closely with Sunday’s ready victory. He holds an entry in the Gr.1 St James’s Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot next month, a race that his trainer has previously nominated as a likely target.
Darlinghurst is a Yeomanstown Stud homebred and was a 230,000gns Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 purchase by Hubert Guy, he is the first foal out of the Gr.3 Mercury Stakes winner Dr Simpson. This is the family of the five-time Gr.1-winning miler Soviet Song, Gr.1 Prix Jean Romanet winner Ribbons, and Gr.1 Nunthorpe Stakes winner Marsha.
