Shadow Of Light crowned champion two-year-old of 2024

An impressive winner of the Juddmonte Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket in September, the son of Lope De Vega followed that up with another top-level success in the Darley Dewhurst Stakes to become only the second horse since Diesis in 1982 to complete the Middle Park-Dewhurst double.

The Charlie Appleby-trained colt won on debut at Yarmouth in July before making it two-from-two in a novice contest at Newmarket the following month. He was then upped in class in the Group Two Gimcrack Stakes at York, finishing a close second to Cool Hoof Luke.

With that experience under his belt, Shadow Of Light stepped up a gear to win the Middle Park by four lengths, emulating his three-parts brother Earthlight who landed the six-furlong contest five years prior.

Shadow Of Light's narrow Dewhurst win over Ballydoyle’s Expanded was enough to secure Appleby his third Champion Two-Year-Old title, following Pinatubo (128 – 2019) and Native Trail (122 – 2021).

Graeme Smith, BHA Handicapping Team Leader, said: "Shadow of Light became just the third horse in more than a century to win both the Middle Park and Dewhurst, with his runaway success in the first of those earning him the title of European Champion Two-Year-Old of 2024 with a rating of 120.
What’s unusual about this year’s classification is the level of competition at the top. There are eight horses rated between 117 and 120, and that really whets the appetite for some enthralling competition in their classic season ahead.”

Second in the Classification with a rating of 119 is the Aiden O’Brian-trained Lake Victoria, who achieved the rare feat of landing three Group One races in as many countries last season courtesy of her wins in the Moyglare Stud Stakes (Ireland), Cheveley Park Stakes (Britain) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (USA).

IHRB Handicapper Mark Bird said: "Lake Victoria created her own piece of history on the way to emerging as the Champion European Two-Year-Old Filly for 2024 by becoming the only Champion Filly in the history of the Classifications to win three Group/Grade 1 races at the age of two. Almost as remarkable, the daughter of Frankel recorded top-level wins at six furlongs, seven furlongs and a mile, as well as in three different countries.

"She ranks second only to Minding [2015] among Aidan O’Brien’s eight Champion European Two-Year-Old Fillies to date and matches the feat previously only achieved this century by Found [2014] in becoming the outright two-year-old Champion ahead of the colts in her native Ireland, a country which this year had the highest number of horses on the Two-Year-Old Classification for the first time ever.”

O’Brien also trained the joint-third horses in the Classification, "https://www.sportinglife.com/racing/profiles/horse/1145078">Expanded and The Lion In Winter (118), with the latter winning both his starts before suffering a bruised foot ahead of the Dewhurst Stakes – a race he was favourite for – which brought a premature end to his season.

The leading juvenile filly in Britain was Godolphin’s Desert Flower, who achieved a rating of 117 following an unbeaten two-year-old campaign that ended with a five-and-a-half-length success in the Group 1 bet365 Fillies' Mile.

More from Sporting Life

• Racecards
• Fast results
• Full results and free video replays
• Horse racing news
• Horse racing tips
• Horse racing features
• Download our free iOS and Android app
• Football and other sports tips
• Podcasts and video content

Safer gambling

We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.

If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.

Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.