2026 Dewhurst Stakes Tips - Desert Castle and Darkness Falls showdown to light up Newmarket

Without wishing to disrespect the other three runners in the field, this revolves around the top two in the market. I thought Darkness Falls was hugely impressive in the Golden Fleece, and I quickly snapped up the 10/1 that was available for next year's Derby.

I was surprised when Aidan O'Brien confirmed him in the field earlier in the week. O'Brien is clearly going to throw everything at the next few meetings in the hope of leapfrogging Andrew Balding in the race to be Champion Trainer. Darkness Falls is certainly classy enough to cope with this drop in trip, but I don't think it's ideally what he wants. I see him very much as a middle-distance horse next season.

DESERT CASTLE, on the other hand, looks a miler through and through. Charlie Appleby's star made it two from two in the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster, where he was the slowest out of the stalls and still managed to win by three easy lengths.

Sergei Diaghilev didn't set the world alight with the early fractions, but I still thought Desert Castle showed an impressive turn of foot, and the favourite barely broke a sweat in the end. Billy Loughnane said after the race that there was loads left in the tank, and that certainly looked to be the case as his mount sauntered across the line.

Appleby has been striking at between 30% and 50% over the past four or five weeks. This is the time of year when his juveniles tend to peak, and I'm expecting a career-best effort from Desert Castle on Saturday. He'll need it to beat an extremely classy rival in Darkness Falls, but the trip will be much more to his liking. I think there's a good chance that we'll see next year's 2000 Guineas and Epsom Derby winners race against each other in Saturday's Dewhurst.

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