Reaction from Doncaster after Ancient Wisdom's victory in the Kameko Futurity Trophy
Five weeks is a long time in this game, never mind five months.
It was five weeks ago that I wrote an article in which I dared to suggest that Charlie Appleby’s latest crop of two-year-olds weren’t all that, ill-equipped to salvage something from what had hitherto been a season of underachievement for the team at Moulton Paddocks.
It’s a suggestion I maintain wasn’t unreasonable based on the facts at hand at the time, a stage of the campaign when Solario Stakes winner Aablan was the sole member of Appleby’s two-year-old crop with a victory in Group company to his name.
Even the Solario has turned out to be a weak race by Group 3 standards and it was a case of back to the drawing board for Appleby when Aablan was then comprehensively beaten on his only subsequent start in the Royal Lodge Stakes, intensifying the search for a juvenile capable of making an impact at the highest level.
Step forward Ancient Wisdom, one of several two-year-olds to star for Appleby as he began to make me eat my words with five winners across the two days of the Future Champions Festival at Newmarket, a meeting the trainer has often targeted to good effect in recent years.
The filly Dance Sequence impressed with her turn of foot when getting up close home to win the Oh So Sharp Stakes, while Arabian Crown produced a strong-staying performance to power clear of his rivals in the Zetland Stakes, but it was the blend of speed and stamina shown by Ancient Wisdom, an emphatic winner of the Autumn Stakes, which left the most indelible impression.
Timely tonic for Appleby team
How had I missed him?
Though Ancient Wisdom did earn a brief mention in my earlier appraisal of Appleby's two-year-olds, I certainly didn't have him down as a potential Group 1-winning juvenile, instead jumping to the conclusion that he might be done for the year due to a lack of big-race entries and his absence since his first career defeat at Ascot in July.
The absence was easily explained by Appleby, though, revealing that Ancient Wisdom had flourished during a deliberate break from competitive action, while his lack of big-race entries was suddenly rectified on Monday when he was supplemented for the Kameko Futurity Trophy at Doncaster, one last chance for his trainer to double his domestic Group 1 tally in 2023.
Appleby, who wasn't in attendance on Town Moor, was cruelly made to wait a bit longer for deliverance from wherever he was watching – the start of the Futurity was delayed due to Battle Cry getting upset in the stalls – but he wouldn't have had many anxious moments in the race itself as Ancient Wisdom justified 5/4 favouritism with a straightforward success from the front.
The performance perhaps lacked the knock-your-eyes-out brilliance of his Autumn romp, but it was hard for any horse to be impressive in the mudbath that was Doncaster on Saturday, never mind late-developing two-year-olds, and he was ultimately well on top at the finish in beating Devil Point by a length and three-quarters.
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Beaten just once in five starts, there can be little doubt now that Ancient Wisdom is the exciting prospect for 2024 that Appleby has been searching for.
He's a general 7/1 shot to become the sixth horse this century to complete the Futurity Trophy/Derby double – following in the footsteps of High Chaparral, Motivator, Authorized, Camelot and Auguste Rodin – and certainly a colt I won't be underestimating again.
If this victory and other events in the last five weeks have made me feel rather silly, then the last five months and eight days must have been one of the most challenging periods of Appleby's career, that being how long it took him to add to the victory of Modern Games in the Lockinge Stakes at Newbury back in May.
Remarkably, Appleby has had only 16 runners at Group 1 level in Britain all year and Ancient Wisdom was his first since Al Suhail finished sixth in the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot fully 18 weeks ago, leaving a hatful of top-level races to go without Godolphin representation in the interim.
There has been a bit more to celebrate on the international stage with the likes of Master of The Seas, winner of the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, and Nations Pride, successful at the top level in both Germany and Canada.
However, it tells you everything you need to know about Appleby's three-year-old crop that their best result in a European Classic this year came when Noble Style finished sixth in the 2000 Guineas.
It's the Classics where a trainer of Appleby's calibre is judged and he'd been prolific in them in recent years with the likes of Adayar (2021 Derby), Hurricane Lane (2021 Irish Derby and St Leger), Coroebus (2022 2000 Guineas), Native Trail (2022 Irish 2000 Guineas) and Modern Games (2022 Poule d'Essai des Poulains), all now retired or sadly no longer with us.
Their absence leaves some pretty big shoes to fill at Moulton Paddocks and those tasked with making the step up in next year's Classics include the likes of Arabian Crown, Dance Sequence and, of course, Ancient Wisdom after he came through his biggest test at Doncaster with flying colours.
"It’s been a bit bleak, but it’s nice to see we’ve got some nice two-year-olds for next season," Appleby's assistant Alex Merriam summed up afterwards. "We can go into the winter dreaming anyway."
For those of us not destined for Dubai, we have a long, cold winter ahead of us and a return trip to Doncaster for the Lincoln certainly feels a long time away.
Five months actually – five months for the Appleby team to enjoy dreaming and five months for me to be a bit more careful when writing about whose novice hurdlers aren't all that.
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