Dawn Approach was fellow Darley stallion New Approach’s first ever runner, winner, Stakes winner, G1 winner, Classic winner and Champion. He made his debut in March of his juvenile year and landed the very first two-year-old race of the Irish calendar, winning over 1000m at the Curragh. This saw the start of a seven-race unbeaten streak that lasted for over a year and included a notable victory at Royal Ascot (where he bettered Olympic Glory to win the G2 Coventry Stakes) before emulating his talented sire when winning the G1 National and G1 Dewhurst Stakes.
Dawn Approach returned at three in even more impressive fashion, trouncing his rivals by a full five lengths in the G1 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket – the first British Classic of the season. This victory saw him become the first horse since 1903 to win Britain’s traditional two-year-old targets (the Coventry and the Dewhurst) and then go on to land the Guineas. After an unsuccessful tilt at the Derby, where his chances faded as soon as he left the gate, Dawn Approach made one of racing’s greatest comebacks only 17 days later when returning to Royal Ascot, this time in the 1600m G1 St James’s Palace Stakes.
In a dramatic running of this time-honoured race for three-year-old colts, Dawn Approach outbattled Toronado in one of the finishes of the meeting and in doing so recorded the same hat-trick of G1’s: the Dewhurst, Guineas and St James’s Palace, as none other than Frankel did two years before him. Each of Dawn Approach’s victories was in a faster time, on ground identically described.
Dawn Approach retired to Darley’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland at the end of last year and has been rewarded by European breeders with a stellar book of mares that includes 93 Stakes horses or dams of Stakes horses – ten of whom are G1 winners or have produced a G1 winner.
Epaulette, who is also currently standing his first season at Darley in Ireland, impressed from the moment he stepped on to the racecourse. A winner of over $1.7 million, the handsome colt easily won at Rosehill on debut, then claimed the Black Opal on only his second start. In the G2 Todman Stakes, a race won ten years earlier by fellow Darley stallion and Champion sire Exceed And Excel, Epaulette met subsequent Champion Pierro for the first time, edging past him before being nosed-out on the line.
Epaulette returned at three to take the G1 Golden Rose then stretched his speed out to a mile to place behind All Too Hard and Pierro in a high-class running of the G1 Caulfield Guineas. He was a brave second in the G1 T J Smith in the autumn, finding only queen of the turf Black Caviar too good, before recording his second victory at the highest level, defeating eight G1-winning sprinters with a devastating finishing burst in the G1 Doomben 10,000.
By Commands, one of Australia’s leading sires, Epaulette is out of the Singspiel mare Accessories – also dam of record-breaking Guineas winner, multiple G1-winning juvenile and fellow Darley stallion Helmet. Her other foal to race is Bullbars, a G3 winner who was second in the G1 Australian Guineas.
Alastair Pulford, Darley’s Head of Sales in Australia said, “Dawn Approach was an elite racehorse. He did what very few horses in any jurisdiction have been able to do, winning the first juvenile race of the season and staying unbeaten in championship races through to the Guineas. His physique matches his ability and we are looking forward to presenting him to breeders in Australia this season.”
Pulford continued, “Epaulette is the pre-eminent son of Commands, one of Australia’s best stallions. He competed at the highest level in a vintage year and proved himself a great sprinter/miler with tremendous acceleration. He also has a pedigree a mile long. Both stallions will be significant additions to our roster.”
Dawn Approach and Epaulette will stand at Darley’s Kelvinside Stud in the Hunter Valley. Their fees will be announced at a later date.
For more information, please contact Alastair Pulford on +61 (0) 2 6543 9000.
