Cool running as Too Darn Hot seal Dewhurst win

TOO Darn Hot lived up to his name once more when he won the Darley Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket yesterday.

The Dubawi colt had won his first three starts but his trainer, John Gosden, had expressed some concern over running on firm ground in a Group One race.

The concern for Frankie Dettori was that Too Darn Hot was running a little keenly, as he had done previously, and then appeared to hit a flat spot two furlongs out.

From there, the horse picked up the leaders and spat them out in some style to beat Advertise by two-and-threequarter lengths.

“I’ve been trying 30 years to win this race,” Dettori said. “He’s an amazing horse and, in the end, I was struggling to ease him down.

“He’s had three easy races and today he was getting knocked about and running in snatches. For a minute I thought I was in trouble and then the turbo kicked in.”

Willie Mullins sent out seven runners for the Dubai £500,000 Cesarewitch with Low Sun and Uradel making it a one-two for Ireland’s champion jumps trainer but there was no sign of any Godolphin runners on the entire card.

Instead, Benbatl led home a Godolphin one-two in the Group One Caulfield Stakes in Australia.

Saeed bin Suroor’s horse beat Charlie Appleby’s Blair House and this victory will raise expectations that Benbatl can be a contender against Winx, the pride of Australian racing, when the two meet in the Cox Plate in a fortnight.