Darain has chance to show his worth as £3.675m colt takes significant step up in the Voltigeur

Darain has chance to show his worth as unbeaten £3.675m colt takes significant step up in the Voltigeur

  • Darain’s blue-blooded pedigree attracted a bid of £3,675,000 in 2018
  • He enjoyed debut victory at Newbury before dominant display at Newmarket
  • John Gosden’s charge faces a far sterner test as he goes in search of a hat-trick

A hugely significant day for Sheik Fahad’s Qatar Racing operation revolves around Darain’s run in the Great Voltigeur Stakes, as much as it does his 2,000 Guineas winner Kameko in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York.

Darain’s blue-blooded pedigree attracted a bid of £3,675,000 when he was sold as a yearling in 2018. 

Being the son of Dubawi and 2009 Yorkshire Dar Re Mi, John Gosden-trained Darain is a full brother to 2019 Sussex Stakes winner Too Darn Hot, 2016 Musidora Stakes winner So Mi Dar and Lah Ti Dar, who won the Galtres Stakes at the 2018 Ebor meeting before finishing second to Kew Gardens in the St Leger.

The impeccably-bred and unbeaten Darain faces a step up in class at York on Wednesday

After wins at Newbury and Newmarket, Darain takes a significant step up in grade in the Voltigeur. 

David Redvers of Qatar Racing said: ‘Darain would have had more experience by this stage of a normal season but he was denied an opportunity to race until June by Covid-19. He’s won his only two starts looking like a high-class horse. We’d have liked to run him over 10 furlongs again but there wasn’t really a suitable race, so we’re going to try a mile and a half.

‘He goes there clearly fancied and we are hoping for a big run. When you pay so much money for a horse, if they end up being a champion everyone says “so they should be” and if they end up being ordinary a new word falls into the dictionary for a big disappointment.’

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