Darkness Falls narrowly defeats Desert Castle in Dewhurst Stakes

Darkness Falls narrowly defeated Desert Castle to win the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on 10 October 2026. Ryan Moore rode Darkness Falls while William Buick was aboard Desert Castle.

The two colts were prominent throughout, leading the five runners to the line. Desert Castle went into the Dewhurst as the favourite and had been unbeaten prior to this meeting. Darkness Falls is trained by Aidan O'Brien.

Darkness Falls's victory ended Desert Castle's unbeaten record.

"He's a really good colt," Moore told ITV Sport. "It feels like there's more in the tank. "How far he'll go I don't know, he has a lot of pace."

O'Brien added: "It was a big call to come here and it's incredible to bring a horse back from nine furlongs to win a Dewhurst. "We've always loved him and he's always had a lot of class. Ryan gave him a brilliant ride and I'm so grateful to win this for everyone, he's very exciting. "It was a massive ask to bring him back to seven furlongs, it was a tough nine at Leopardstown last time and he has so much class obviously. "He's so exciting, as you saw what he did over nine furlongs and I don't think he'll have any problem going further either, he has a lot of quality."

"We came here to give him the experience with a view to the Guineas and we were always going to find out plenty," O'Brien said. The Triple Crown covers the 2,000 Guineas, the Derby and the St Leger, with Nijinsky - in 1970 - the last horse to win all three races in a year.