LAST YEAR’S HUXLEY STAKES

A small but select field went to post for last year’s renewal of the Group 2 Huxley Stakes. There may have been just the four runners, but it still looked set to be a great contest going into it.

The favourite was the Gosden trained Megallan. Ridden on the day by Frankie Dettori, he had been battered in the market, all the way down to 5/6. There was good reason for the support too after running out a comfortable winner in a Salisbury Group 3 in August 2021, and a similarly impressive second in the Earl Of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket a month before this race. He arrived here in fine fettle.

Solid Stone had ended his previous season in red hot form. Back-to-back Group 3 successes at Windsor and Newbury in 2021 had shown that he is a horse of real quality and his struggles in the Neom Turf Cup at the Saudi Cup meeting in Riyadh can easily be overlooked and so he found plenty of support in the market as well. Majestic Dawn’s impressive runner-up finish in a

Newmarket listed race in October meant he could not be easily discounted either.

It was Majestic Dawn who took the lead from the start, racing a touch more freely than trainers Paul & Oliver Cole would have liked and setting a quick tempo. Solid Stone was more than happy to match this early pace as well, tracking the gelding all the way and keeping on the pressure. Megallan and the Mick Channon trained Certain Lad held up behind, perhaps unwilling to match the pace of the leading pair.

As they reached the final two furlongs, Majestic Dawn began to weaken and was quickly caught by Solid Stone, the gelding taking the lead before storming to a comfortable three length victory. Certain Lad pushed on late and despite being no match for the winner, did very well to take second from the hotly fancied Megallan. Solid Stone was unable to convert this form into further success but Megallan bounced back well to take to Group 3 Cazoo Diomed Stakes at Epsom the following month.