Ancient Wisdom showed an abundance of spirit and stamina to land the Group One Kameko Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster for William Buick and Charlie Appleby.
Charlie Appleby’s charge made the running early on but was headed by Devil’s Point and Dancing Gemini when the pace quickened three furlongs out.
However, Ancient Wisdom got a second wind in the latter stages and galloped on strongly to outstay Devil’s Point by a length and three-quarters.
William Buick’s mount was sent off the 5-4 favourite, while God’s Window stayed on to finish a head behind Devil’s Point in third. Aidan O’Brien’s Diego Velazquez faded out of contention.
Ancient Wisdom, supplemented for the race on Monday, was cut to as short as 6-1 with Betfair and Paddy Power for next year’s Derby, while Coral offered 8-1 for him to win the Epsom Classic.
The start of the race was delayed by a nasty incident when Battle Cry reared up in the stalls and fell backwards, unseating jockey Ben Curtis in the process.
That forced the O’Brien-trained outsider to be withdrawn but both horse and jockey were thankfully able to walk away.
Buick, winning the race for the first time, said: “I’ve had a few goes at this and never been able to win it, so I’m delighted to win it this year.
“I was delighted it was on, the talk of it being abandoned earlier in the week wasn’t great, but they’ve done a great job. The ground is very soft, but we’re racing on it and this is a very important race for next year.
“I was delighted with Ancient Wisdom. He put in a big performance only two weeks ago at Newmarket and Charlie and the team were very happy to supplement him for today.
“The plan wasn’t necessarily to make the running, but it fell right, he pricked his ears and he’s just a horse who is very uncomplicated. That goes a long way in this ground.
“You go through the list of two-year-olds that have won this race and it bodes well for next year. I’m very much looking forward to him and delighted with what he did there.”
Alex Merriam, Appleby’s assistant, said: “Charlie purposely gave him a break through the summer to come back for the Autumn Stakes. He was very pleased with the way he came out of that and he showed he handled the soft ground so I think Charlie just thought why not give him a shot?
“I think we were probably expecting to follow the Aidan O’Brien horse (Battle Cry), so it was slightly Plan B to make the running, but Will gave him a great ride. They got racing a long way out, but Will didn’t panic, he said it took him a while to get through the gears but once he got rolling he saw it out well.
“It’s nice to have a horse to look forward to for next year.”
On Ancient Wisdom being the team’s first Group One winner in Britain since Modern Games landed the Lockinge at Newbury in May, Merriam added: “It’s been a bit bleak, but it’s nice to see we’ve got some nice two-year-olds for next season. We can go into the winter dreaming anyway.”
Looking towards next season Merriam said: “It was obviously very soft ground out there and he lengthened rather than quickened.
“It’s a long old winter so we’ll see where we are. It looks like there’ll be quite a good one to beat in the Guineas (City Of Troy)! We’ll leave that to Charlie and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed to decide.”
