Mill Reef winner lands Middle Park

First season sire Acclamation had a quickfire double at Newmarket on Friday, with victory in the valuable sales race and the Group One Middle Park.

The Barry Hills-trained Dark Angel (Acclamation - Midnight Angel, by Machiavellian) took his winnings for the season to £335,000 when landing the Group One Middle Park Stakes over six furlongs.

He was quickly away and raced prominently at a decent clip, stretching clear as his opponents came to him. Tajdeef challenged but was always held, and Strike The Deal came with a late thrust on the rail to take second spot, as he had done when beaten by the winner in the Mill Reef Stakes a fortnight ago. The favourite Sir Gerry flattened out in his run from the rear and finished second last.

As well as the Mill Reef, Dark Angel won the St Leger Yearling Stakes at York. He has now won three times over six furlongs - when dropped back to five for the Flying Childers he was seventh to Fleeting Spirit. Despite that, jockey Michael Hills thinks it only possible the colt will get a mile - "he has a lot of speed and loves to gallop."

"Tough, isn’t he?" was the initial reaction from Barry Hills. "I had £3,000 on him when he ran in the July Stakes in the summer and he finished fourth. Now he has won a Group Two and a Group One!

"He has a good cruising speed and is tough. As he has got more experience, he has improved.

"If he does run again this season, he could maybe go for the Darley Dewhurst Stakes (run over seven furlongs at Newmarket on Champions’ Day, Saturday, October 20). I think he will be a sprinter next year, but you never know."

Hills believes the ground may have been to blame for Dark Angel’s disappointing effort in the five-furlong Flying Childers Stakes at Doncaster on his penultimate appearance.

He continued: "I have thought about asking Matthew Tester (BHA Handicapper) to do an analysis of the form at Doncaster. A lot of my horses didn’t run up to form at the St Leger meeting and I think the ground was a bit funny up there.

"Like Ascot, it seems there is no bottom to the ground and it needs time to settle."

Exclamation wins Tattersalls October Auction Stakes

The Tattersalls October Auction Stakes offered a prize of £189,000 to the winner, which was picked up by Raymond Tooth's Exclamation (Acclamation - Summer Siren, by Saint Cyrien), who progressed from a Haydock maiden win a week ago to run on strongly to land the spoils from bottom weight Anosti.