Chindit, Thunder Moon take on deep field in Dewhurst

Thunder Moon, eye-catching winner of the Group 1 National Stakes at The Curragh, and Chindit, unbeaten from three starts, the most recent a sharp score in the Group 2 Champagne at Doncaster, head an unusually deep renewal of the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes on Saturday at Newmarket.

Those two are among 14 entrants in the seven-furlong, straight-course Dewhurst, the top 2-year-old race in Europe. Newmarket was rated soft as of Thursday, and if that course condition holds it will be the first time on giving ground for many in the Dewhurst. Post time for the race is 9:55 a.m. Eastern. Wagering and live video is available at DRFBets.com.

Thunder Moon, a Zoffany colt, won a maiden race in his Aug. 9 debut before capturing the seven-furlong National at the expense of talented Dewhurst entrant Wembley. Aidan O’Brien, whose seven wins in this race include five straight Dewhursts from 2013 to 2017, trains Wembley, while his son Joseph trains Thundering Moon. Aidan O’Brien also sends out St. Mark’s Basilica, a distant third in the National and scratched last Sunday from the Jean-Luc Lagardere at Longchamp after an Irish feed company used by O’Brien and other trainers warned that some of its product was contaminated with zilpaterol, a banned substance.

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In the roughly run National, Thunder Moon was trapped in traffic with a quarter-mile to run before bulling his way to daylight and hitting the front with giant strides. He won by 1 1/2 lengths with speed to spare and immediately shot toward the top of the early betting markets for the 2000 Guineas of 2021. Declan McDonogh, aboard for both races, has the mount Saturday, and Thunder Moon is among the group that would be encountering soft turf for the first time.

So, too, would Chindit, a Richard Hannon Jr.-trained Wootton Bassett colt who beat highly regarded Albasheer, a Dewhurst entrant, by one length in the Champagne. Chindit raced near the back of a seven-horse field in that straight seven-furlong race, moved to challenge for the lead without being asked, and pulled away with apparent speed to spare.

Albasheer is one of two entrants for Hamdan al-Maktoum, whose Shadwell Stables is having an incredible 2020 season. The other is Alkumait, who was supplemented to the Dewhurst after his win in the Sept. 19 Mill Reef Stakes over six furlongs.

Hannon has a second runner in Etonian, who enters the Dewhurst 2 for 2, both wins coming over seven furlongs at Sandown. Etonian is by Olympic Glory, whom Richard Hannon Sr. sent to Santa Anita to finish ninth in Wise Dan’s 2013 Breeders’ Cup Mile.