First Stakes Winner For Palace Pier As Morris Dancer Leads Stonehenge One-Two For Freshman
Updated: August 13, 2025 at 1:03 pm
By Tom Frary
With the two only realistic contenders of the three runners contesting Wednesday's Listed British Stallion Studs EBF Stonehenge Stakes at Salisbury, Darley's first-season sire Palace Pier was almost guaranteed to make his breakthrough in black-type company and so it proved as Morris Dancer led home A Bit Of Spirit for a neat one-two.
Runner-up in the Vintage at Goodwood last month, Godolphin's homebred surprisingly drifted to 11-10 second favouritism to see off the Clive Cox-trained 5-6 market-leader and after taking over from that peer approaching the furlong pole drew away to do so by four lengths.
“He ran a huge race at Goodwood and he's learning on the job, is very genuine and straightforward,” jockey William Buick said. “It was a fair-run race and you can take a bit out of it–there was no bias and so you can take that form seriously. He won't mind a bit of juice in the ground and he can go back to seven furlongs or stay at a mile.”
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Morris Dancer (Palace Pier) dominates in the Listed @BritishEBF Stonehenge Stakes for John & Thady Gosden, @WilliamBuickX and @godolphin 🏆@salisburyraces pic.twitter.com/LBUCaJRPrj
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) August 13, 2025
Morris Dancer, who provided Kingman's Dalham Hall resident with his first winner, is the third of three currently known foals out of a daughter of Sadler's Wells' Listed Swettenham Stud Fillies' Trial Stakes scorer Measured Tempo. Responsible for Dansili's G3 Prix la Force-placed Franz Schubert and the dam of that sire's G2 Emancipation Stakes winner Promise Of Success, she is in turn a daughter of the G3 Prix de Flore winner Allez Les Trois (Riverman) who is a half to Urban Sea and King's Best.