One swallow doesn’t make a summer...but 11?

Variations on an old saying in racing were being trotted out with regularity after one of the most successful weeks for Darley stallions in recent memory.

Sons and daughters of New Approach, Exceed And Excel, Dubawi and Teofilo dominated a series of Guineas ‘trials’ at Newmarket and Newbury, with nine winners and two, respectively, having been chalked up by Darley sires at these important meetings.

The two biggest ‘trials’ went to Godolphin’s Masar (New Approach), who crushed his rivals in the G3 Craven Stakes on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile, and James Garfield (Exceed and Excel), a decisive winner of the G3 Greenham Stakes at Newbury.

The latter, a home-bred who carries the yellow and black Gredley colours, is out of a Daylami mare, who in turn is out of a Generous mare, thus supplying stamina on the dam’s side of the pedigree, which will surely tempt connections to step him back up to one mile and beyond.

Without question, the Charlie Appleby-trained Masar, with his nine-length triumph in the Craven, was the most impressive win of the entire week. Ridden with supreme confidence from the front by William Buick, the colt looked a thorough professional as he gave a masterly display on the Rowley Mile.

He was one of six winners sent out by Appleby over the three days of the Craven meeting.

Time will tell, but the G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, run at Del Mar last November, may well prove the most important reference point for two-year-olds of 2017.

The race was won by the Aidan O’Brien-trained Mendelssohn, now a serious G1 Kentucky Derby contender, with Masar sixth and James Garfield 10th, the latter two having both endured rough passages in running.

Masar and James Garfield are worthy of their places in the G1 2,000 Guineas field back at Newmarket on Saturday, 5 May, but might also feel just as comfortable over longer distances as the season progresses.

Strings Of Life was a breakthrough first winner for Darley first season sire Slade Power when scoring in Godolphin colours at Newmarket on Wednesday.

Darley’s flagship sire Dubawi enjoyed a phenomenal week, with a treble at Newmarket on Wednesday, which included the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes courtesy of Soliloquy, and a significant first-up maiden win by the John Gosden-trained Lah Ti Dar at Newbury.

Lah Ti Dar, a home-bred who carries the colours of Lord Lloyd-Webber, is a daughter of the multiple G1 winner Dar Re Mi.