Darley sire Dubawi caused a huge upset when Makfi won the English 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on Saturday.  The Sheikh Hamdan bred colt produced a strong late sprint to defeat stablemates Dick Turpin (Arakan) and Canford Cliffs (Tagula).

Makfi (3c Dubawi – Dhelaal by Green Desert) started at $34 despite winning at his only two starts in France.  He scored on debut at Fontainebleau in November and reappeared to add the G3 Prix Djebel at Maisons-Laffitte on April 8.

“Makfi has natural talent and ability,” trainer Mikel Delzangles said after the colt won in Paris last month.  “He’s not very demonstrative at home, but shows his quality on the track.”

Dubawi (Dubai Millennium) was England’s leading first-season sire for individual winners (34) last year and he is also off to a promising start in the southern hemisphere with juvenile stakes winners Golden Millennium (Listed AJC Keith Mackay Quality) and Cellarmaster (G3 NZ Eclipse Stakes).

Dubawi was a G1 winner of the Irish National Stakes at two and the following year added G1 victories in the Irish 2000 Guineas and Prix Jacques Le Marois at Deauville.  He stands under the Darley banner at Dalham Hall Stud in Newmarket and his northern fee was increased by 33% this year to 20,000 pounds (AUD 35,650).  He was not among the list of shuttlers when Darley released its 2010 Australian roster last week.

Makfi was bred by Shadwell Estates and was sold for 26,000gns (AUD 59,815) at the 2009 Tattersalls HIT Sale.  He is from an unraced half-sister to Sheikh Hamdan’s champion colt Alhaarth (Unfuwain) who was unbeaten in five starts as a juvenile in 1995 culminating with a G1 victory in the Dewhurst Stakes.

Coolmore’s even-money favorite St Nicholas Abbey (Montjeu) was not suited by the slow sectionals of the 2000 Guineas and trainer Aidan O’Brien is still confident the colt will be hard to beat in the English Derby on June 5.

Darley stallions completed a classic double on Saturday when Dubai Destination sired the Italian 1000 Guineas winner Evading Tempete.  The French based filly had won at La Teste de Buch in August and doubled her tally in the Prix Ronde de Nuit at Deauville in March.

Evading Tempete (3f Dubai Destination – Late Summer by Gone West) is trained by Francois Rohaut and will now be set for the G1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot on June 18.