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Decorated Knight could be set for a trip to Dubai after making a winning return at Lingfield

Decorated Knight returned a winner on Saturday for Roger Charlton when gamely holding off Arab Spring to take the Listed Winter Derby Trial Stakes at Lingfield.

The homebred son of Galileo was last seen back in July when running out the authoritative winner of the Group 3 Meld Stakes at Leopardstown. He was due to make his next start in the Arlington Million but unfortunately had to be scratched at the last minute.

Decorated Knight assumed a good position under regular pilot Andrea Atzeni and once the split opened, put his trademark turn of foot to good use to sweep past the leader and win with a bit in hand.

“He’s a horse who is getting better as he’s getting older – physically he’s getting stronger,” Andrea Atzeni told At The Races. “He did it well, he took me there and I was easy on him as he’s been off since July. He picked up Ryan [Moore on Arab Spring] well in the end and once he got his head in front, he’d thought he’d done enough. He’s a horse with a big future.”

Harry Charlton added: “That was great. He’s had 205 days off and a lot of those other horses today had been running through the winter. Andrea said he only gave him two slaps on the shoulder and as he said, he’ll take a bit of stopping if he stays for the Winter Derby. Otherwise, there is the Jebel Hatta on Super Saturday in Dubai – that’s a very interesting option for a Galileo entire who is related to Gleneagles among others.”

Pearling

Decorated Knight, who was winning his third stakes race overall, is the first foal out of Pearling, a daughter of Storm Cat who joined the stud when purchased by Tony Nerses at the 2011 Tattersalls December Sale. Pearling boasts a pedigree out of the top drawer as a sister to champion Giant’s Causeway, subsequently a multiple champion sire for Coolmore in America, and the Group 2-placed Freud, himself a leading sire in New York.

Another sibling, Cherry Hinton Stakes winner You’resothrilling, is the dam of top miler Gleneagles, Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Marvellous and Group 3-winning juvenile Coolmore.

It is also the immediate family of Classic-placed colt Storm The Stars.

Pearling’s two-year-old, the Frankel filly Ambrosia, was placed last year for Roger Varian.

Pearling returns to Galileo in 2017.