But winning a Cartier Award takes something different, since votes would account for a significant part of the outcome. One of only three horses nominated in two distinct categories, Charyn obviously captured public attention and ellicited important support from voters to earn the 2024 Older Horse award.

“I think what has really pleased people, what people have really appreciated about Charyn this season, has been that it’s a horse that has no excuses. He’s just a very likeable horse. The public has really latched on to the fact that he’s a horse that just goes out and does his stuff.” Katherine Ford

To many observers, Charyn probably wrapped up the championship for outstanding miler in the Prix Jacques Le Marois. With Rosallion benched for an unknown period of time and Notable Speech unable to make the grade against older foes, it was only a question of Charyn’s ability to maintain his form until the end of the season. Which he did beautifully indeed !

Technically, with an IFHA rating of 124, Charyn is the top-rated miler in the world, two pounds above the pair of classic-winning three-year-olds Notable Speech (2000 Guineas) and Rosallion (Irish 2000 Guineas).

“The colt by Dark Angel out of the Kodiac mare Futoon has a pedigree that would lead many to believe it was all about his juvenile campaign. Dark Angel retired to stud aged two and Kodiac is a prolific source of juvenile talent, yet Charyn made his debut after the all-important Royal Ascot two year old races had been run. That didn’t stop him displaying his precocity, something that will prove important when he joins the stallion ranks.” Laura Joy

If you crunch the numbers further, from Dark Angel’s 17 Grade or Group 1 winners, only two achieved this status at 2, both from his 11th crop and Angel Bleu being one of them. As a matter of fact, Charyn is typical of his sire’s best progeny, who tends to sire precocious stock that frequently train on as older horses and keep on improving. In other words, the Dark Angels are not all about cheap speed; they are fast, tough, and genuine, and Charyn, with 19 career starts, typifies this.

Bred from a 5 furlongs winning mare whose first foal Wings Of War became the second Gr.2 Mill Reef Stakes scorer within his first three removes, Charyn was clearly bred with a speed pattern in mind.

“With Angel Bleu and Golden Horde standing alongside Charyn, the farm offers breeders patronizing this unique and specialist line of Dark Angel a number of options. It traces to Northern Dancer through a series of sires of specialist sprinter-milers that goes like this:  Acclamation / Royal Applause / Wajib / Try My Best / Northern Dancer. It’s a sire line built on type that’s stayed consistent through five generations, and that is very much a part of its appeal and reason for its success.” Sid Fernando

“As far as Dark Angel is concerned, he was expected to throw sharp two-year-olds when they first emerged in the spring 2011. And that he did. For instance, there was Lily’s Angel, who won her first three starts topped by the Lily Agnes Stakes at Chester’s May meeting. At that the same Chester May meeting, her stablemate Gabrial ran away with his debut over 5f. As it turned out, both horses came to epitomise a typical Dark Angel; between them, they ran 19 times in good company at two and trained on into Group performers during similarly busy campaigns as older horses.

Over a decade on and the progressive, high-class Dark Angel remains very much a part of the British and Irish racing landscape, as we saw at Royal Ascot where the stallion – now a 19-year-old veteran – was represented by the Group 1 winners Charyn and Khaadem.

Today, Dark Angel’s 17 Group or Grade 1 winners underline how speed is the overriding theme, as you would expect from the Acclamation and Royal Applause sire line. But several have stretched out successfully as well including the top-class milers Angel Bleu and Charyn. 

From an early stage it was apparent that Dark Angel was developing into a fair broodmare sire. Havana Grey, who is now such an important stallion for British breeding, was one of the first flagbearers in that department ” Nancy Sexton

Taken separately, the Queen Anne Stakes, Prix Jacques Le Marois and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes already boast lofty stallion-making records. With victories in two of these famed group ones limiting membership to a small number of very high-profile horses, a treble looked forever out of reach… Then came Charyn, not only the first horse who ever racked up theses three highly prestigious races, but who did so in a single season !