Four-year-old Shopton Lane ran out the three-length winner of the Listed $67,9000 Formal Gold Stakes at Monmouth Park on Saturday.
The Quiet American colt was making his fifth start of the year in what has been a productive campaign: he has won three and been second and third, all in Stakes company at Aqueduct, Belmont and now in New Jersey.
Racing for Dubaian businessman Malih Al Basti, who signed for the top lot, a first-crop son of Darley’s European stallion Dubawi, at the recent Doncaster St Leger Yearling Sale in the UK, Shopton Lane has been tremendously consistent for his owner, returning to the winner’s circle in more than half of his 17 career starts. Out of Lightfoot Lane, by Phone Trick, he was bred by Eugene Melnyk.
Quiet American, sire of such talented performers as Real Quiet, Cara Rafaela and Hidden Lake, has six Stakes winners to his name in 2008, including Jade's Revenge, Naughty New Yorker and La Dolce Vita.
