By Peter Moore at Newbury 20th September 2025

The feature race on the second day of Newbury’s Dubai Duty Free International Weekend, the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes, this year named in honour of the great jockey Geoff Lewis who sadly passed away in August, was won by the Charlie Appleby trained Words of Truth.

Eight horses lined up for the 6f Group 2 contest with all eyes on Into The Sky who made a sensational debut 23 days ago at the course by blowing away the opposition to win by seven and a half lengths at 80-1.

Connections and trainer Jim Boyle clearly have high hopes for the colt after he was supplemented earlier in the week for £6,250.

Into The Sky was quickly into his stride out of the gates setting a blistering pace. Heading into the final half furlong it looked lkike he was going to hold on under Pat Cosgrave before William Buick swept past him in the final hundred yards with a late run to pip the exciting two-year-old by a length.

Earlier Buick had steered the Andrew Balding trained Lieber Power to victory in the Class 2 1m 6f handicap.

A month ago the gelding was run down close home to loose out at Windsor but made amends today by getting the better of Majestic Warrior by three quarters of a length.

Tom Marquand continued his sparkling form at the course after riding a treble this afternoon. Following on from yesterday’s double, he was successful in the opener for the Haggas’s with First Instinct before bagging the penultimate and final races of the day through Christian David and Eternal Force.

Richard Hannon narrowly missed out on completing a treble after Stem was pipped for victory by Eternal Force in the Finale. However, the Marlborough trainer still managed a welcome double. Both Christian David and Night Patrol weren’t highly fancied in the market with Christian David sent off at 18-1 and Night Patrol a 125-1 shot. The double for Hannon amounted to 2,250-1 and also gave winning jockey on Night Patrol John Fahy just his second winner of the year.

Soft ground, Newbury and the Dubai Duty Free Handicap always bring out the best in Mustazeed who won the renewal of this race for the second year in a row.

Course specialist Mustazeed, who loves plenty of cut in the ground appeared well handicapped and the return to Newbury was just what the doctor ordered after coming through on the rails to deny Theory Of Tides by half a length for Harry Eustace.