There is little more to be said about Gordon Lord Byron’s career but the admirable six-year-old wrote yet another chapter in his globe-trotting tale as he came through the eye of a needle late on to win the British Champions Sprint Stakes for Tom Hogan and Wayne Lordan.
The six-year-old, whose career earnings now stand close to €2m, once again shone on the big stage as he built on a couple of recent Group 1 seconds. After starting his year with a stunning top-flight win in Australia, the Morgan Calahan and Cyrus Poonawalla-owned gelding remains at the very peak of his powers and his story is truly the stuff of fairytales.
Forgotten Rules
Half an hour earlier, Forgotten Rules served notice that he is going to be a dominant force in the staying division as he overpowered his rivals in the British Champions Long Distance. Dermot Weld started out this four-year-old in a bumper at Punchestown in April, which he won in some style, and the Ascot race represented just the third outing of his career.
Forgotten Rules shouldn’t be long in making his mark at the highest level and the same applies to stablemate Free Eagle, who ran very well on unsuitably soft ground to take third in the Qipco British Champion Stakes. Free Eagle is one of the most exciting four-year-old prospects around for 2015 and his return to action is eagerly awaited.
Endless drama
This weekend marks the conclusion of the domestic flat season and the racing on the level has been of a relatively low-key variety over the last fortnight. However, Naas last Sunday played host to a striking display from the Ger Lyons juvenile Endless Drama. This unraced son of Lope De Vega, who has enjoyed a tremendous season with his first runners, looked a colt of a major potential in storming to a five and a half lengths success in a six-furlong maiden.
Poet’s Voice tops a terrific Tatts
The buoyant trade at this autumn’s round of yearling sales continued at Tattersalls last week where the company’s October Yearling Sale Book 2 produced a remarkable set of returns. An aggregate of over 42.5m gns was a new record for the sale while the 64,478gns average and the 50,000gns median both made major gains. A sale-topping price of 525,000gns, paid by Shadwell Estates for a colt from the first crop of Poet’s Voice, represented another high on a week where the number of six-figure deals grew from 62 to 109.




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