Haydock Sprint Cup for Lake Forest next if conditions suit
Sign up now: Get the biggest sports news in your inbox
Lake Forest (Cieren Fallon, No 2) finishing the best in the Group 2 Lennox Stakes (1,400m) at Goodwood on July 28.
PHOTO: RACING AND SPORTS
Sharon Zhang
Dual Group 2 winner Lake Forest could be returning soon for another attempt in a Group 1 feature on Sept 5.
Trainer William Haggas and connections now have the £400,000 (S$690,000) Haydock Sprint Cup (1,200m) in mind for the five-year-old gelding.
The son of No Nay Never last finished second behind trainer Charlie Appleby’s star miler Notable Speech in the Group 1 City Of York Stakes (1,400m) at York on Aug 22.
Haggas was pleased with Lake Forest’s run.
The British conditioner said after the race that the gelding could be considered for the Group 1 Prix de la Foret (1,400m) at ParisLongchamp on Oct 4 and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile (1,600m) at Keeneland on Oct 31.
But given Lake Forest’s five-time win record over 1,200m to 1,500m, including his two Group 2 victories in the Lennox Stakes (1,400m) on July 28 and the 2023 Gimcrack Stakes (1,200m), he is also capable of mixing it with the best in the sprint division.
Sean Graham, racing manager for Premier League football club Brighton and Hove Albion supremo Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy, said the connections are keen to take a chance in the Group 1 sprint at Merseyside, but the ground underfoot would be the determining factor if Lake Forest runs.
“Lake Forest ran a blinder and was beaten by a 2000 Guineas and Breeders’ Cup winner (Notable Speech) and he’s gone and run just another absolutely superb race,” he said to Racing TV.
“The problem we’ll have now is the ground will change.
“He will just about go in good to soft ground, and maybe handle soft okay, but once it gets heavy, I just don’t think he can operate in it as well.
“We’re looking at Haydock for the Sprint Cup and that would be one option. The ground would play a big part on if we go there.
“There’s also the Prix de la Foret on Arc weekend and after that, we might look at the Breeders’ Cup Mile with him.”
Lake Forest last contested in a 1,200m showpiece at Royal Ascot on June 20 when he finished a close-up fifth in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes, which was won by stablemate Almeraq.
Graham said he had excuses for being beaten then.
“Our idea when he ran in the sprint at Ascot was to hold him up while they went really fast up front and then he can come through and finish strongly,” he said.
“The trouble was they didn’t go that fast up front and we probably didn’t need to sit as far back as he did, but it’s easy saying that after the event.”
Adding to the possibility of a Breeders’ Cup Mile rematch in the autumn with six-time Group 1 victor Notable Speech, Graham thought the US showpiece could be an attractive prospect for Lake Forest, who has netted over £3.5 million in prizemoney in 20 starts.
“Since he’s been gelded, he’s so much more straightforward and a proper Group 1 horse,” he said.
“We can take him anywhere and if he gets his optimum conditions, he’ll pop up and win one of these big races at some point.
“He would be going round two bends in America which I think would suit, and the thing with the Breeders’ Cup as well is there is a maximum field of around 12, and it’s not like Ascot where you have over 20 runners.
“I think William is more worried about the Americans being so quick out of the gate and whether he would lose too much ground at the start.
“But we’ll take it one race at a time with him and see.”
