Sole Power edging through with an extraordinary win

Irish flyer Sole Power won the highlight of the third day of the York Festival, the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes, this afternoon.

Sole Power, ridden by Richard Hughes, just got a gap with half a furlong to go and burst through it to win the £150,000 purse by half a length.

It was the second Group One win for the five-furling king this season, having already won the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot.

The Prix de l'Abbaye, on the first Sunday of October in Longchamp, now looks the most likely target for this speedster, as long as the ground does not turn up too soft in Paris on that day.

Easy: Australia

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Double-Derby winner Australia was a brilliant victor of the Juddmonte International at York this afternoon.

Produced superbly by Joseph O'Brien at the furlong pole, Australia sprinted away from the French Derby hero The Grey Gatsby with Telescope third and the Eclipse Stakes winner, Mukhadram, in fourth.

It was well worth Joseph sweating down to 8st 12lbs to ride this horse as he won a third Group One of the season, and over half a million pounds sterling, in super style.

Surely now Australia will head to Leopardstown for the Irish Champion Stakes on September 13th, where his presence will give a great boost to the first-ever Irish Champions Weekend.

Even before he had won a race this season, trainer Aidan O'Brien called this horse 'the best we've ever had at Ballydoyle'. Maybe now people will start believing him.  

Fergal Lynch happy to be back in the UK

Fergal Lynch is viewing the rest of his career as a “new era” after being allowed back to ride in the United Kingdom.

The British Horseracing Authority last week lifted the restrictions placed on Lynch, who admitted stopping Bond City from winning at Ripon in August 2004.

He has been based in Ireland since being granted a licence by the Irish Turf Club in 2012, but returned to ride at Ayr on Monday aboard Mr Bounty, a horse owned by his father and trained by Michael O'Callaghan.

Lynch will be assisting the BHA in its integrity courses, specifically helping with the education of young jockeys.

"My last ride here (in Britain) was at Beverley August 2008 just before I went to America," said Lynch.

"I'm delighted to be back, I never gave up and went to rebuild my career and it's good to be back.

"It's all been dealt with between myself and the BHA and there are a lot of positives to take out of the story like an integrity video for younger jockeys, helping them to move forward and prevent them making the same mistakes..

"I just hope now I can help young jockeys not to get into problems – I am ashamed of what I did and wish it never had happened.

"The plan is to take things week by week and whenever the chance is there to come over here to ride I will come over, but I am an Irish jockey, still based in Ireland.

"Plenty of trainers have offered me rides and it is very kind of them, but as I say, I will be based in Ireland.

"The BHA will be dealing with what plans we have in mind (working with racing colleges), running apprentice courses, making them aware of the downfalls of gambling.

"I don't want to dwell over these things every day, everything has been covered, this is a new era for me.

"I definitely want to come back to ride in England when the opportunities arrive. Nothing has changed much over here, a lot of the jockeys are a bit younger, but it's mostly the same jockeys and valets so there's not a lot different.

"Everything has been well documented, but every box has been ticked and I'm excited at being back. There have been some critics, but everyone is entitled to their opinion and if they say I shouldn't come back, that is up to them."

Jockey Fergal Lynch

Fergal Lynch is allowed to ride in Britain for an initial one-year period, confirmed the British Horseracing Authority.

 

Lynch, 36, admitted to stopping a horse, Bond City, from winning at Ripon in August 2004, supplying inside information about six of his rides, and associating with the disqualified Miles Rodgers.

The former champion apprentice was fined £50,000 in July 2009 and agreed not to ride in Britain for at least a year as part of a plea bargain agreement with the BHA.

He has been granted permission to ride in Britain under BHA rules as an overseas jockey, initially for a probationary period.

The decision to lift the restriction was made by the BHA and followed the receipt of an application from Lynch, together with extensive written submissions, and subsequent interviews with the jockey and his representatives.

The lifting of this restriction will be subject to on-going review.

His bid to regain a jockey's licence in Britain had been refused by a licensing committee of the BHA in March 2011.

The committee rejected his application as it felt he was not a suitable, or "fit and proper", person.
He has, however, been free to ride in Ireland, after he was granted a licence by the Irish Turf Club in April 2012.

Lynch, who was cleared of race-fixing charges in December 2007 following the infamous collapse of the Old Bailey trial, subsequently started a new career as a jockey in the United States.

He moved to America in 2008, and was a leading rider at Philadelphia Park until July 2009, when the racecourse's licensing authority decided it would not approve him as a jockey unless he obtained a British licence.

Lynch was then granted a licence to ride in Spain, where he claimed a first European winner in May 2011, after which he began riding in Ireland later that month on his Spanish licence.

Between September and November 2011, Lynch also rode in France and Germany.

 

Noble Mission (left)

Next month’s Qipco Irish Champion Stakes has not yet been confirmed as the next staging post for Noble Mission.

Connections of the rejuvenated five-year-old had mentioned the Leopardstown Group One on September 13 as a possible objective after he finished a close second in the Grosser Dallmayr-Preis at Munich on July 27.

Frankel's full brother also holds an entry in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on August 20, but trainer Lady Cecil said: "We haven't made a decision yet regarding Noble's next race.

"He's fine, but Munich was quite a journey."

Noble Mission has been a reformed character since front-running tactics were deployed early this season, during which time he won three races on the spin, including in the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh in May.

(PA)