Dual Group One-winning Irish star Gordon Lord Byron leaves quarantine in England today in search of gold ‘Down Under’ at The Championships to be staged at Royal Randwick next month.
Trainer Tom Hogan was beaming after watching his charge’s final fast work gallop at Newmarket ahead of his flight from London’s Heathrow airport to Melbourne where he arrives on Saturday.
“He’s in great form and looks really well,” Hogan said. “The horse is probably two sharp bits of work away from being spot on. He’s ready to travel and ready to race and we’d love to be down there to compete with those good Aussie horses and see how we get on.”
Gordon Lord Byron will enter arrival quarantine on Saturday at Werribee in Victoria before travelling to Sydney and arriving on March 22.
Gordon Lord Byron’s initial target is the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes run over 1500m at Rosehill Gardens on March 29. The horse is then expected to drop back in distance to contest the $2.5million Group 1 Darley TJ Smith Stakes over 1200m on Day One of The Championships on April 12.
The Championships CEO, Ian Mackay, said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming Gordon Lord Byron and his team to Sydney and it’s wonderful news that all is going well for him so far.
“By all accounts he is a brilliant horse with some serious credentials that puts him right up with our best sprinters. He’s got such a great racing story behind him as well having been purchased for a song. Some have said he is the Takeover Target story of Irish racing.”
Gordon Lord Byron made his debut as a 20/1 outsider and unfortunately fractured his pelvis which saw him away from the track for the best part of a year.
His journey since has been remarkable, having won nine times with two Group One victories to his name – the 2012 Prix de la Forget over 1400m at Longchamp, Paris and the Sprint Cup over 1200m at Haydock Park, UK last year.
The six-year-old has also run in top class Group One events in Dubai and Hong Kong and now travels that little bit further to see if he can conquer the best sprinters in Australia.
Last season, apart from taking the Sprint Cup, Gordon Lord Byron also won twice in his native Ireland, including the Group 3 Desmond Stakes over 1600m.
Gordon Lord Byron’s placed runs were also consistently first class, finishing behind none other than Cartier Champion Older Horse of the Year, Moonlight Cloud, on two occasions in 2013 that were both in Group Ones in France.
His reliable nature even saw him reverse that form in December, where after a checkered run he finished a gallant fourth ahead of European wonder-mare Moonlight Cloud in the Hong Kong Mile, a race he also finished fourth in the previous year.
– Australian Turf Club
