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| Staff Writer |
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Lake Forest has Royal Ascot firmly in his crosshairs following an encouraging fourth-place finish at ParisLongchamp on Sunday. The William Haggas-trained 4YO used the Prix du Palais-Royal as his seasonal comeback after missing his intended Hong Kong target.
The son of No Nay Never, who captured the Gimcrack Stakes as a juvenile, demonstrated his class with eyecatching late progress from the rear in the seven-furlong Group Three contest. Cieren Fallon partnered the gelding on his first appearance for 204 days.
Originally scheduled to begin his campaign in the Champions Mile at Sha Tin, Lake Forest suffered a minor setback that forced connections to revise their plans. The delay meant his seasonal debut came in France rather than the Far East.
"It was also his first run back after having a slight setback before he was due to run in Hong Kong," explained Sean Graham, racing manager to Tony Bloom, who owns the colt with Ian McAleavy.
The Queen Anne Stakes now represents the logical next step for Lake Forest, who earned Group Two placings in the Commonwealth Cup and Hackwood Stakes last season. His campaign concluded with a lucrative victory in the Golden Eagle at Rosehill, where he collected the US$1.8million prize.
"We were always worried going out there that there wouldn't be a strong pace in the race and that proved to be the case," Graham added. "He was a bit rusty and he will definitely improve for the run, the plan is to go to the Queen Anne now."