HUGHIE Morrison made a bold bid to land a third successive renewal of the Group 2 Darley Prix Kergorlay, saddling his two previous winners, Marmelo and Nearly Caught, to finish second and third. That was better than the Willie Mullins-trained Irish challenger, Renneti, who lost touch with the field three furlongs out and trailed home in ninth. But neither Mullins nor Morrison would surely have begrudged victory to the comprehensive two and a half-length winner, Holdthasigreen. This six-year-old gelding is even more of family horse than Nonza and was winning in pattern company for the first time after clocking up no less than seven listed victories.

TEARAWAY

Owned and bred by Jean Gilbert and Claude le Lay, Holdthasigreen used to be a complete tearaway but has calmed down to such an extent that he didn’t even make the running here, sitting in midfield before jockey Tony Piccone kicked into what turned out to be an unassailable lead rounding the home turn. Le Lay, who trained the son of Hold That Tiger until handing over the reins to his son-in-law, Bruno Androuin, two years ago, said: “He has been the horse of a lifetime for me.

“As a two-year-old he wouldn’t even go on the gallops and kept getting rid of his rider. I really must thank Bruno and my daughter, Alexandra, as they have done an amazing job with him.

“We have been able to calm him down – by walking him in the woods and taking him out hunting – so that he has learned to enjoy his work.

“He could run in the Prix du Cadran or we might think about taking him abroad.”