Keeneland Phoenix Stakes (Group 1)

IRELAND’S top rated two-year-old showed both the class and heart that are the preserve of top-class runners as Siskin dug deep to give Ger Lyons and Colin Keane a long yearned for first Group 1 success on home soil in the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes.

An unbeaten run that took in a conditions race, the Marble Hill Stakes and the Railway Stakes made Siskin the one to beat for the first Group 1 of the year in Europe for juveniles which attracted just five runners. The odds-on favourite had to work on unsuitable soft ground but when it really mattered he was not found wanting.

Dynamic duo

This was a second Group 1 success for both the trainer and jockey and for Lyons it was a first since Lightening Pearl won the 2011 Cheveley Park Stakes while Keane was adding to his initial top level victory in the 2017 Premio Lydia Tesio. A first home Group 1 victory for the duo was long overdue and equally well deserved given the dynamic and hugely prolific partnership that they have forged over the last few years.

In just his second season training for Khalid Abdullah, Lyons has unearthed a great prospect in this still unbeaten son of First Defence.

The trainer was quick to downplay talk of the 2000 Guineas and was instead concentrating on the rest of this year but he can aim as high as he likes as Siskin displayed many admirable traits in becoming the only horse in recent times to have completed the Marble Hill-Railway-Phoenix Stakes treble.

Unflappable

The unflappable Siskin refused to be unsettled by the persistent attentions of a loose horse beforehand and in the race the 10/11 favourite did everything right. He travelled supremely well, quickened to lead and then quickened again to defeat a persistent Monarch Of Egypt by three-quarters of a length.

“My confidence was shot all week with the rain that was falling,” reflected a delighted Lyons. “Today was about learning whether we go for the National Stakes and Dewhurst or the Middle Park. I’m not sure we learnt anything new today but we did learn that we’ve a very good and tough horse who just takes everything in his stride.”