ON his favoured soft ground Maker Of Kings showed that he is one of the most formidable pattern class operators around as he turned the Group 3 Coolmore U S Navy Flag Concorde Stakes into an utterly one-sided affair at Tipperary on Monday.

As the winner of the Amethyst Stakes in May before taking second in the Meld Stakes a couple of months later, the Ger Lyons-trained four-year-old lined up with already rock-solid credentials. He duly enjoyed a straightforward triumph to enhance his standing as a very decent performer at this level, although the manner of this success would suggest that he could fly higher still next year.