Lake Forest hands his connections a huge payday with dramatic Golden Eagle win
William Haggas’s habit of plundering Australian riches continued apace on Saturday when Lake Forest (No Nay Never) swooped late to spring an upset in a drama-filled edition of the $10 million Golden Eagle (1500m) at Rosehill.
Ridden by visiting jockey Cieren Fallon, the Tony Bloom and Ian McAleavy-raced colt settled in the second half of the field and unleashed a rapid finish up the inside, bursting through in the shadow of the winning post to deny the Jerome Reynier-trained Lazzat (Territories) by 0.51 lengths, handing the Europeans a quinella in the lucrative event.
The Godolphin-raced Tom Kitten (Harry Angel) finished a further 0.07 lengths away in a bunch finish.
But there was a long wait until the result was confirmed, with Lazzat’s rider Antonio Orani firing in a protest against Fallon, while Zac Lloyd on the fifth-placed Stefi Magnetica (All Too Hard), alleged Orani caused his mount interference.
The stewards conceded the incident was costly for Stefi Magnetica, but they couldn’t be certain she would have beaten the runner-up home and the objection was dismissed, but the second protest by Lazzat’s connections against the winner were quickly quashed.
Fallon did have a hefty price to pay for the bold manoeuvre in the dying strides, with the rider handed a month’s suspension and a record fine of $100,000 for careless riding, while Orani will have to shell out $30,000 and also sit out a month in the saddle for the same offence.
Despite the drama, Fallon, son of former champion rider Kieren, described the win as ‘a career highlight’.
“I thought if we used too much energy early on, we’d have been taking away our turn of foot, so I had to ride him quite brave and hope we got a bit of luck,” the winning rider said.
“My first time out here, to be able to be part of such a strong stable, obviously the boss has been sending horses out here for the last few years and they’ve been coming out on top. So I was very confident.
“But in terms of career, this probably would be up there.”
Haggas has now had 18 runners in Sydney for ten winners, although while the likes of Addeybb (Pivotal) and Dubai Honour (Pride Of Dubai) have both been fancied, Lake Forest started at double-figure odds.
“It is kind of nice, it takes the pressure off a little bit,” Haggas’s travelling foreperson Isabella Paul said of the horse’s odds.
“But you don’t bring them all down here if you don’t think they’ve got a chance. I actually said on the radio this morning: ‘I think he’s too big a price’.
Haggas is enjoying a short break in Italy, but Paul said he was ‘over the moon’ with the result.
As for the stable’s success in choosing the right horses to bring to Australia, she said those decisions were all down to Haggas himself.
“That’s just down to the boss. He is a genius,” she said.
“We weren’t sure about this horse because he is only three and we like them to be a bit older, he is still a colt and we usually bring geldings down, but hopefully we can find a few more like him.”
A winner of the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 2, 6f) at York as a juvenile, Lake Forest has been lightly campaigned in Europe this season, finishing second on his seasonal debut in the Commonwealth Cup (Gr 1, 6f), before occupying that same position in Newbury’s Hackwood Stakes (Gr 3, 6f) in July, his last appearance before his trip to Australia.
Bred by Sahara Group Holdings, Lake Forest was a 130,000gns buy for Eighteen Bloodstock out of Book 1 at the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in 2022.
Out of the US Grade 3-placed winner Lady Aquitaine (El Prado), the colt is a half-brother US Grade 3 scorer Star Fortress (Sea The Stars) and Listed-winning pair Lady Of Kyushu (Smart Strike) and Clint Maroon (Oasis Dream).