Ger Lyons

Ger Lyons took his second Irish Classic of the season on Saturday with the Coolmore-owned Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) and is already looking forward to her 4-year-old season. "A real plan hasn't been made, but her real career could kick in at four because there's a good programme for the older fillies," he said of the three-time winner. "There's obviously the Yorkshire Oaks, but I wouldn't be in a rush to take on Love, without talking to connections they let all of their horses take each other on, but...

Jockey Colin Keane confirmed on Nick Luck's Daily Podcast that he will cop the 14-day quarantine and continue his association with Siskin (First Defence) in the July 29 G1 Sussex S. Keane has ridden Siskin in all five of his starts, including a last-out win in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas on June 12, and a trip to Goodwood for the rider means that he will have to quarantine for two weeks upon returning to Ireland. "There are not too many like Siskin that I've got to sit on...

Ger Lyons is increasingly hopeful Colin Keane will opt to maintain his partnership with Siskin (First Defence) in the G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood on Wednesday week--with Frankie Dettori "waiting in the wings" should he opt to stay in Ireland. Former Irish champion Keane has ridden the unbeaten G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas hero in all his career starts, but current rules in Ireland surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic mean he would have to spend 14 days in quarantine on his return home, should he travel to Goodwood. Lyons, who...

Ger Lyons had suffered a rare downturn at The Curragh's weekend meeting when Frenetic (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) was overturned in the G2 Airlie Stud S., but the Irish Oaks-winning trainer was straight back in the game with Peter Brant's Lemista (Ire) (Raven's Pass) in Sunday's G2 Kilboy Estate S. Causing an upset when upstaging Saturday's Classic heroine Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) in the G3 Park Express S. over a mile at Naas Mar. 23, the bay had confirmed her class when adding the Listed Victor McCalmont Memorial S. to...

Kameko (Kitten's Joy) and Siskin (First Defence), winners respectively of the G1 Qipco 2000 Guineas and G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas, are set to meet in the G1 Sussex S. on July 29. Kameko was last seen finishing fourth in the G1 Investec Derby on July 4, while Siskin comes in off his Curragh Classic win on June 12. David Redvers, racing and bloodstock advisor to Kameko's owner Qatar Racing, told Nick Luck's Daily podcast that the Sussex would be used as a stepping stone to the G1 Juddmonte International...

The Curragh staged the first 2-year-old black-type event of 2020 on Saturday and it was the aptly-named filly Frenetic (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) who burned off her rivals to land the spoils in the Listed GAIN First Flier S. and continue the purple patch for her sire. Sent off the 10-11 favourite having impressed on her winning debut in a June 10 Navan fillies' maiden, SBA Racing Limited's bay ploughed a lone furrow towards the stand's side under Colin Keane and never looked likely to surrender her lead. At the line,...

First Love, now Peaceful. In another alarming week in world events, we could all use a little of both, but they are of course the two latest Classic winners for their peerless sire Galileo (Ire). When winning the Moyglare Stud S. last September, Love (Ire), now also the 1000 Guineas winner, sparked a Group 1 double on Irish Champions Weekend which was completed by the Irish St Leger winner Search For A Song (Ire). By November, Galileo had drawn level with Danehill's record on 84 individual Group 1 winners thanks...

There were a few nervous moments for connections of Siskin (First Defence) as Friday's G1 Irish 2000 Guineas unwound, but class ultimately told in the first Curragh Classic of 2020 to end Ger Lyons's agonisingly long wait for his red-letter day. Unbeaten on Irish soil last term, having captured the important juvenile staging posts of the G2 Railway S. and G1 Phoenix S. here, Khalid Abdullah's homebred had lost his head in the stalls at the start of Newmarket's G1 Middle Park S. to put a question mark into the...

The field for Saturday evening's G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas has been set and 15 fillies are due postward for the €250,000 Classic. The Niarchos family's homebred G1 Prix Marcel Boussac victress and ante-post favourite Albigna (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) will depart from gate 13 while her Jessica Harrington stablemate and G3 Oh So Sharp S. runner-up Valeria Messalina (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) has drawn stall four. Aidan O'Brien saddles just two for this year's renewal with G1 Moyglare Stud S. third So Wonderful (War Front) due to exit the...

The smart gold-braided colours of SBA Racing Ltd, the operation of Prince Sultan Bin Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, were seen on a racecourse for the first time on Wednesday and they were carried with some distinction by an equally smart looking filly by the name of Frenetic (Ire). The daughter of Kodiac (GB) appears as professional as she is precocious and made all the running in Navan's opening five-furlong maiden to give Ger Lyons his first 2-year-old winner of the campaign. That Frenetic is based at the Lyons family's...

Khalid Abdullah's unbeaten Siskin (First Defence) will have 10 rivals to contend with in Friday evening's €250,000 G1 Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh after the draw was made on Wednesday. Successful in the G2 Railway S. and G1 Phoenix S. over six furlongs at the track last summer, the homebred is nevertheless on a retrieval mission having been taken out at the start of the G1 Middle Park S. at Newmarket when becoming upset in the stalls. Provided there is no repeat of that, he has a favourable draw...

Last year's G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. winner Siskin (First Defence) remains on course to kick off his 3-year-old season in the G1 Irish 2000 Guineas on June 12. Teddy Grimthorpe, racing manager to owner Khalid Abdullah, said, "Providing Prince Khalid is happy, Siskin is heading to the Irish 2000 Guineas. [Trainer] Ger [Lyons] has been very positive and again everything has been straightforward and he is going really well. He has progressed well and though he will never be a big horse he has furnished nicely and Ger is very...