Knavesmire winner trains sights on Hong Kong

Trainer David O'Meara, trained Move in Time to victory in Paris which prompts shift for Sole Power.

The winner of the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes on Knavesmire was unsurprisingly a hot favourite to clinch a third Group One prize of the season with conditions in Paris to suit, but the gaps failed to materialise for Richard Hughes.

Sole Power finished seemingly full of running in eighth, beaten by just a couple of lengths, and trainer Eddie Lynam reports his veteran sprinter to have returned to Ireland none the worse.

The seven-year-old will now bid to go one better than 12 months ago in December’s Hong Kong Sprint.

Lynam said: “He’s fine. He had no race and a very easy time, so we’ll aim for Hong Kong now.”

The County Meath-based handler will wait until the end of this week before deciding whether to supplement exciting  juvenile Agnes Stewart for the  Fillies’ Mile at Newmarket on  October 17.

The daughter of Lawman was an impressive winner of the May Hill Stakes at Doncaster last month and could test the water at Group One level at Newmarket if conditions are deemed suitable.

Meanwhile, the Breeders’ Cup Mile has been identified as a potential target for Kiyoshi after she failed to show her true colours at Newmarket on Saturday.

After getting her season up and running with an impressive display in the Sceptre Stakes at Doncaster’s Ladbrokes St Leger meeting last month, the three-year-old was pitched in at Group One level again in last weekend’s Sun Chariot but came up short, finishing fifth of seven runners.

Trainer Charlie Hills felt the way the race was run went against his filly and expects the likely fast pace she would encounter at Santa Anita to be right up her street.

He said: “We weren’t too disheartened with Kiyoshi in the Sun Chariot. The slow early pace didn’t really suit her as she seems to run best when there’s a very strong early pace and she can run at them. The ground also wouldn’t have been in her favour. We are going to consider the Breeders’ Cup Mile, where she should get the fast early pace and quick ground she likes.”

However, owner John Deer is in no rush to decide whether Al Kazeem will race next year following his creditable 10th place finish in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp.

The winner of three Group One prizes during a tremendous 2013 campaign, Al Kazeem was only brought back into training after being found to be sub-fertile at stud.