John Ryan's Iver Bridge Lad won the Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte on Tuesday to gain a first Pattern win for jockey Michael O'Connell.
Deserved success for stable star
John Ryan's Iver Bridge Lad won the Prix de Seine-et-Oise at Maisons-Laffitte on Tuesday.
Victory in the Group Three contest was certainly not coming out of turn for Ryan's stable star who, despite being below par the last twice, has posted a number of creditable efforts in defeat.
The four year old was partnered by former jump jockey Michael O'Connell who was winning his first Pattern race since transferring to the Flat and the pair had two and a half lengths in hand at the line.
Second place went to Fred Lalloupet but the contest was dominated by the British contingent with last year's winner Definightly only a short-head back in third for Roger Charlton.
Secret Asset, second in the Prix de l'Abbaye, was a length and a half back in fourth with Total Gallery seventh and Mirza ninth.
Plan Comes Together
"I'm delighted and this race has been the plan for quite a while," said Ryan.
"The horse was bang in form like we thought he was and as they used to say, it's nice when a plan comes together.
"He went to Dubai earlier in the year and ran really well and came back from there in good form.
"He was only beaten three lengths in the King's Stand at Royal Ascot and we'd had a long season by then.
"We gave him a break and brought him back for the Prix de l'Abbaye, but the ground went against us and we just weren't sharp enough on the day.
"We had planned then to bring him straight to this race but we went for a handicap at Doncaster because we got dropped a pound in the weights and that run has set him up nicely for today.
"He was 70-1 today and the owner had a nice bet on, so it's worked out great.
"We needed to win convincingly today to have any chance of being invited to Hong Kong, so that could be a possibility, but I definitely want to go back to Dubai with him."
