Layfayette continued his march up the ranks and completed a hat-trick this season when taking the featured Coolmore Sottsass Irish EBF Mooresbridge Stakes at the Curragh this afternoon.

The Noel Meade-trained gelding was gaining his seventh career success having landed the Lincoln here last year and also gained a Group 3 success at the Curragh last month in the Alleged Stakes.

The progressive five-year-old was sent off a 3/1 chance against six rivals in this Group 2 ten-furlong event with Chris Hayes taking over in the saddle from the sidelined Oisin Orr.

He travelled well on the outer entering the straight and after taking it up about a furlong from home, kept on well to beat Bear Story by three-quarters-of-a-length. Visualisation was a further length away in third.

Meade said, “He’s not in the Tattersalls Gold Cup but we’ll have to think about supplementing him for it now. He certainly deserves a place in it.

“He’s in the Hardwicke and that is a possibility. He’s improving all the time and he was very good.

“As Chris said he nearly got there too soon. He’s beaten the same horses again but has beaten them better and I thought he travelled better today.

“We still think a mile and a half wouldn’t be a problem. I feel sorry for Oisin (Orr) because he won on him twice this year but Chris won the Lincoln and a Listed race last year and knows him well too.

“It would be an expensive call to put him in it (Tattersalls Gold Cup) but we’ll decide closer to the time.”