Lyons excited by 'stronger' Royal Ascot team

Gold Spinner brought up a double for Ger Lyons in the concluding Irish Stallion Farms EBF Race at Navan today and in the process joined the trainer’s “ever stronger” Royal Ascot team.

Ridden by Lyons’ stable jockey Colin Keane, who was also on board their earlier winner Treasuring the well backed son of Pivotal (3/1 this morning in to 6/5f at the off) stretched clear of his rivals inside the final furlong for a length and three parts win over Elizabeth Browning

An excited Lyons later said “I wanted to win the premier handicap today and it was him or Lightening Fast but we are protecting Lightening Fast (handicap rating) as he is going for the Britannia (at Royal Ascot).

"I said to myself there is much of a muchness between the two of them but he (Gold Spinner) is very much ground dependent and is also hopefully a Britannia horse, so I said we'd stick to the mile against running in the 1m2f race today.

"If he is a Britannia horse, he had to win this and win it like he did. He wants 10 furlongs but has the pace for a mile. He needs not quicker than that ground which we might not get which will be the deciding factor on whether we go across.

"He'll hold an entry in the Britannia alongside Lightening Fast - the team is getting stronger for Ascot."

By Tom Weekes, quotes from Michael Graham