Lyons targets British raid with Siskin

Trainer Ger Lyons is keen to take Siskin to Britain for a leading two-year-old contest this autumn, with the Middle Park Stakes high on his agenda.

The unbeaten Khalid Abdullah-owned colt provided trainer Lyons with his maiden Group One success in Ireland as he landed Friday’s Keeneland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh.

With Juddmonte sponsoring the Middle Park, Lyons feels that is a worth next target for his stoutly-bred colt.

“He’ll be in all the relevant races. Obviously the Middle Park is sponsored by his owners and he’s in the Vincent O’Brien (National Stakes) over here at the same time. Then there’s the Dewhurst, so I’m not thinking beyond that at the moment,” Lyons told Racing TV.

“At this moment in time you’d have to be thinking the Middle Park would be his next race, but we’ll discuss that in the next week.”

His gutsy success at the Curragh on Friday has earned Siskin a quote of 8/1 with Betfred for next season’s 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

Lyons had concerns when heavy rain hit the Kildare track ahead of the Keeneland and was pleasantly surprised to see Siskin handling the conditions as he gamely repelled the challenge of Aidan O’Brien’s Monarch Of Egypt in the closing stages.

“The rain was a huge concern. We know his forte is the turn of speed, but basically the soft levelled the playing field,” he added.

“It was the same for them all, Monarch Of Egypt probably wants better ground as well and I know they think a lot of him, but we beat him on better ground.

“I was worried that when Colin (Keane) pressed the ‘go’ button he’d get stuck in the mud a bit, but thankfully the horse pulled it out.”

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