The William Haggas-trained Lake Forest became the first European horse to win the lucrative Golden Eagle at Rosehill in Australia.
A winner of the six-furlong Group 2 Gimcrack Stakes at York as a juvenile, Lake Forest has been lightly campaigned during the 2024 season, with two seconds in Group company – second behind Inisherin in the six-furlong Group 1 Commonwealth Cup and the same position behind Elite Status in the Group 3 Hackwood Stakes at Newbury.
Trainer William Haggas has successfully plundered prizes in Australia over the last few years, with ten winners from eighteen runners, including Group 1 victors Addeybb and Dubai Honour. The Golden Eagle has been on the cards for Lake Forest throughout the season, despite facing some unexpected issues – withdrawn at the start during the York Ebor Festival and ruled out of an intended preparation run at Doncaster in September.
The race concluded with a one-two finish for European horses, with Lake Forest making a late bid up the inside rail to deny Jerome Reynier's Lazzat by half-a-length. The Australian-trained Tom Kitten held on for a close third.
Winning jockey Cieren Fallon said: "I thought if we used too much energy early on, we'd have been taking away our turn of foot, so I had to ride him quite brave and hope we got a bit of luck.
"Obviously, my first time out here, to be able to be part of such a strong stable, obviously the boss has been sending horses out here for the last few years and they've been coming out on top. So I was very confident.
"But in terms of career, this probably would be up there."
