Lone Eagle Given Great Voltigeur Option

The Irish Derby runner up Lone Eagle could be set for York next week as Martyn Meade has given the three year old the option of the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes.

Lone Eagle is impressively bred out of Galileo, Lone Eagle was extremely progressive as a two year old, winning three out of his four runs last season, improving with each to land the Group Three Zetland stakes over 10f on his final run of 2020.

He continued his progression this season with a respectable fourth placed finish in the Group Three Classic Trial at Sandown (, from which both, King Edward VIII Stakes winner Alenquer and Epsom Derby winner Adayar, have emerged from.

A bigger bonus coming out of that race was that Lone Eagle clearly needed the run and subsequently turned a 3 3/4 beating from the third placed horse, Yibir, into a four length win when re-opposing that rival at Goodwood (Listed, 11f) next time out upon soft conditions.

Next time out the progressive three year old was seen giving a career best performance in the Group One Irish Derby when loving the step up to 1m4f, finishing a narrow second to Hurricane Lane in a photo-finish.

The Godolphin colt has since franked the form in the Group One Grand Prix de Paris, but Lone Eagle couldn't do the same last time out when finishing last of the five runners in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Meade is looking to drop him down to Group Two company in hope that he can bounce back at York, but he also received a surprise entry for the Melbourne Cup in Australia.

(The trainer said:“He’s just having a bit of a quiet time at the moment, so we’ve got no plans right now,” said the Manton-based trainer.

“It (Melbourne Cup) is a bit of a long shot, I would say. The part-owners are from Australia and obviously he’s got every right to be considered for that, but it’s fair to say it’s a long shot.”

Meade added: “We’re certainly looking at that (Great Voltigeur), for sure.”