Repeat Huxley Stakes victory for Forest Ranger

Forest Ranger may be set for an international campaign following his win in this afternoon's Group 2 Homeserve Huxley Stakes, a race he also won 12 months ago. The Richard Fahey-trained gelding beat all-weather star Matterhorn by three-parts of a length with Irish raider Success Days third and favourite Addeybb only fourth.

The five-year-old, who lost a front shoe during the race, was running for the third time this year having chased home Zabeel Prince in the Group 3 Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket and been unplaced behind Dream Castle in the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan.

​Both of those races are over nine furlongs as is the Group 3 Darley Stakes at Newmarket in which he was a neck runner-up to Euginio on his final outing of 2018. Today's race was over almost ten and a half furlongs on soft ground.

Forest Ranger goes back-to-back in the Group 2 @HomeServeUK Huxley Stakes at @ChesterRaces! pic.twitter.com/MM0831MdCt

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 10, 2019

His sire, Lawman (by Invincible Spirit), spent the early years of his stallion career at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland but is currently in his first term at Haras de Grandcamp in France. The classic star has sired five Group 1 winners to date, notably Irish 1000 Guineas and E.P. Taylor Stakes heroine Just The Judge and Gold Cup-placed St Leger winner Harbour Law. The latter began his stallion career at Batsford Stud in Gloucestershire this year.

Forest Ranger was bred by Yeguada De Milagro Sa, he is a 26,000gns graduate of Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, and is out of French listed winner Alava (by Anabaa). That makes him a half-brother to the stakes-placed four-time winner Home Cummins (by Rip Van Winkle), whom Fahey also trained, and that filly was successful from six and a half to nine and a half furlongs.

Alava is a half-sister to the stakes-placed prolific French middle-distance winner Almaguer (by Spectrum) and out of Cerita (by Wolfhound), a multiple listed-placed miler whose blacktype siblings feature the pattern-placed mile stakes winner Tarzan Cry (by Anabaa) and the talented Tamise (by Time For A Change).

She won the Group 3 Prix de la Flore over ten and a half furlongs at Saint-Cloud, a listed contest over the same course and distance and another listed race over a half-furlong less at Longchamp, Her son Motivado (by Montjeu) was fourth in the Ebor Handicap and fourth in the Cesarewitch before going to Australia where he won a Group 3 handicap over 12 and a half furlongs at Morphettville.

Forest Ranger, whom Timeform rated 119 last year, is a capable gelding and it will be interesting to see how he gets on during his travels.