Sea The Lion pips old rival again and gets his treble

Sea The Lion and Gustavus Vassa fought out another tremendous finish and again the former prevailed in the valuable Ragusa Handicap.

Sea The Lion beat Gustavus Vassa by a nose in the Cork Derby earlier in the month and there was a head between them after a final furlong battle this time.

Gustavvus Vassa was fancied by punters to get his revenge from Cork as he went off 7/4 favourite while Sea The Lion was a 7/1 chance.

They had the race to themselves at the business end as they pulled eight lengths clear of third-placed Share The Honour

“We were seriously worried. After the other lad (Lucca) Danny (Sheehy) said it was riding plenty quick enough and I was debating whether I'd even run him right up until the race,” Jarlath Fahey said.

“We talked to Ronan and also had a word with Oisin Orr, in fairness to him he said it was riding the same way the whole way around so that sort of decided it for us and we said 'away we go'.

“Ronan said it was riding plenty quick enough on the far side for him but he handled it well. I know he likes real quick ground but he's had problems in the past and we were just afraid to run him on it.

“He's done it again and it was an unbelievable performance again, he just knows where that line is. The two of them pulled well clear of everything again and he got on top again, he's some horse.

“All being well I think the Ebor is going to be on the agenda. He'll probably go up enough at this stage to get into it.

“I've never seen York but Ronan tells me it will be ideal for him. It's a mile-and-six and there is half a million in prize-money to be shot at so we'll go and try and get a slice of it. Maybe we won't but he owes us nothing at this stage anyway.

“Tom and Kathleen (parents of Ronan and joint-owners) are away of holidays, as they were when he won here last year, so we'll have to celebrate double for them!

“Tom has a fancy for the Ebor and it's always been a race he's fancied. He's the joint owners and why not.

“He probably is a stakes horse at this stage. He's only seven, there is plenty of time left, Jennie (Jennies Jewel) didn't win at Royal Ascot until she was nine!”

Sea The Lion brought up a hat-trick under Ronan Whelan with this victory and repeated his success in this race from last year.

The seven-year-old gelding won off 92 this evening while in 2017 he took the honours off 79.

The Stewards enquired into an incident about two furlongs from the finish involving Sea The Lion, ridden by R.P. Whelan, Le Vagabond (FR), ridden by W.J. Lee, Law Girl (FR), ridden by C.T. Keane, Change Of Velocity ridden by K.J. Manning and James Cook ridden by R.L. Moore. Evidence was heard from the riders concerned. Having viewed the recording of the race and considered the evidence, the Stewards were of the opinion that R.P. Whelan was in breach of Rule 214 in that he had ridden carelessly. Having taken his previous record in this regard into account, the Stewards suspended R.P. Whelan for three race days.

Additional reporting by Gary Carson