Former Australian horse Starspangledbanner has finished fifth in the Group One Haydock Sprint won by the much improved Markab.Trained by Henry Candy, Markab jumped from gate 14 and with the field splitting into two groups Pat Cosgrave soon had him leading on the grandstand side.A 12-1 chance, he made all the running and stayed on well in the closing stages to hold the challenge of Lady Of The Desert, first home of the far side group, by 1-1/4 lengths.Genki, who also raced on the far side, took t
Former Australian horse Starspangledbanner has finished fifth in the Group One Haydock Sprint won by the much improved Markab.
Trained by Henry Candy, Markab jumped from gate 14 and with the field splitting into two groups Pat Cosgrave soon had him leading on the grandstand side.
A 12-1 chance, he made all the running and stayed on well in the closing stages to hold the challenge of Lady Of The Desert, first home of the far side group, by 1-1/4 lengths.
Genki, who also raced on the far side, took third place, a further length adrift, with the favourite Starspangledbanner, who had led that group until the two-furlong marker (400m), only fifth.
Speaking from Ireland, trainer Aidan O'Brien said he thought perhaps Starspangledbanner had felt the effects of his previous start when second in the Nunthorpe Stakes on August 20 at York.
"He is only flesh and blood and he had a season before he came to us," O'Brien said.
"He had a tough race at York and he didn't have much time in between so we didn't really know how well he was. We didn't have time to do anything with him
"The (York) race has left a little bit of a mark on him. Looking at him today he was a bit tired. We will freshen him up and let him come back to his best.
"If the ground had been slow at Haydock we would have had an easy decision - he wouldn't have been there. We let him take his chance and it wasn't the right thing to do in hindsight.
"He'll come back - he's a tough, hardy horse."
Starspangledbanner, who was trained in Australia by Leon Corstens, was sold to Coolmore earlier this year.
Markab's first success was at Maisons-Laffitte in March 2006 when trained by Freddie Head and his first win in Britain came in a modest handicap at Kempton two years later.
"He is a very happy horse now and he is turned out every day - he started off here (in Britain) in a seven-furlong handicap rated about 80," Canbdy said.
"He has now won a Group One and it is incredible how some horses improve - mind you 99.9 per cent of them don't.
"I didn't know which would be the best side to be today but he was drawn this side so Pat made the most of getting the stands rails and I could not be more pleased with him.
"If he is all right he will go for the Prix de l'Abbaye at Longchamp."