Top English trainer suffers a triple blow

LONDON -- Top English trainer Henry Cecil, already deflated by two group one defeats on Saturday for two of his stable stars, suffered another blow on Tuesday when one of them Royal Anthem was taken away to be raced in America.

Royal Anthem, who had been rated one of the best horses of the decade when he romped home by eight lengths in the group one Juddmonte International Stakes at York in August, will be trained by Bill Mott in California after only finishing fifth in the Irish Champion Stakes way behind Daylami.

It is a bitter blow for Cecil, who hailed Prince Ahmed Salman's four-year-old colt as one of the best he had trained after his win at York.

"It's sad he's going and everyone at Warren Place (his stables) will miss him a lot but we wish him and Prince Ahmed all the very best with Royal Anthem's future in America," Cecil said.

"He is a very, very good horse who ranks among the best I've been lucky enough to train."

Royal Anthem, ran in the colours of Prince Ahmed's Thoroughbred Corporation, whose general manager Dick Mulhall revealed the colt has a number of possible big-race targets.

"Obviously, we may think about the Breeders' Cup Classic but Gulfstream Park is a tight track and it does get hot there," he said.

"We may also think about races like the Dubai World Cup or the Japan Cup."

Royal Anthem won five of his nine races for Cecil, including the King Edward VII Stakes at Royal Ascot and Canadian International at Woodbine last year, and earned over 580,000 pounds in prize money. -- Sapa -AFP