Weatherbys Hamilton Insurance Lonsdale Cup
Group 2, York 14:25
£250,000 guaranteed,
3yo plus,
2m 56y, Class 1  
Friday 22nd August 2025

1 Trawlerman 5/6F
2 Sweet William 3/1
3 Al Nayyir 16/1
6 ran Distances: 1¼l, 4¼l, 2¾l
Time: 3m 29.04s (fast by 0.96s)

Trawlerman, tough as teak and utterly unyielding, once again stamped his authority on the staying division.

The Gosden team know this Knavesmire patch well, and three years on from his Ebor success it was familiar territory for the now seven-year-old, who kept his unbeaten record on home soil this season intact. It wasn’t the runaway demolition we saw at Ascot in the Gold Cup, but it was every bit as admirable — a race where professionalism and resilience mattered more than sparkle.

This was no easy lead, either. Shackleton, in the navy and orange of Ballydoyle, was at his quarters for much of the way. No hiding place, no soft fractions. William Buick, ice-cool, sat tight until the turn for home, before asking his partner to unfurl that bottomless stamina.

And while at Royal Ascot the field were scattered in his wake, here they were stacked up behind, waiting for the favourite to blink. He never did. Head down, galloping relentlessly, he held them all at bay to deliver a Clarehaven one-two — Sweet William chasing hard but finding a length and a quarter too many.

Coral took swift note, trimming him into 6-4 (from 2-1) for the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day, and Ascot is now firmly on the radar.

John Gosden summed it up in typically thoughtful fashion:

“The two of them have come away and they are proper, proper staying horses.

“One is seven and the other is six, and they are a lot of fun because staying races are an important part of our programme, so it’s lovely to see him come from the Gold Cup to win the Lonsdale.

“We will freshen him up now and all being well, he will run one more time this year at Ascot on Champions Day.

“The horses tell you if you listen to them, if you force them, it never works. We are delighted with them both and to see the quality of that, it’s a long straight here and it was a proper old battle between the pair of them.

“It will be Doncaster (for Sweet William) all being well.

“He’s (Trawlerman) getting on, and you have to respect his age.

“They tell you how to train, the older they get, they get a little wiser than the trainer, so you listen to them and they tell you.”

There was no disgrace in third for Al Nayyir, who gave Tom Clover plenty of reasons to smile, five and a half lengths further back.

“He ran a lovely race, they didn’t go overly hard but he was able to pick up nicely,” said Clover.

“I think now, with the age he is, he might just appreciate a little more cut in the ground but that said, we’ve given them a good race and we’re thrilled with our boy. He deserves to pick up a Group race at some point and hopefully he can do that soon. Doncaster might come a touch soon for him, we’ll have to see how he is, otherwise there’s the Listed Rose Bowl at Newmarket.”

BoyleSports

Lonsdale Cup
(British Champions Series)
£250,000 guaranteed, 3yo plus, 2m 88y, Class 1
6 ran
Going: Good to Firm, Good in places

POS. (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY
1 (4)    Trawlerman 7 9-8 John & Thady Gosden William Buick 5/6F
2 (1) 1¼ Sweet William 6 9-5 John & Thady Gosden Robert Havlin 3/1
3 (6) 4¼ Al Nayyir 7 9-5 Tom Clover Rossa Ryan 16/1
4 (5) 2¾ Al Qareem 6 9-5 K R Burke Clifford Lee 11/2
5 (2) 3¼ Shackleton 3 8-8 A P O'Brien Wayne Lordan 22/1
6 (3) shd Dubai Future 9 9-5 Saeed bin Suroor Kevin Stott 16/1