RACING:TIPPERARY TRAINER David Nagle hopes his star sprinter Maarek can bring a hugely successful season to a perfect end at Ascot next month.

The dual Group Three winner, placed in Saturday’s Ayr Gold Cup off topweight, remains a possible for the Prix de l’Abbaye on Arc day but Nagle appears to prefer a shot at the Group Two Champion Sprint at Ascot on October 20th. “At the moment I would be leaning towards Ascot rather than the Abbaye. He likes a stiff six furlongs and obviously the Abbaye is only over five,” Nagle said yesteday.

“We will keep our options open, but it would have to come up very soft for him to take his chance at Longchamp. The Abbaye is one of those races where you could run it 10 times and get 10 different results – you need a lot of luck there.

“We were delighted with him at Ayr. He likes a fast pace and if they’d have gone a bit faster early on last Saturday he might have been second, but he wouldn’t have caught the winner. He’s a super horse and is so consistent,” he added.