Kia Joorabchian

£4.3m Poker well beaten on debut at Haydock Park

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Fri September 26, 2025 · 3M ago

Poker, the most expensive yearling colt ever sold in Europe, failed to make an impact on debut at Haydock on Friday.

Trained by Karl Burke and owned by Amo Racing Limited, the son of Wootton Bassett topped the Tattersalls October Book 1 sale last autumn and was sent off the 11/8 favourite on his first public outing in the Castle Green Homes EBF Novice Stakes.

However, after a sluggish start, Poker only briefly threatened to get involved in the finish and failed to pick up when jockey David Egan asked for maximum effort and he could only box on at the one pace to finish sixth behind Roger Varian's 100/30 winner Guardman, who had two starts under his belt already.

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£4.3m Poker well beaten on debut at Haydock Park

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