Bullet Point is a good winner under Tom Marquand
Bullet Point will contest a valuable race in Australia

William Haggas on Lake Forest and Bullet Point in Australia and Cieren Fallon


William Haggas will be in Australia to watch Lake Forest and Bullet Point target valuable prizes next weekend.

Lake Forest won the valuable Golden Eagle at Rosehill last year and has already returned to Australia, finishing down the field in a Grade 1 at Randwick last month with jockey Zac Purton coming in for criticism, while Bullet Point has not been seen since disappointing in the Sky Bet Strensall Stakes at York.

Speaking to Racing TV after watching Zooming win at Newmarket on Saturday, the trainer outlined his stable plans for the winter, saying: "I always say we'll have a good winter on the all-weather and then, when we get to it, I never have any runners!

"I'm off to Australia because we've got a couple of runners next Saturday, one in Melbourne and one in Sydney which is pretty inconvenient.

"Lake Forest is going to run in the Champions Mile in Melbourne and Tom [Marquand] is going to go down and ride him and Cieren [Fallon] is going tonight to ride Bullet Point in a A$2m race. It will be interesting.

"Old Dubai Honour will go somewhere and then he'll probably end up going to Australia. I'm going to run a couple more in Australia but that's March and April by which time we'll be back here and starting all over again.

"Bullet Point had a trial because he had an issue with quarantine here so he missed a bit [of work] and I didn't have him as fit as I wanted to so we gave him a trial on Friday. He didn't really shine, six furlongs and he was drawn one, and they jumped far too quick for him; it wasn't really perfect but it did give him a good blow.

"I expect him to shape up quite well; nine furlongs around Rosehill should be ideal for him."

Fallon completed a double for Haggas on Saturday and was interviewed after his ride on Gaspacho before catching a flight to Australia later that evening.

"It's an exciting week," he said looking ahead.

"I think I get there on Monday evening and ride on Tuesday so try and get a bit of experience on their tracks before the big day on Saturday.

"Bullet Point has always been a horse that has needed a run first time. He's a big horse, he's got a good attitude and I think that run under his belt is going to stand him in good stead on Saturday."

Cieren Fallon is jubilant after snaffling the Betfair Sprint Cup
Cieren Fallon celebrates Group 1 glory on Montassib

Hard work rewarded in spades

It's been Fallon's most successful year by far in the saddle with over 100 winners to his name and he paid tribute to the support that he's had from Haggas and others.

"I've had a great year," he continued.

"Knuckled down this year, had a lot of support and the bosses' horses are running so well, I wouldn't be in this position without them horses and all the support from owners and trainers my agent, Chris Dixon, has done a wonderful job getting a lot of good rides. I can't thank everyone enough and I've been injury free which always helps.

"I'm very lucky, very privileged to be in a good position and hopefully I can build on this."

The Somerville Lodge handler had praised the jockey in his earlier interview, saying: "Cieren has ridden well all year but he's worked really hard.

"In years gone by he wasn't quite as enthusiastic in the mornings but this year he's not missed a beat and it's great reward for hard work and in life, if you put the yards in, you usually get rewarded and he's been rewarded in spades this year.

"Poor Tom's gone to the main meeting to ride one in a better race and Cieren has scooped up a few winners and we've had a lot of winners this year.

"He's ridden with great confidence, very well indeed. I'm surprised people haven't cottoned onto it. He's had a great year and it started this time last year when he won the Golden Eagle in Australia and he stayed in England during the winter, he's staying again and he's driven and good on him.

"He lost a great mate [Stefano Cherchi] of his in Australia last year and hopefully that has inspired him to get off his arse and work hard which he has done and he's been rewarded in spades, he's done very well."


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