Gaynor Rupert looks to the future with recent recruit Lancaster Bomber

Lancaster Bomber can certainly be said to have landed on his feet, even if Gaynor Rupert and her team at Drakenstein intend for him to earn his billet at what must be considered one of the world’s most picturesque studs.

An ultra-consistent performer for Aidan O’Brien, the white-faced son of War Front was close behind his former stablemate Churchill in both the Dewhurst and the 2,000 Guineas, twice finishing runner-up at the Breeders’ Cup as well as to Barney Roy in the St James’s Palace.

Lancaster Bomber’s arrival in the heart of the Western Cape’s wine country was prompted by sadness; just a few days before he gained his much-deserved Group 1 in the 2018 Tattersalls Gold Cup, another former Coolmore star, Kingsbarns, had succumbed to colic at Drakenstein.