Strong staying Lord gives Yeats a landmark first Flat stakes winner

A good week for Coolmore jumps stallion Yeats got even better at the unlikely location of Newmarket on Saturday, as his four-year-old son Lord Yeats provided the sire with a landmark first Flat stakes winner in the Listed Fred Archer Stakes over 1m4f.

Trained by the bang-in-form Jedd O'Keeffe, Lord Yeats made most of the running and showed guts and stamina in abundance when it mattered most as he battled back passed runner-up Second Step to prevail by a hard-fought neck.

The four-year-old was bred by owner-breeders Geoff and Sandra Turnbull out of the couple's useful stayer Bogside Theatre, a daughter of Fruits Of Love whose race record includes two wins on the Flat, a success in a Catterick mares' novice hurdle and a third-place finish in the 2008 Northumberland Plate.

Yeats retired to Coolmore's Castyle Hyde Stud in 2010 after a remarkable on-course career, with his 15 victories including four Ascot Gold Cup successes, a Prix Royal-Oak and two Goodwood Cups.

The son of Sadler's Wells has garnered a reputation as a promising jumps sire, courtesy of the likes of Grade 1 winners Capivari and Augusta Kate, and just this week his progeny brought as much as €92,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale.