Middle Park winner The Last Lion returns to training after aborted stud career

The Last Lion, winner of the Middle Park Stakes and a stallion at Kildangan and Hedgeholme studs, is set to make a shock racecourse return at Lingfield on Saturday after an aborted second career.

The son of Choisir proved a top-class juvenile for Mark Johnston, winning the Brocklesby on his first start before landing the Group 1 Middle Park and Group 3 Sirenia Stakes in a ten-race career that also featured a victory in the Listed Dragon Stakes.

The Last Lion, who was also second to Ardad in the Flying Childers Stakes and Blue Point in the Gimcrack Stakes, was retired after his Group 1 triumph to stand at Darley's Kildangan Stud for the 2017 breeding season.

He subsequently moved to Hedgeholme Stud in Darlington for the 2021 breeding season, where he stood at £4,000, before being gelded earlier this year due to infertility.

The seven-year-old did manage to sire 13 individual winners, including dual scorers Rafiki and Wild Lion.

Pride of Lion: Mark Johnston and jockey Joe Fanning are delighted following the victory of The Last Lion in the Middle ParkCredit: Mark Cranham

He has returned to Johnston's Middleham yard and on Monday featured among 16 entries for the Listed Betway Golden Rose Stakes over six furlongs.

The trainer said: “The Last Lion was basically infertile at stud. John Brown and Megan Dennis still owned half of him, so I bought the other half, we gelded him, and put him back into training.

“Everything has been going very well, although when a horse has been off for five years, it is hard to know what to expect, but if he can run to anything like his best, he is well above this class."

He continued: “I can’t recall having a horse come to us having been at stud, and I don’t think many people who have will have had a horse who was at stud as long as him.

“There have been no difficulties in doing it. You just want to be sure that you have trained and conditioned them enough because you are wary of injuries after such a long time off.

“Joe Fanning has ridden him in his last two gallops and was absolutely delighted with him. The horse has put on quite a bit of weight and looks very strong and very fit, so hopefully all goes well on Saturday.”

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