G Force comes with late charge to win Group 1 Sprint Cup

The 3-year-old G Force won the biggest race of his career, splitting rivals with about a quarter-mile to run and wearing down the defending champion Gordon Lord Byron to win the Group 1 Sprint Cup on Saturday at Haydock Park in England.

Ridden to victory by Daniel Tudhope for trainer David O’Meara, G Force started his career as a Qatar Racing color-berer trained by Richard Hannon, but he was sold at auction after one start last year at age 2. G Force won twice early this season but finished fifth in the King George Stakes on Aug. 1 at Goodwood, his Group race debut, and most recently was sixth of 13 in the Group 1 Nunthorpe at York.

All G Force’s starts this year had come at five furlongs, and the move to six furlongs Saturday might have helped him. Third last among 17 runners in the early stages, G Force steadily moved up through the middle portion of the Sprint Cup, coming with a strong run once in the clear with a couple furlongs left to run. Gordon Lord Byron had tracked the pace of Hot Streak and taken the lead, but he could not match G Force’s late acceleration and had to settle for second, three-quarters of a length behind the winner and 1 1/2 lengths in front of Music Master.

Race favorite Sole Power, held up in last, had moderate traffic problems and could not produce the needed late rally once clear, coming home a respectable fourth.

The winning time for the six furlongs on a course rated good to soft was 1:12.95. G Force, a son of Tamayuz owned by Middleham Park Racing, won for the third time in eight tries.