Ellison confident Sea Lantern can step up to Group level Brian Ellison will wrap Sea Lantern in cotton wool over the winter as he maps out a staying campaign on the level next season which he believes will end up in Group races. A significant gamble on the four-year-old went narrowly and agonisingly astray in the Cesarewitch on Saturday after he was pipped on the post by Irish raider Alphonse Le Grande. While Ellison admitted losing out was a body blow given the confidence behind a gelding backed into 4-1 favouritism for the marathon event, connections are excited to see what heights he can reach next season. “We have known a while that we had a really good horse on our hands,” said Ellison. “You could tell before he won at Pontefract and we’ve been impressed with him since we got him. He has the right attitude and is so laid-back and probably takes after his sire (Sea The Stars). “He just does what he has to do and we knew there was a lot more to come.” Sea Lantern certainly looked unlucky, with his momentum checked around 150 yards from the finish when High Fibre and he came together. It proved enough to allow Alphonse Le Grande to charge home on the far side and win a battle of nods. “We feel he probably would have won if he hadn’t got the bump,” said Ellison. “That said we will look forward to next year and I wouldn’t think he would be far short of a Group horse.” All the good staying handicaps and possibly even better class races are set to be on Sea Lantern’s dance card next season, with Ellison convinced he could eventually end up at Pattern level. “He had a hard enough race the other day so we will be looking after him now as he’s only a young ‘un. That was only his fifth run so he probably has a big amount of improvement (to come),” he said. “But next season he will be in all the staying races over two miles.” Ellison, who trained Onesmoothoperator to win a Northumberland Plate before stepping up to double Group-race success in Australia, nearly delivered the perfect hour on Saturday for owner Patrick Boyle after his Callianassa won a decent prize over a mile at York. “That was the first winner Patrick has had at York,” said Ellison. “It was a nice hour’s work, but it would have been better if Sea Lantern had won.”
