Pretreville leads home his rivals under Ronan Whelan© Photo Healy Racing
Pretreville made all to land the Group 3 Amethyst Stakes under Ronan Whelan for Adrian McGuinness.
Previously trained in France, the seven-year-old won on his third start for McGuinness at Dundalk in October and then finished second in a Group 2 at Doha.
He again filled the runner spot on his most recent outing over the course and distance and was sent off an 11/1 chance this afternoon (from 16s).
Sent straight to the front by Ronan Whelan, the son of Acclamation was ridden over a furlong out and kept up the gallop all the way to the line, coming home a length-and-three-quarters to the good. Ivy League (2/1f) ran on well to take second under Ryan Moore for Aidan O'Brien, while Patrick Sarsfield was another length-and-three-quarters back in third.
"The plan was to come here after he ran a very good race the last day," said McGuinness.
"It was a field of good horses and I suppose you could make a case for the six horses today.
"He was very impressive and Ronan gave him a world class ride, he dictated.
"We might drop him back to seven, we might look at Ascot, we're not exactly sure. I'm sure he'll get another hike after today, he was a 112 or 113 horse at one stage in France so he could head back up towards that.
"French people still own half of him and Shamrock owns the other half. I'd say he could go foreign somewhere before the year is out.
"He's a very classy horse and a privilege to have. He's a horse that doesn't need a lot of running either, we don't like to dip him too many times.
"It'll probably be at least three or four weeks before you see him again and maybe even six weeks."
Additional reporting by Gary Carson
