Love conquers all

Mac Love bests his younger rivals to land the G3 Sovereign Stakes; Country Reel sires his fourth individual winner

Mac Love (Cape Cross), now in his eighth year, once again showed his younger rivals a thing or two when swooping to victory in the G3 Sovereign Stakes at Salisbury on 13 August.

Settled at the rear of the field under Micky Fenton, Mac Love came with his trademark late run in the home straight to wear down odds-on favourite and long-time leader Confront, taking the one-mile contest by length and a half. His winning time of 1:40.29 was over a second faster than Racing Post standard.

This was his fifth Black type win and his third G3 contest, having taken the Supreme Stakes back in 2004 and the Diomed Stakes at Epsom earlier this year.

Also on Thursday, first-season sire Country Reel recorded his third winner inside a week when Wear’s The Soap landed the six-and-a-half furlong maiden at Deauville.

Country Reel, a G2-winning juvenile himself, has now sired four individual winners.