By Sean Cronin
Ger Lyons had sent just two prior runners across the Irish Sea for the Glorious Goodwood meet and the trainer struck for his first success when the third, Lady Iman (Starman), overpowered seven rivals, racing under a three-pound penalty, in Wednesday's G3 HKJC World Pool Molecomb Stakes. She had previously annexed the Listed First Flier Stakes and G3 Naas Fillies Sprint and embellished a banner season for her freshman sire with a decisive win in the five-furlong contest.
Lady Iman's victory comes with a free ticket to the $1 million GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and that's at the forefront of the trainer's mind. “The Breeders' Cup is where I'd like to go, but I don't own her,” Lyons said. “We won it last year with Magnum Force, and as Ryan [Moore] said, if she gets a low draw at Del Mar, she wins it. I went there last year and I never got a thrill like it. If I can dance on that dancefloor again, I'm going as that is what racing is about for me. What an end of a season, what a show they put on and to be part of it and to win it, wow. Ryan says the [G1] Nunthorpe too, but I don't like taking on the older horses. You've got to listen to the experts and I wouldn't know the Nunthorpe if it bit me on the arse, but we'll get her home first. Lady Iman is pretty straightforward and I dropped the ball [last time]. She was doing everything I asked of her, and it took a good horse of Aidan's [Beautify] to beat her over six furlongs the last day. I genuinely don't think that man has trained better than he has this year. His horses are stepping forward from race to race like I've never seen before and that's not fluke, that's pure talent. He's got some cracking two-year-olds and that Queen Mary winner [True Love], which we beat, she's a proper racehorse and to see the size of her, the scope of her and the temperament of her. I am walking into these monsters day in and day out, so it's nice to get this win.”
The 11-8 favourite, who was last seen finishing second behind Beautify (Wootton Bassett) in the G2 Airlie Stud Stakes, stalked the leaders in fifth through the initial fractions. Angled into the clear with a quarter-mile remaining, she powered to the front entering the final furlong and kept on strongly thereafter to comfortably outpoint G2 Duchess Of Cambridge Stakes third Argentine Tango (Mattmu) by 1 1/2 lengths. The pacesetting Dickensian (Pinatubo) rallied gamely once headed and ran on well to finish a half-length adrift in third.
Pedigree Notes
Lady Iman is the third of four foals and second black-type scorer out of G3 Dick Poole Fillies' Stakes runner-up Lady Aria (Kodiac), the first being G2 Blue Point Sprint and G3 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint victor West Acre (Mehmas). Lady Aria, a half-sister to Listed Windsor Castle Stakes runner-up Union Rose (Stimulation), hails from the family of G1 Prix du Jockey Club third Simeon (Lammtarra) and has a yearling colt by Persian Force to come.
LADY IMAN 😍
Group Three honours in the Molecomb Stakes for the Ger Lyons-trained filly under Ryan Moore 🥇 @Goodwood_Races @HKJC_Racing | @WorldPool pic.twitter.com/USTsAU6fHY
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) July 30, 2025
Wednesday, Goodwood, Britain
HKJC WORLD POOL MOLECOMB STAKES-G3, £100,000, Goodwood, 7-30, 2yo, 5fT, :57.16, gd.
1–LADY IMAN (IRE), 129, f, 2, by Starman (GB)
1st Dam: Lady Aria (GB) (GSP-Eng), by Kodiac (GB)
2nd Dam: Dot Hill (GB), by Refuse To Bend (Ire)
3rd Dam: Purple Tiger (Ire), by Rainbow Quest
(£185,000 Ylg '24 GOFFUK). O-Mrs A F O'Callaghan; B-Tally-Ho Stud (IRE); T-Ger Lyons; J-Ryan Moore. £56,710. Lifetime Record: 5-4-1-0, $197,817. *1/2 to West Acre (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), MGSW-UAE, $378,255. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree, or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Argentine Tango (GB), 126, f, 2, Mattmu (GB)–Showdanse (GB), by Showcasing (GB). O/B-Bearstone Stud Ltd; T-Tim Easterby. £21,500.
3–Dickensian (GB), 129, c, 2, Pinatubo (Ire)–Yourtimeisnow (GB), by Charm Spirit (Ire). 1ST GROUP BLACK TYPE. O/B-Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum; T-Kevin Ryan. £10,760.
Margins: 1HF, HF, HD. Odds: 1.38, 11.00, 11.00.
Also Ran: Rydale Frosty (GB), Rogue Supremacy (GB), Sands of Spain (Ire), Military Code (GB), Ameeq (Ire).
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