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British clean sweep in Turkey

Image: Connecticut (left): Winner of the Bosphorus Cup.

Toormore went a couple of places better than last year as he won the Group Two International Topkapi Trophy at Veliefendi racecourse in Turkey.

Richard Hannon's charge finished a close third in the mile heat in 2014 but having his third start for new owners Godolphin, Toormore made no mistakes under James Doyle.

Golden Tower set out to make all and Toormore took a keen hold in the early stages, with Doyle opting to settle on the leader's heels before launching his winning run in the straight.

While he drifted slightly across for the track in the final strides, Toormore ran out a comfortable winner while stablemate Shifting Power was out of the frame.

Toormore's triumph rounded off a fine weekend for the Godolphin team with Local Time and Tha'ir having landed valuable prizes on Saturday.

Their representative Jono Mills said: "(It was) very straightforward in the end, he jumped well and always had a good position.

"James rode him with great confidence and it was a fantastic climax to the weekend for Godolphin.

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"Local Time travelled nicely in her race and responded well when Harry Bentley pressed the button and it was a very satisfying result. Harry gave her a lovely ride so it was great.

"Tha'ir did it well in the end. (Stablemate) Tumbaga set a decent pace from a wide draw. Harry said he thought Tumbaga got the trip but just got beaten by a better horse on the day in Tha'ir.

"It was a great result for Godolphin having the first and second in a top-quality international race."

Hannon also struck gold with Orvar in the International Trakya (Thrace) Trophy.

Last seen when finishing fifth in a sales race at York, Orvar outbattled Graystorm to take the six-furlong heat in the hands of Pat Dobbs.

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Connecticut secured further success for the British raiding party as he held off Godolphin's Maftool in the International Bosphorus Cup.

The four-year-old made little impact when last seen at Goodwood in July, but switched to a Turkish Group Two here, Connecticut found plenty in the final furlong.

Maftool finished to good effect but the Luca Cumani-trained Connecticut had already seized the advantage and held on at the line for jockey Adam Kirby.

Cumani's assistant trainer Amy Murphy said: "He's a horse we've always held in high regard. Today proves we can write off the Goodwood run and he simply didn't handle the track.

"We're delighted with today's performance and hopefully we can go onwards and upwards from here".

Mills added of the runner up: "He ran a great race to finish second and we were delighted with him.

"He is a very good horse on his day, but he just found one too good in Connecticut."

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