THE TAJ MAHAL (IRE), by any stretch, has had a busy year but he wound it up in style winning the Group 2 Zipping Classic at Sandown near Melbourne, Australia on Saturday.

Simply named TAJ MAHAL (IRE) when he raced for Aidan O’Brien earlier this year, he carried the navy and white colours of leviathan owner Lloyd Williams who, of course owned the 1-2 in the Melbourne Cup, in Rekindling and Johannes Vermeer (IRE).

THE TAJ MAHAL (IRE) set the pace when a game fourth, beaten just over a length, in the French Derby in June and he was again deployed as a pacemaker in the Coral-Eclipse a month later. In 18 starts for Aidan O’Brien he won just once, a nursery at Dundalk, but in two starts in Australia he has placed fourth in a Group 1 and thrashed 2016 Melbourne Cup hero Almandin by over three lengths in a Group 2.

The winner certainly is bred for success being by the omnipresent Galileo (IRE) out of Youresothrilling making him a brother to this year’s star juvenile filly, Happily (IRE), the brilliant dual Guineas and four-time Group 1 winner Gleneagles (IRE) and Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine, Marvellous (IRE).

“He’s a horse that is able to sustain a strong gallop from a long way out. He took care of a pretty good field today and he has plenty of upside,” said winning jockey, Ben Melham.