Thursday 23 October 2014 15:31, UK
Next May's Lockinge Stakes at Newbury is Toormore's likely starting point for next season following his tremendous effort on Champions Day at Ascot last weekend.
Last year's champion juvenile got his three-year-old campaign off to a flying start in the Craven at Newmarket in mid-April, but he was unable to make an impression in either the 2000 Guineas or the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot.
He was beaten at odds-on in lesser company the next twice, leaving many questioning whether the Middleham Park-racing owned colt was past his best, but he bounced back with an excellent third in last Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.
Middleham Park's Tim Palin was delighted to see Toormore end his season on a high.
He said: "We were absolutely over the moon with him. I think most of us thought he had no chance at halfway, pulling like he did. When horses do that, they normally drop off the screen.
"Everyone talks about how unlucky Night Of Thunder (second) was, but Kieren Fallon was waiting to get out on Toormore for a while and Charm Spirit (winner) got a good half a furlong run on us.
"However you look at it, our horse ran a fantastic race and we're just delighted he's shown he can mix it with proper Group One horses again.
"He's going off on holiday and we'll bring him back in February or March time to get him ready to rock and roll for the Lockinge.
"I'm not saying he'll go and win the Lockinge - I'm sure it will be a fantastic race with Night Of Thunder and whatever else turns up - but we'll get Toomore there with a full tank of petrol and we know he goes well when he's fresh.
"We never did quite get to the bottom of what went wrong in the middle of this year, but his coat was wrong and he lost a lot of weight.
"The main thing is he's back now. He's back to the horse he was and we can all look forward to next year with him."
