An ultra-tough and competitive performer, the Last Lion improved from race to race in every one of his ten starts this season, never once finishing out of the first three.
His victory in the Group I Middle Park Stakes was one of the juvenile
performances of the season with The Last Lion making all to defeat a high-class
field.Sam Bullard, director of Darley stallions added: "The Last Lion is a good-looking horse who was an extremely tough and precocious performer. He put up a truly outstanding performance to win the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes from a top field.
"To get out early and progress all season long as he did shows a real love of the game, and if he transmits that and his durability to his stock, he will be a valuable addition to the stallion ranks."
His former trainer Mark Johnston is sad to see him go.
Quoted on his website, Johnston said: "It is with mixed feelings that we say goodbye today to The Last Lion who is off to begin what I am sure will be a very successful career at stud.
"Of course, as a trainer, I would have loved to have him next year and to see what he might do stepped up to a mile or in the top sprint races against his elders.
"I had every confidence that he would have trained on and done well but, at the same time, I am delighted for his owners and for the horse himself that he has done so well in such a very short space of time and that he is already in such demand for stud purposes."
A fee for The Last Lion will be announced at a later date.
