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Breeders’ Cup winner Golden Pal will be running for the sponsor when he returns to Britain to contest the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York after he was sold to Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg.

The three-year-old son of Uncle Mo has been described by trainer Wesley Ward as "the best horse I have ever trained by far" but a minor setback prevented him from joining his team at Royal Ascot.

He is due to make his reappearance in the G3 Quick Call Stakes at Saratoga next month as a prep for the G1 Coolmore Wootton Bassett Nunthorpe Stakes on August 20.

Randall Lowe said it was a difficult decision to part with the colt he bred and owned. Golden Pal colt finished second in last year's Norfolk Stakes at Ascot and was due to stay for the Nunthorpe but instead returned home where he landed the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Keeneland.

"It was very hard," Lowe told the Thoroughbred Daily News. "I've been in this business now for 36 years. To go from the very bottom to come all the way to the top and then finally win the Breeders' Cup, it made it very hard. 

"But I wasn't going to be the one to try to repeat with another horse and spend millions upon millions of dollars without finding a top horse again. He's going to run three or four times this year and then head to the breeding shed. This sale comes at the right time and at the right price."

Ward has unfinished business in the five-furlong Nunthorpe following two near-misses. Lady Aurelia was beaten a nose in 2017 and Acapulco was runner-up in 2015 when contesting the race as a juvenile.