COVER Up will step up to Group 1 company after powering home in the Tulfarris Hotel And Golf Resort Sapphire Stakes on the Irish Oaks undercard.

Saturday’s Group 2 marked a first European stakes success for Simon and Ed Crisford’s six-year-old, who previously won two listed races and a Group 2 in Meydan. Following a break after his run in the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint, the Khalifa Saeed Sulaiman-owned gelding returned in the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Ascot, where he simply ran into a wall of horses.