The Weekly Wrap

Prior to Royal Ascot, there was plenty made of the fact that this was the first year since 2003 with no Australian runner at the meeting. A potential appearance by Winx (Aus) (Street Cry {Ire}) next year would rival even that made by Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}), but while previous Antipodean horses have always added a little extra sparkle, predominantly to the sprint contests, this year's star turns from Britain, Ireland and America were so good that there were thrills galore even without the southern hemisphere raiders.

A good sprinter will never warm the cockles of my heart in quite the same way as a good stayer. The do-or-die running style of Big Orange (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}), so redolent of the great Persian Punch (Ire) (Persian Heights {GB}), makes it impossible not to idolise him, but unless you'd seriously over-imbibed at the pre-racing picnics it was similarly impossible not to have felt a jolt of excitement at the way Caravaggio (Scat Daddy) carved up some tasty opposition in the G1 Commonwealth Cup to keep his flawless record intact.

Just three days earlier, Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) had become the first of the 2016 Royal Ascot winners to strike again at this year's meeting, her facile romp in the G1 King's Stand S. being all the more impressive for the fact that she was the only 3-year-old in the field. Her trainer Wesley Ward followed up 24 hours later with Con Te Patiro (Scat Daddy) in the Sandringham H. for an extraordinary ninth victory at Royal Ascot since 2009, while Happy Like A Fool (Distorted Humor) had to settle for second in the G2 Queen Mary S. behind Heartache (GB) (Kyllachy {GB}).

Scat Daddy has been justifiably widely lauded, and in partnership with Ward and Aidan O'Brien he has compiled a Royal Ascot record that will sadly be as short as it is sweet as we have only one more crop of racing age to come from the late son of Johannesburg. Caravaggio will doubtless be given plenty of chances to continue his sire's success in the breeding shed in due course. In the meantime, Ward and O'Brien, both still in their 40s, have plenty of time to build on their own impressive records at the Berkshire track.

A Horse Worthy Of The Great Archer
Newmarket is not short of big stables. In fact, some yards have swollen so much in recent years that they can be regarded as super stables, with some 200 horses in residence.

Big is not always beautiful, however, and one man who regularly comes up with a top-class horse despite significantly less patronage than some of his colleagues is James Fanshawe.

Like many highly intelligent people, Fanshawe has a touch of the mad genius about him but there's nothing mad about his approach to training horses, which is first and foremost a desire to give them time to come to themselves. This he did with The Tin Man (GB) (Equiano {Fr}), who was unraced at two but has now won seven of his 13 starts, including two Group 1 races at Ascot. He was similarly impressive at coaxing the best from the sometimes recalcitrant Deacon Blues (GB) (Compton Place {GB}), who, like his half-brother The Tin Man, won the QIPCO British Champions Sprint, albeit before it had been promoted to Group 1 status. Deacon Blues was in Fanshawe's Pegasus Stables at the same time as another top sprinter, Society Rock (Ire) (Rock Of Gibraltar {GB}), the trainer's other winner of the G1 Diamond Jubilee S.

He is far from just a maestro with sprinters, however. Among those on the Pegasus roll of honour are the outstanding miler Soviet Song (Ire) (Marju {Ire}), Group 1-winning middle-distance fillies Speedy Boarding (GB), Ribbons (GB) and Seal Of Approval (GB), top-class stayers Invermark (GB), Arctic Owl (GB) and High Jinx (Ire), not to mention two Champion Hurdlers in Royal Gait (GB) and Hors La Loi III (Fr).

Despite such illustrious company, The Tin Man may well be Fanshawe's most satisfying high-profile winner. Bought by his wife Jacko for 80,000gns and ridden daily by son Tom, the 5-year-old is owned by Fred Archer Racing and carries the nickname of the pre-eminent jockey of the Victorian age who built the yard which is home to the Fanshawe family and the horses under their care.

“I always have a feeling that Fred's about,” Fanshawe said when interviewed for TDN three years ago. “It's not a tangible ghost-like feeling but I just feel he's looking over the place. That's a good thing as far as I'm concerned because I love history. Fred Archer is one of the finest names in the history of racing and the fact that he built this place is special. It's his legacy. My aim is always to try to fill the boxes with horses good enough for Fred to have wanted to ride. I hope he'd be proud of what we're doing.”

For all his success in the saddle, Archer met a troubled end, taking his own life at the age of just 29, distraught at the death of his wife during childbirth and his own debilitating battle with the scales. His ghost, which is said to haunt Newmarket still, roaming the Heath aboard his favourite grey hack, may just have a smile on his face the next time he rides by.

Sunday Best
Alongside the perhaps predictable success of the offspring of Galileo (Ire), Dubawi (Ire) and Scat Daddy at the Royal meeting, there were two welcome winners from the Sunday Silence sireline to add a little diversity to the European results.

Despite his dominance in Japan, we see relatively few runners by Deep Impact (JPN) on these shores. The Shadai patriarch of course covers many high-class European-bred mares who have been bought by Japanese breeders. Of those breeders in Europe to have used the son of Sunday Silence, the Wildenstein family has already been rewarded with a Classic winner in Beauty Parlour (GB) and now Coolmore look to have a seriously exciting individual on their hands in the form of September (Ire). The daughter of Deep Impact and multiple Group 1 winner Peeping Fawn (Danehill) was one of the most visually impressive winners of the week when taking the Chesham S., despite being tardy away from the stalls.

Far quicker away from the gates and in command throughout the opening contest a day earlier had been Different League (Fr), a daughter of the only freshman sire to land a blow at Royal Ascot, the French-based Dabirsim (Fr), a grandson of Sunday Silence.

Overlooked in the betting despite two unbeaten runs in France, the statuesque filly sparked riotous celebrations for owners Con and Theresa Marnane, who bought her as a foal at Arqana for just €8,000 and retained her at £14,000 when offered at the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale last year. Instead of being reoffered in the Marnanes' Bansha House Stables consignment at the breeze-up sales, she joined a number of horses put into training in France by the couple with Matthieu Palussiere, who was recording his first Royal Ascot success.

The trainer also saddled a trio of winners in France for the Marnanes last week, no doubt adding extra cheer to the party that started on Tuesday at Ascot when Ribchester (Ire), co-bred by their head man Mike O'Brien, and Rajasinghe (Ire), bred by their Bansha neighbours Jim and Geoff Mulcahy, won the G1 Queen Anne S. and G2 Coventry S. respectively.

Fond Farewell to Kevin Mercer
It would be remiss to end this week's Wrap without paying tribute to owner-breeder Kevin Mercer, who died on Sunday.

With his wife Susan, Mercer helped to fly the flag for Welsh breeding at his Usk Valley Stud in Abergavenny, racing many of the farm's homebreds in his green and blue silks.

In partnership with Gilly Rowland-Clark, Mercer enjoyed Group 1 success with the Oaks d'Italia winner Zanzibar (Ire) (In The Wings {GB}), later the dam of the multiple graded stakes winner Spice Route (GB) (King's Best) after her retirement to Usk Valley.

Proud of his homeland, he often named his horses with a Welsh theme, and among those to have brought him success on the racecourse are the stakes winners Gower Song (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}) and Nantyglo (GB) (Mark Of Esteem {Ire}), both of whom also later joined his broodmare band.

Though very ill, Mercer left hospital on Friday to spend Saturday at home with his family, watching the British and Irish Lions take on New Zealand and cheering on the Usk Valley Stud-bred multiple winner Scarlet Dragon (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}) in the Wolferton H. at Royal Ascot.

On a personal note, I will find it impossible to walk past the row of AA boxes at Tattersalls, where the Usk Valley horses were regularly stabled, without remembering Kevin, who always had a mischievous glint in his eye and a story to tell. He was an immensely likeable man whose passion for his family, horseracing and life in general was abundantly clear from any conversation with him. He will be sorely missed by all those of us in the bloodstock community who had the good fortune to share his company. I send my heartfelt condolences to Susan and their daughters Bethan and Rhiannon.