Bred and raced by Ballymacoll Stud and trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the son of G1 Prix du Cadran heroine Sought Out (Ire) (Rainbow Quest) won one of two starts at two, and added the G2 Dante S. and G1 Derby in succession during the spring of 2004. A half-brother to multiple group winner Cover Up (Ire) (Machiavellian), he then found only Grey Swallow (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}) too good in the G1 Irish Derby and ended his season with a fifth in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. At four, he was second in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S., and ended his career with a mark of 7-3-3-0 and $1,989,577 in earnings.

Upon retirement, a majority interest in North Light was purchased by Frank Stronach, who stood the bay at his Adena Springs in Kentucky beginning in 2006. Moved to Adena North in Canada for his fifth season in 2010, he was leased to Kirsten Rausing's Lanwades Stud in England for one season in 2014. Repatriated to Canada beginning in 2015, he was pensioned in October of 2019 and lived out the rest of his days at Adena South.

(North Light)
Vodafone Derby 2004 pic.twitter.com/HmppDndrqQ

— Racing Tales (@Racing_Tales) May 5, 2020

Among his nine worldwide stakes winners were G1 St Leger hero Arctic Cosmos, who also was placed in three other group races, GII Del Mar H. hero Celtic New Year, Grade III winners Chips All In and Go Forth North, and Brazilian Group 2 winner Gol Tricolor (Brz). His daughters have produced five stakes winners, three of them Grade/Group 1 scorers–triple top-level winner War Like Goddess (English Channel), G1 Coolmore Classic heroine Lighthouse (Mizzen Mast), and Olympic Jolteon (Brz) (Elmustanser {GB}).

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Meanwhile, dual Derby and Breeders' Cup hero Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact {Jpn}), arguably the most important older horse to have been kept in training at Ballydoyle for many years, is set to get his campaign underway in next week's Dubai Sheema Classic. 

Described by joint-owner Michael Tabor as “our Frankel” after he slammed his Dewhurst rivals last term, City Of Troy heads the Guineas and Derby betting at odds of 4-6 and 2-1 respectively.

With so much on the line for a horse who has commanded such praise, O'Brien could be forgiven for feeling the pressure. The truth couldn't be further from the case. 

Speaking at a media morning at Ballydoyle on Wednesday, O'Brien said, “I don't feel pressure at all. All we can do is our best and whatever will be will be. But he [City Of Troy] looks a bit different at the moment anyway.”

O'Brien added, “He has always been very special. He always looked a bit different–even from the time we worked him to when he ran in his maiden.  All you can do is just keep turning up and running and see what is going to happen, but he does work very differently [to anything else].

“Horses are working in very bad ground at the moment-it's deep. He shouldn't like that at all but he is just powering through it. We hope to get him to Naas on Sunday after racing. They'll all work together–him, Henry Longfellow (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}), they'll all go together over seven or seven-and-a-half furlongs. The plan is to go straight to the Guineas with City Of Troy.

“If that went well, then he could go for the Derby, and if that went well, there's a chance he could go to Saratoga for the Travers Stakes. That's very possible if things go well and it will be interesting.”

O'Brien is no stranger to running top-class horses on the dirt. Johannesburg famously won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in 2001 while Galileo (Ire), George Washington (Ire), Henrythenavigator and Duke Of Marmalade (Ire) are some of the more established names to have tackled the Breeders' Cup Classic, albeit the latter pair's efforts came on the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita in 2008. 

Mendelssohn came closest to delivering O'Brien and the Coolmore team a breakthrough success in the Travers when second to Catholic Boy in the 2018 edition of the race. However, City Of Troy would rank as by far the most high-profile colt that connections have pointed towards the Travers, with O'Brien putting his confidence behind last year's European Champion Two-Year-Old's ability to handle the surface on breeding.

Speaking about the reasoning behind such ambitious campaigning, he explained, “It's just to expose him, really. Obviously he's by Justify, which makes Justify very exciting for us because he should be able to do dirt as easily as he does grass. That's what makes him unique, really. “Every one of those Justifys are the same. They are long-striding and big horses. They are scopey and very genuine. They are all happy to go forward and you can't go hard enough in their races. It's going to be very exciting.”

O'Brien added, “He's done very well over the winter. He's a medium-sized horse to look at, but when you stand into him he's much bigger than you think he is, which is the sign of a very well-proportioned horse. It will be exciting.

“When John [Magnier] and the lads are thinking like that, they are not afraid to push him out there and see what he is able to do. If it went well in the Guineas, we're happy to step up to a mile and a half in the Derby and then you could come back to a mile and a quarter on the dirt at Saratoga.”

City Of Troy is likely to be O'Brien's sole runner in the Guineas while targets for Henry Longfellow, Diego Velazquez (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), River Tiber and Unquestionable (Fr) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) will be decided after they work at Naas this weekend. 

O'Brien said, “I'd imagine if City Of Troy goes to the Guineas, he'll go himself. River Tiber always worked very well. He wasn't right in Deauville or in the Middle Park–he wasn't one hundred per cent, so there's a good chance there's more to come from him. I think he's a miler–he's fast. I couldn't see him getting much further.

“Unquestionable could go for the French Guineas. He's done very well. He'll go to Naas on Sunday to work and he could go for a trial in France before going back for the Guineas. He could be a French Derby horse. He's not as quick as the others, so he could get a bit further.

“When we went to America with them last year, River Tiber was five lengths better than the winner. He's not rated that way, but if you put the two of them together, that is what will happen.”

O'Brien added, “Henry Longfellow could stretch out but he looks like a miler the way he's going, so how much further he'd get, I'm not sure. He could be a French Derby horse, as could Diego Velazquez–he might be more that than a Guineas horse, but he'll go with them [to Naas] as well, so it will be interesting.”

Asked for an under-the-radar three-year-old colt to follow for the campaign, O'Brien put forward Grosvenor Square (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), winner of the G3 Eyrefield S. at Leopardstown last term and no bigger than 20-1 for the Derby.

“Grosvenor Square could be a very interesting horse,” he said. “I think he'd have no problem with better ground. He's not a heavy-framed horse, he's a good mover. He'll go for a Derby trial.”

City Of Troy is not the only horse that O'Brien is exploring the idea of running on dirt this season as Dubai-bound Auguste Rodin could tackle the surface at some point this year. More immediately, races like the Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh and the Prince Of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot will come under consideration for the four-year-old after Meydan.

O'Brien concluded, “Auguste Rodin has another bit of work to do before he goes on Saturday, but everything looks good at the moment. It's his first run of the year but we're very happy with him.

“The plan was he goes there, then he could go to the Curragh for the Tattersalls Gold Cup and then Ascot for the Prince of Wales's.

“After that, we could have a look at a dirt race with him. We'll see how that goes. He could go to Saratoga as well. His season will be split in two really, with a busy first half and then a break. As a rule, Deep Impacts are mainly turf horses, but we were surprised how well he worked on the dirt at the Breeders' Cup-he floated over it. He has an unusual action, so it will be interesting to see.”

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Betfred will now sponsor six of the races across Oaks day and Derby day, including those  two Classics, with the original three-year deal extended by a further 12 months.

“Following on from a memorable two days at Epsom last year we are delighted to further develop our support of the Betfred Derby Festival and we very much look forward to working with Amy and her team to keep the fixture at the forefront of world racing,” said Betfred's Fred Done. 

Amy Starkey, managing director of Jockey Club Racecourses' east region, added, “Our relationship with Betfred spans many years and many major races, and we are delighted to be strengthening our partnership at Epsom Downs still further following a brilliant first running of The Betfred Derby in 2023.

“Betfred's support of British racing over many years is clear for all to see and we can't wait to get cracking with Fred and his team as we look to promote the greatest Flat race in the world in 2024 and beyond.”

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Sectional timing wasn't around when Dancing Brave tanked down the outer to get within just under a length of Shahrastani in 1986. If it had been, we'd have been able to gauge just how unlucky he was (he was). Maybe if it had been there could also have been a proper assessment of whether El Gran Senor should have prevailed two years earlier, but hey ho. Now we have it, we know just what the elite of their generation can do in cold, clear figures and in particular during that last surging period of what is still the world's most exciting horse race.

This year's Derby was visually a lovely throwback to those wonderful ones of the 1970s and 1980s, with little between two sensational colts primed to the minute able to stamp their superiority on the rest during the last three furlongs. Unfortunately for connections of the gargantuan yet surprisingly nimble King Of Steel, who produced the fastest individual furlong of 10.66 seconds between the three and the two on what was remarkably his first start of the season, there was another in the line-up who had the ace up his sleeve.

Auguste Rodin (Ire), that melange of Japan's deity Deep Impact (Jpn) and one of the best of the faster Galileo (Ire) mares, took a while to get to fever pitch but on the first Saturday in June he caught fire. On the summer fast ground he would prove in time was essential, and granted the perfect ride from a jockey with the Epsom aptitude of the Longfellow, he thrust himself into the top of the charts of Derby heroes with an outlandish final two furlongs of 22.18 seconds. He almost broke 33 seconds for the last three! Upstaging his damsire in the process, he became to my eyes Ballydoyle's best Derby winner, under Aidan O'Brien's tenure at least.

He needed to do it again, of course, and duly did so in what was for me the race of the year in the Irish Champion Stakes. Luxembourg (Ire) killed everything bar the uber-talented Auguste Rodin, who had the audacity to idle once he had passed his truly on-song stablemate, much as his dam Rhododendron (Ire) tended to do in her day. The Leopardstown race was not for the faint-hearted, yet he found it all well within his capabilities much as he did next time in the Breeders' Cup Turf.

Thankfully, he's going to be around in 2024 and by rights he should be even better. He may never win an Arc, as ironically the one year the ground rode fast he was already being routed elsewhere, but if the rains stay away he'll probably win the King George and another Breeders' Cup Turf, much as Aidan O'Brien's other brilliant colt High Chaparral (Ire) did. And then the Japan Cup perhaps? What a shame Equinox (Jpn) will not be around to stretch him more than his contemporaries did this year.

I think only in time will that Derby performance be truly appreciated as the benchmark it really was. It is up to those who follow now to meet the standard of that barnstorming finish. Horse of the Year 2023 unquestionably for me, but whether 2024 will follow the same tune remains to be seen. In a story reminiscent of that of Riva Ridge and Secretariat, it could be that his thunder will be stolen by the “special one” housed in his own barn!

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“Everything was done to try to save him, we thought he was making progress but then he just started going backwards,” said Philip Robinson, assistant racing manager to owner Saeed Suhail.

Trained by Sir Michael Stoute, Desert Crown was bred by Gary Robinson of Strawberry Fields Stud. He made just one appearance as a two-year-old to post a facile maiden victory at Nottingham and reappeared at three, the jungle drums banging loudly in the build-up to the G2 Dante S., which he won in imperious fashion to prompt him being backed into favouritism for the Derby. Similarly commanding at Epsom, he gave jockey Richard Kingscote his first Derby victory and his trainer a sixth success in the race since Shergar (GB) in 1981.

Desert Crown was beaten for the first time in what transpired to be his final start of only a four-race career when second to Hukum (GB) in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. this spring. In preparation for an intended start in the G1 Juddmonte International he fractured his off-fore fetlock on Sunday, August 20 and was transported immediately to Newmarket Equine Hospital for surgery. He has remained there until the decision was taken for him to be humanely put down on Monday afternoon.

Robinson added, “With a severe injury like that there is a lot of pressure with the weight of the animal standing on it, but we really thought he was going to get there and it's very sad he didn't make it.

“You can try and help them with supports for the leg but at the end of the day they've got to be able to stand on their own. He had the best available treatment anywhere in the world, if he couldn't be saved here then he couldn't be saved anywhere.

“He was a fantastic horse and his Derby win was an incredible day that we'll never forget.”

James Savage, assistant trainer to Sir Michael Stoute, said, “He was a brilliant racehorse with an exceptional mind and we never really got to the bottom of him. We always thought that he was going to be a better horse with each race. To win a Derby on his third start was amazing in itself really. It's very sad. He could have reached the moon.”

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Trainer Mick Easterby paid tribute to the three-time champion apprentice who was a regular rider for the stable and said, “It is with great sadness today that I heard of the passing of my great buddy Eddie Hide.

“Eddie Hide was quite simply one of the best Flat jockeys I have seen. In my career I have been fortunate to put up two of the finest jockeys. Sadly, 2023 has seen the passing of both Eddie and my former stable jockey Terry Lucas.

“In the 1970s I'd put Eddie up whenever I had a runner in any of the big races and he never let me down once. Eddie had it all. He was an intelligent man and he knew the formbook inside out.

“You could get rich quite quickly backing Eddie on my horses, because he only rode them when he knew they were going to win. I owe a great deal to Eddie Hide. He rode the biggest winners of my career and he helped put the stable on the map in the 1970s.”

Hide, who won the G1 1000 Guineas for Easterby on Mrs McArdy (GB) (Tribal Chief {GB}) in 1977, also was the regular rider of 1976 top sprinter Lochnager (GB) (Dumbarnie {GB}). The jockey also was awarded the 'Cock of the North' title 16 times.

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It was the year in which Galileo (Ire) first came to prominence as a sire when his first-crop daughter Nightime (Ire) won the Irish 1,000 Guineas and his sons, led by Sixties Icon (GB), filled the first three places in the St Leger, though remarkably none of this quartet was trained at Ballydoyle. 

But it was also a season in which some notable blows were landed for the smaller operators: Pam Sly and Micky Fenton won the 1,000 Guineas with Speciosa (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), a breakthrough Classic success not just for trainer and jockey, but also for the breeze-up sector, with the filly having been purchased by Sly for £30,000.

Even more remarkably, the Derby was won by a colt picked up by his trainer Marcus Tregoning as a yearling for just 16,000gns, making him one of only 13 winners of the Derby in the last 50 years to have been sold at public auction, and certainly the least expensive.

Sir Percy's blue riband may have been claimed by just a short-head, with another head and short-head splitting the first four home, but it was no fluke. The best of his generation in Britain as a two-year-old, when he sailed unbeaten through four races, including the G2 Vintage and G1 Dewhurst S., he had found only George Washington too good for him when second in the 2,000 Guineas. If not life-changing as such, Sir Percy's accomplishments certainly altered the path which his owners Anthony and Victoria Pakenham would steer in the years to follow.

Now 20, Sir Percy has been officially retired from stud duties after serving 16 seasons at Lanwades, not far from where he was born. His life was touched by tragedy early on, when he was orphaned as a three-week-old foal at Old Suffolk Stud just outside Newmarket. His breeder, Harry Ormesher, had bought his dam Percy's Lass (GB) (Blakeney {GB}) from Sheikh Mohammed, who had acquired her among a bulk purchase of the stock of the late Eric Moller. Though not having produced much during her time at Darley, she was from a family that had been active within the Moller brothers' White Lodge Stud through four generations back to their influential foundation mare Horama (GB). Her own pedigree offered plenty of hints of Epsom: Percy's Lass's dam Laughing Girl (GB) (Sassafras {Fr}) had been fourth in the Oaks and was a half-sister to the Oaks runner-up Furioso (GB), while her sire Blakeney (GB) had of course won the Derby (with this achievement being emulated four years later by his half-brother Morston (GB)).

Saving the Best for Last

Ormesher was unbending in his belief that Darley's 2,000 Guineas winner Mark Of Esteem (Ire), a son of Darshaan (GB), was the correct mating for Percy's Lass. She was carrying to him when she was bought for 28,000gns in 1998, a mating that produced the treble winner and 97-rated Love Token (GB). She returned to Mark Of Esteem every year for the rest of her life, those four coverings producing two more foals, including the winner and black-type producer Lady Karr (GB). When Percy's Lass died of colic in the spring of 2003, her parting gift to Ormesher for his unerring faith was her young foal who would become the winner of the greatest race of them all.

The colourful Ormesher, an award-winning photographer and former publicity agent for Red Rum, died in 2015 at the age of 81. This correspondent was dispatched to interview him in 2006 ahead of Sir Percy's Classic triumph, when he said, “Someone recently said it's a fluke for a small stud having Sir Percy but I disagree. I sent Percy's Lass to Mark Of Esteem repeatedly for two reasons. One is that I just love that Moller pedigree: Violetta, Favoletta, Furioso, Laughing Girl and so on. If you watch, it's always throwing something up. I knew it would suit Darshaan. Also, I went to the sales after I bought Percy's Lass and looked at her offspring and they had terrible front legs but Love Token's legs were great. That's why I kept going back.”

Ormesher had sold Sir Percy as a foal, and with a nice nod to family history, the buyers had been Will Edmeades, who had signed for Percy's Lass on Ormesher's behalf, and Chris Budgett, whose father Arthur had bred, owned and trained Sir Percy's damsire Blakeney. As a pinhooking venture it was not successful, their original outlay of 20,000gns failing to be met when the colt returned to the ring as a yearling. Those two good horsemen can bask now in reflected glory, but any frustration they may have felt at the time was shared by Victoria Pakenham, who twice tried and failed to buy Sir Percy in the ring.

“We were the underbidders when he went through as a foal,” she recalls. “And I asked someone to bid for him at the yearling sales. Then I was suddenly asked, at very short notice, to fly to Hong Kong for a business meeting, and it was the day he was going through the ring, and so I wasn't able to remind them to do their bit. I got to the hotel in Hong Kong and found that someone else, Marcus, had bought Sir Percy, and was furious with my myself for failing to remind the person I'd asked.”

Victoria and Anthony Pakenham with Sir Percy at Lanwades 

The trail had not gone completely cold, however.  Victoria's mother was a cousin of Sheila Hern, whose husband Dick was Tregoning's old boss. An introduction was made and Pakenham duly enquired about buying a share in Sir Percy.

“Marcus had bought him with someone else in mind who had been a bit slow to make up their mind, and he said, 'I'll give them a fortnight, and if they don't confirm, then you can come and see him',” she says.

“So we went to see him in December and thought he was lovely. We said to Marcus we'd take half, thinking that if Marcus wanted to keep a half it meant he liked him. So Marcus said, 'No, no, no. You have the whole.' So we did. And then we started to get little reports from him saying, 'I feel guilty charging training fees because he's so straightforward'.”

She adds, “And then we got another report from Marcus saying, 'It's amazing, he's so tough, he doesn't mind it going up the all-weather.' And someone said, 'Oh, he's just preparing you for the fact that he's going to be an all-weather horse.' And then of course the miracle happened.”

Esteemed Beginnings

That miracle, a small one when set against what would happen later in his career, was Sir Percy's comfortable debut success in a six-furlong Goodwood maiden on May 28, 2005, making him the stable's first juvenile winner of the season.

“We had an offer after that win straightaway, which we turned down,” Victoria says. “We were going to Salisbury for his second race, and Anthony and I don't back our own horses, and I remember Anthony saying, 'We say we never bet, but this is the biggest bet we've ever had'. Because we turned down a lot of money for him.

“And of course then he won at Salisbury. And that was when Marcus made that amazing prediction, 'He'll win the Champagne and then he'll win the Dewhurst'. My brother in America rang us just after Marcus had given interviews and said, 'Have you heard what your trainer just said?'”

Horses can so often make fools of those spouting bold predictions, but in this regard Sir Percy didn't let down either his trainer or owners. A month after Salisbury he was back at Goodwood to claim his first stakes success before biding his time to close out the season in style at Newmarket in October.

While his juvenile season had gone without a hitch, the winter that followed was anything but smooth, as Tregoning battled to ready Sir Percy for his Classic campaign.

“He had this ghastly accident when he pulled a shoe and about a third of the foot came with it,” Pakenham recalls. “So it was touch and go to get him ready for the Guineas and it was one of the reasons he didn't have a prep race beforehand. He had a racecourse gallop, but Marcus had to put special shoes on. And actually, what they think happened, because they didn't have the same grip, when he came out of the stalls in the Guineas, he slipped. But George Washington was a superstar, no question.”

Sir Percy, right, flashes home in the Derby | Racingfotos

With Sir Percy suffering muscle soreness in his back after the Guineas, it was again a race against time to have him ready for the Derby. A chiropractor drove over weekly from France to treat him and the plucky colt was able to take his place in the 18-runner line-up.

Snatching for his head in the early stages under his regular rider Martin Dwyer, Sir Percy raced in the second half of the field around Tattenham Corner before he was able to find space to launch his challenge. It is a race worth watching again and again, and each time it is scarcely believable that he was able to make up the ground that he did, switched first wide, then back to the rail, ultimately to snatch glory through the narrowest of gaps and by the narrowest of margins. A brave run indeed.

But Epsom had taken its toll and, despite four subsequent starts, including two the following season in Dubai and at Royal Ascot, Sir Percy was never seen at his best again.

“Basically he never came back from it,” Pakenham admits. For her husband Anthony, in whose name Sir Percy ran, its was a first foray on the Flat, and only his second horse after owning the consistent jumper The Dark Lord (Ire).

“I never owned any horses before I met Victoria,” he says. “She bought me The Dark Lord and he won 10 races for us, which was incredibly exciting. And then this horse came along and he was going to be the last. In fact at one stage he was going to be called A Final Fling, because Victoria had had a couple of horses that had never shown anything at all.”

He continues, “You don't really believe it's possible. I always remember the first time he ran in a Group 1, and I was just thinking to myself, 'Please don't be last'. 

The whole thing was just a pipe dream, and it happened so quickly in my racing ownership career.”

The Next Chapter

After Royal Ascot, Sir Percy retired to take up stud duties for the 2008 season at Lanwades, where he was looked after initially by Eoin O'Mahony and later by Peter Manuel. For the Pakenhams, ownership turned to breeding. Broodmares were secured to back up some smart matrons owned by Kirsten Rausing, who had been unable to ignore the career of Sir Percy, especially when he collared her Lanwades graduate Dragon Dancer (GB) (Sadler's Wells) on the line in the Derby.

“He was already attractive as a great two-year-old and a Derby winner, but what made him particularly attractive as far as I was concerned was the fact that he would suit a whole lot of Northern Dancer-line mares,” Rausing notes. 

“We needed an outcross. I had Selkirk at the time, and also Hernando, who was rather a long way from Northern Dancer, and of course Sir Percy had Ajdal [in his pedigree] but a long way back, so he fulfilled many of the criteria, and then there was the fact that he was such a bonny horse himself.”

She adds, “Of all the stallion deals that I've done, which are many, this was the least complex one, and Victoria, Anthony and I have been friends ever since.”

Both Lanwades and the Pakenhams have been responsible for a number of his better horses, with Rausing having bred the G2 Park Hill S. winner Alyssa (GB) and G3 Kilternan S. winner Alla Speranza (GB), as well as Listed winner Kawida (GB). The Pakenhams meanwhile bred the G2 Lancashire Oaks victrix Lady Tiana (GB) and Listed winner Blakeney Point (GB). 

Sir Percy is also the sire of G1 Metropolitan winner Sir John Hawkwood (Ire) in Australia, while in America he had the GI Man o' War S. winner Wake Forest (Ger). From four seasons shuttling to Rich Hill Stud in New Zealand, he left the Group 2 winner Sir Andrew (NZ) among a number of stakes performers, and his influence has also spread to the National Hunt division, where his sons Presenting Percy (GB) and Knight Salute (GB) in particular have represented him at the highest level at Cheltenham and Aintree.

Rausing adds, “He started with a bang and had a good number of two-year-old winners in his first crop. I think he surprised quite a few people, and we were inundated with people wanting to send mares after his first two-year-old runners.

“We already know that he's a good broodmare sire, and the fact that he was easy to breed mares to also holds true for his daughters, who are quite easy to mate. Alla Speranza has already bred a group winner, Shine So Bright, who is now at stud in India. Alyssa has bred two winners from two runners, so it's so far so good.

“All in all, he's been a success story, if not with great fireworks. But he has been a steady success and always very popular with trainers and popular at the sales.”

From a first crop of 50, Sir Percy's two largest crops came in 2012 and 2013, when he had 85 and 98 foals on the ground. A decent number, but still modest compared to the vast books of some of the more commercially sought-after stallions. His current crop of three-year-olds numbers 39, and he has 12 two-year-olds. This autumn will provide one of the last opportunities to buy a Sir Percy yearling as members of his penultimate crop come under the hammer.

For the Pakenhams, Sir Percy remains “a member of the family; he's very, very special”.

Victoria adds, “Watching his runners has become an absolute obsession, and it takes up a lot of time, but we follow them all and we get just as much pleasure from looking to see how they run, whether we bred them or not.

“He's been looked after so beautifully at Lanwades. Well, he's such a lovely person, he doesn't have a bad bone in his body.”

On this, Rausing concurs. “He has always been so easy to deal with and he will remain here in retirement,” she says. “His fertility has waned but in himself he is in great heart and looks as good as ever.”

We will leave the last word to the late Harry Ormesher, who said that watching Sir Percy win the Derby  was, “the best day of my life, without doubt”. 

The culmination of a life's dream for his breeder, an unending delight for his owners, and a friend to many other breeders besides, Sir Percy is fully deserving of a peaceful retirement, and with the offspring of his final crops still to come, we may not have heard the last of him yet.

The post Sir Percy, Derby Winner and ‘Absolute Obsession’ For His Owners, Retires at 20 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Adayar provided Appleby with a second G1 Derby success at Epsom in 2021 when ridden by Adam Kirby before going on to beat his elders in the G1 King George VI And Queen Elizabeth S. at Ascot the following month under William Buick.

He was subsequently beaten in the G1 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the G1 Champion S. and only made it to the track twice last season, albeit going close in the Champion S. when beaten just half a length by Bay Bridge (GB) (New Bay {GB}).

Connections brought him back as a 5-year-old in the hope of adding to his top-level tally-but while he made a successful comeback in the rescheduled G3 Gordon Richards S. at Newmarket in May, he was beaten into third in the G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot and was turned over at short odds on his latest and final start at Newmarket.

Appleby told www.godolphin.com, “Adayar provided the team with two outstanding days on the racecourse at Epsom and Ascot and has been a firm favourite in the yard for the past three seasons. He has been an absolute pleasure to train.

“He will be sorely missed at Moulton Paddocks but we look forward to watching him in his new career at stud and are quite sure he will be a huge success.”

The fourth foal out of Dubawi (Ire) mare Anna Salai who won the G3 Prix de la Grotte and was second in the G1 Irish 1000 Guineas, the Godolphin homebred is a full-brother to the stakes winner Military Order (Ire). His extended family features Group 1 winner National Defense (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), and the GI Flower Bowl Invitational S. heroine Ave (GB) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Kirby said, “Adayar will always hold a special place in my heart, as he gave me the biggest win of my career.

“Obviously what he achieved means he's a great horse. He had a very high cruising speed and he could really quicken and keep lengthening, which takes a bit of doing.

“He had a great mind. I'd never ridden him before Epsom, but he travelled round very strong and he made everything easy for me. He had a great turn of foot, but what he achieved speaks for itself–he was obviously very, very talented on his day and I'm sure he will do well as a stallion.”

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Last year's Derby winner, trained by Sir Michael Stoute, has raced just four times in three years, and was beaten for the first time on his sole start this season when second to Hukum (GB) in the Brigadier Gerard S. on his reappearance after a 12-month absence.

Philip Robinson, assistant racing manager to Desert Crown's owner Saeed Suhail, said, “He's started cantering, having been walking all last week, and is all is good.

“Nothing showed up on any scans or X-rays or anything, so it must have just been a bruise or something like that which just set him back 10 days.”

He added, “I'm not sure where he'll run, I wouldn't have thought Sir Michael will rush him back, he'll just take his time and when he's back in full work then he'll make a plan.

“It was just one of those really unfortunate things that happens with horses, but they are athletes and these things happen.”

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If successful in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, Auguste Rodin would provide the master of Ballydoyle with his 100th European Classic success, but the colt will face stiff competition with the third and fourth home at Epsom still in the picture for the race. 

O'Brien has five horses remaining in the €1.25m contest, which will be the first Irish Derby run on a Sunday since 2011, and the main attraction of the three-day fixture.

Auguste Rodin will be bidding to give Ryan Moore his first win in the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and the rider heaped praise on O'Brien ahead of what could be an historic weekend for the trainer.

Moore said, “Aidan has shown for the last 30 years what an unbelievable talent he is. Genius gets bandied around an awful lot but how he prepares his horses and gets them to that day, to do it as many times as he has is a very special thing to do.

“I know the horse was disappointing at Newmarket, but there were reasons for that and Aidan always had complete belief in the horse. He is a horse that everyone always held in the highest regard from a very early stage.”

Auguste Rodin could also become the first horse to complete the Epsom-Curragh Derby double since Harzand (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in 2016. Among those standing in his way could be his own stable companions Adelaide River, Covent Garden, Peking Opera and San Antonio.  

However, John Murphy's White Birch (GB) (Ulysses {Ire}), a first ride in the Irish Derby for Dylan Browne McMonagle, and the Jessica Harrington-trained Sprewell (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}), third and fourth respectively at Epsom a month ago, appear to be the biggest threats to O'Brien's Epsom scorer.  

Harrington is expecting a big run from Sprewell but is realistic about the task at hand. She said on Tuesday, “I'm very happy with his preparation. He came out of Epsom very well and we've just slowly built him up. He's a very laid-back character and it's quite easy to keep the preparation going.

“Auguste Rodin is going to be very difficult to beat. He's proved himself to be an exceptional horse, to come back from what was a disaster really in the 2,000 Guineas.

“It was a great training feat for Aidan to get him back and to win so easily, as he did in Epsom. He's got to go out and do it again, but I'm presuming he'll be in good order. He's got it on the board and he beat us a fair way.”

She added, “You're always hoping. You don't go into those races thinking, 'I'll be grand being second'. I want to go in there thinking, 'I'll be grand if I can win'.”

Also standing their ground ahead of Friday's final declaration stage are the Dermot Weld-trained Knight To King, an impressive winner at Gowran Park on his debut, Joseph O'Brien's Leopardstown Derby Trial second Up And Under, the Donnacha O'Brien-trained Proud And Regal and the Ralph Beckett-trained Salt Bay. 

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