“McEvoy has been confirmed,” said Ferguson, who has worked with McEvoy in years' past. “He's won the race three times and knows his way around Flemington. He's a very good friend of mine and we have worked together a lot in the past.”

The two-time group-winning gelding is due to enter quarantine shortly. Racing in the colours of K K Ho, Deauville Legend won the G2 Great Voltigeur S. in mid-August.

“He's in good nick and it is very exciting to have a horse that is favourite for the Melbourne Cup going over there,” added Ferguson. “We were right to give him a little bit of time off between now and then because he has had a long season and I think he will be going down there as fit as we can get him.

“He will probably be doing a racecourse gallop on Friday and we will then send him into quarantine on Monday.”

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What a selection that was. Mind you, Alex Barry is no ordinary 11-year-old boy. He devours pedigrees for breakfast and will surely one day shove his dad Luke aside to take the helm at Manister House Stud. They start 'em young in Ireland, and that's one of the reasons the Irish have the edge in just about every facet of the bloodstock industry.

The bears came out of the woods on Saturday with Little Big Bear landing the Curragh's G1 Keeneland Phoenix S., and the admirably hardy Go Bears Go (Ire) (Kodi Bear {Ire}), who had been a close third in that same race last year, posting his third group win in the G3 Rathasker Stud Phoenix Sprint S.

Little Big Bear became the fourth Group/Grade 1 winner for his sire No Nay Never, whose name has popped up at pretty much every major meeting this season, with his star performer Alcohol Free (Ire) having added the July Cup to her tally of top-level wins, Blackbeard (Ire) notching group wins in Ireland and France, Trillium (GB) landing the Molecomb S., and Little Big Bear having first hinted at his prowess in the Windsor Castle S. at Royal Ascot.

No Nay Never's sire Scat Daddy is a son of Aidan O'Brien's outstanding juvenile Johannesburg, the winner of Group/Grade 1 races in Ireland, France, Britain and America in his debut season. That run started with the Phoenix S., which was taken by his great-grandson in such impressive fashion at the Curragh on Saturday. The G1 Prix Morny was next on the list for Johannesburg 21 years ago, but it appears that Little Big Bear will not yet take a trip to the land where his dam Adventure Seeker (Fr) (Bering {GB}) was bred by the Wildenstein family, and indeed where his third dam, the champion All Along (Fr) (Targowice), won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1983. Aidan O'Brien told the Nick Luck Daily podcast on Monday that the star juvenile will likely stay at home to contest the G1 National S. next.

Daddy's Legacy

Scat Daddy was only 11 when he died in 2015 but his reputation had grown enough by that stage for him to have left a number of sons at stud, with at least 15 currently scattered between Europe and America. His former home of Ashford Stud contains three of those sons: Caravaggio, the sire of the dual Group 1 winner Tenebrism, Triple Crown winner Justify, and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Mendelssohn. Those last two named both have first-crop runners this year, with Justify currently in second in the American freshman table. His leading performer to date is the G2 Airlie Stud S. winner Statuette, a three-parts-sister to Tenebrism, their dam being the celebrated Group 1-winning miler Immortal Verse (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}).

At Coolmore in Ireland, another freshman sire of 2022, Sioux Nation, stands alongside No Nay Never, and he has had a pretty stonking week with two Group 3 winners to his credit – Sydneyarms Chelsea (Ire) at Deauville and the tail-swishing Lakota Sioux (Ire) at Newmarket. All of this activity means that No Nay Never has taken over from Havana Grey (GB) as Europe's leading sire of 2-year-olds, with Sioux Nation now in third place in that particular table. 

It is also worth noting that Yeomanstown Stud's grey son of Scat Daddy, El Kabeir, provided arguably the most eye-catching maiden winner of the last week in the Karl Burke-trained Bright Diamond (Ire), who sparkled on debut when beating some smartly-bred types by nine lengths at Newmarket.

Meanwhile there are now four young sons of No Nay Never at stud. The first yearlings of Coolmore's Ten Sovereigns will come under the hammer this weekend at Arqana, where the first yearling by Highclere Stud's Land Force (Ire) is also consigned. The G2 Coventry S. winner Arizona (Ire) will have his first foals for sale later this year, while in France Al Shaqab's Molecomb winner Armor (GB) covered his first book of mares this spring at Haras de Bouquetot.

Clearly we will be seeing plenty more runners representing the Scat Daddy line in the coming seasons. The most interesting question to be answered in the relatively short term will be whether the classy female family of the Camas Park Stud and Summerhill-bred Little Big Bear will combine with this generally fast and precocious line well enough to help him show a similar level of form at a mile and fulfil his obvious Classic pretensions. 

The Queen of Highfield 

There is encouragement to be gained for breeders large and small by the admirable progression of John Fairley's homebred Highfield Princess (Fr) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), who took some notable scalps when winning the G1 Prix Maurice de Gheest on Sunday. Born only a few miles up the road from Deauville, she is really a child of Yorkshire, where she is trained by John Quinn in the yard he rents from Fairley, Highfield Stables, from which she takes her name.

And she is indeed worthy of that regal soubriquet now, though that was not necessarily apparent from the early days of her career. Unraced at two, her three unplaced maiden/novice runs saw Highfield Princess earn an opening handicap mark of 57 as a 3-year-old, though it must be said that third appearance of her life came in a Redcar novice in which she was fourth, beaten ten lengths by subsequent Group 1 winner Dreamloper (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}). In good old workmanlike fashion Highfield Princess climbed the ratings to end that opening season on a mark of 83 as a four-time winner. 

Last season's delights included a victory at Royal Ascot then a first stakes success in Chelmsford City's Listed Queen Charlotte Fillies' S., and a runner-up finish to Space Blues (Ire) in the G2 City Of York S. That upwardly mobile progression has continued to the very top this season, and she has rewarded her breeder's decision to keep her in training at five by landing the valuable All-Weather Fillies' and Mares' Championship, followed by the G2 Duke of York S. and now her victory over a field which included three previous Group 1 winners.

John Fairley, who breeds under the name of Trainers House Enterprises, bought the former Godolphin mare Pure Illusion (Ire) (Danehill) when carrying Highfield Princess, a first-crop daughter of Night Of Thunder. His first piece of luck was being able to buy her for 18,000gns, and extra bonuses soon came his way when the next season the mare's 2-year-old colt by Lonhro (Aus), named Cardsharp (GB), won the Woodcote S. and G2 July S. Two years later Night Of Thunder announced himself on the scene by becoming champion first-season sire. Though Highfield Princess was not among his 25 first-crop juvenile winners, she will now become his top-rated runner among three Group 1 winners for the son of Dubawi in Ireland, France and Australia. She could yet extend that geographical range to America, with Quinn keen to take his stable star to the Breeders' Cup meeting at Keeneland.

Sadly for Fairley, Pure Illusion died after producing just one more foal after Highfield Princess, and that 2-year-old colt by Aclaim (Ire) is now in training alongside her and has been named Highland Viking (GB).

Brilliant Buick, Marvellous Moore

It has been a good season so far for those racing fans who prefer their jockeys to be boringly brilliant.

William Buick, who arguably should be the current champion jockey, is in the form of his life and is pushing full steam ahead in his quest to gain that accolade this year, currently racking up the winners at a rate of 25%. Buick returned from his Saratoga Derby and Oaks double over the weekend for Charlie Appleby to take up three rides at Wolverhampton on Monday. Now that's dedication.

Ryan Moore has already been champion jockey on three occasions, and his flitting between Britain and Ireland to fulfil his Ballydoyle obligations means that his tally of winners is more or less equally divided between the two nations, but it is a list certainly not short on quality. Four of his five winners of the last week have been in stakes company, led by Little Big Bear and including a treble at Deauville last Tuesday for three different trainers. 

There's something almost perversely pleasurable about a Ryan Moore post-race interview in that you almost don't want to watch because it's so very clear how much he's hating it, but you have to stick with it to the end just in case he cracks a faint smile, which is all the more special for its rarity value. While Moore sensibly refuses to play the court jester for the media, he is however absolutely superb in his debriefings with owners and trainers. Those charged with promoting the sport may argue that that's not enough, but it is, first and foremost, his job.

The amusing postscript to Little Big Bear's triumph was found in these words from Aidan O'Brien: “Ryan was very complimentary about him and there's not too many horses Ryan is complimentary of.”

Spin? Possibly. But then this was the man who dismounted from his first victory in the Oaks on Snow Fairy and said, “Well it's not the Derby, is it?” The likelihood is that Moore, along with the rest of us, thinks that Little Big Bear is very exciting indeed. 

And to this observer, having two jockeys of the class demonstrated by Buick and Moore, both on and off their horses, is all the excitement one needs. Let's leave the drama and angst to others.

All Roads Lead to Deauville

The strange world within a world that is the bloodstock sales scene cranks into top gear this weekend with the start of the European yearling season in France. 

Readers of The Times may have been disheartened by last week's 'Litany of gloom' leader forewarning of another major recession for Britain, but that is unlikely to upset the bull run of the yearling sales. Not yet anyway, and not while there is such a clamour for European-bred turf horses with a touch of middle-distance class from our colleagues in America, Australia and beyond.

Pre-pandemic, Arqana's August Sale hit a new high just shy of €43 million in 2019, and it wasn't far off that last year when the sale returned to its normal slot after a disrupted calendar in 2020, and almost €40 million was traded for 244 yearlings. The catalogue is slightly smaller this year, but it is fair to expect some pretty red hot trade as temperatures soar again in Europe. 

Hottest among the trainers in France is the unstoppable Jean-Claude Rouget, who reached a new milestone this weekend when saddling his 7,000th winner, thereby extending his European record as the winningmost trainer. 

On the day of his victory with Vadeni (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}) in the Eclipse at Sandown, Rouget spoke of the slow beginning to his 43-year training career, when he was training “some jumpers and some bad Flat horses”.

Rouget's recent former assistant Tim Donworth has made a quicker start to his own training career, which began last September. The Chantilly-based Irishman now has 13 winners to his name, and recorded his first stakes win on Saturday with Ocean Vision (Ire) (U S Navy Flag) in the Listed Prix de la Vallee d'Auge, in which he also trained the third home, Kokachin (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).

La Vie Est Belle 

Although there was only one non-German-trained runner in Sunday's G1 Preis der Diana, there was still a strong international feel to the result, with the French-bred Toskana Belle becoming the first Group 1 winner for her Normandy-based sire Shamalgan (Fr), a son of Footstepsinthesand (GB). Furthermore, the filly is now owned by Australian Bloodstock, and she was ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, who was making a flying visit to Europe to ride in the Shergar Cup at Ascot on Saturday and stayed on an extra day to land his second European Classic victory following the St Leger win of Rule Of Law (Kingmambo) in 2004.

Luke Murrell and Jamie Lovett of Australian Bloodstock have long had ties to Germany, where their racing and breeding interests are managed by Ronald Rauscher and include the Gestut Rottgen-based stallion Protectionist (Ger). Like Toskana Belle, the Melbourne Cup-winning son of Monsun (Ger) was trained by Andreas Wohler, who collected his seventh German Oaks victory while, remarkably, the Australian Bloodstock syndicate has now won the race three times. 

Toskana Belle, who only started her racing career this April, was initially under the care of Marian Falk Weissmeier, for whom she finished third in the G3 Diana Trial in June before joining the Wohler stable. She was bred by Simon Springer of Ecurie Normandie Pur Sang, who also owns her sire and the Prix Morny winner Dabirsim (Fr). Unusually, Springer bought Shamalgan, now 15, at the Arqana December Sale five years ago for €135,000, and both stallions stand at Haras de Grandcamp. 

Springer's own colours were carried to success in France just minutes after Toskana Belle's Classic success when his homebred son of Dabirsim, Celestin (Fr), won the Grand Handicap de Deauville.

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Lemaire, a five-time champion jockey in Japan, said, “I think it has been 10 years since I last had a ride at Ascot. I have had a month off and there is no better place to get back in the saddle than here. Every time you race here, there is an excitement because you know it is an important occasion–you are competing against the best horses and the best jockeys in front of a great atmosphere.

“I am really looking forward to the Shergar Cup. We have a strong team made up of experience, with myself and Kerrin, and then the two young guns in Jason and Takeshi. I think it will be a nice combination as we try to win the title, and Kerrin's experience will be very important. He is a top-class jockey and has enjoyed a lot of success in England.”

Formerly Godolphin's number two rider back in the early 2000s, McEvoy is competing in his third Shergar Cup, and said, “It is exciting to be back. I haven't ridden here since 2019, when I did a little stint while William [Buick] was injured. This is a great part of the world to visit, let alone ride horses.”

New Zealander Jason Collett is competing in his first Shergar Cup, and was also experience Ascot Racecourse for the first time. The 31-year-old said, “This is my first time at Ascot and, I have to say, it is something else with the grandstand and everything. This place obviously has a bit of history, so it is pretty awesome to be here.”

Takeshi Yokoyama, who comes from a family of Group 1-winning jockeys, earned five Group 1 victories last year headed by Japanese Classic success on Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}) and Titleholder (Jpn) (Duramente {Jpn}).

Yokoyama said via translator, “This is my first time at Ascot and my first time in the UK. I am really excited to be here and am appreciative of the invitation. Riding in the Shergar Cup will be a new experience for me. It is a big honour to represent Japan and hopefully I can learn a lot.”

Wilson, the most successful female jockey of all time in Canada, said, “I was supposed to come back for the Shergar Cup in 2020 but obviously the pandemic shut everything down. I think it must be five years since I last rode here, so it feels great to be back.

“I love this event and the novelty of it all. The international element is amazing and it is something you don't find unless you are in a competition like this. The team aspect creates a special camaraderie.”

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A treble winner of the Melbourne Cup, McEvoy joins Christophe Lemaire, Takeshi Yokoyama and Jason Collett on the Rest of the World team for Saturday's unique fixture at Ascot, which welcomes back McEvoy's former Godolphin colleague Frankie Dettori to the Shergar Cup for the first time in six years. 

The Australian spent four years riding in Britain, predominantly for Saeed Bin Suroor, from 2004, during which time he won the St Leger on Rule Of Law, as well as the G1 St James's Palace S. on Shamardal and the G1 Prix Jacques Le Marois aboard Dubawi (Ire). His most recent big-race success in his home country came in May in the G1 Doomben Cup when riding Huetor (Fr) for Peter and Paul Snowden.

The rider confirmed by text message as he was about to board a flight from Sydney to the UK on Monday that he will also return to European Classic action on Sunday when he takes the ride in the German Oaks equivalent on Toskana Belle (Fr) for Andreas Wohler. The German trainer previously teamed up with the owners of the filly, Australian Bloodstock, to win the 2014 Melbourne Cup with Protectionist (Ger), who sired Sunday's G1 Grosser Dallmayr Preis-Bayerisches Zuchtrennen runner-up Amazing Grace (Ger).

Toskana Belle, a daughter of Shamalgan (Fr) was third in the G3 Diana Trial after winning the Listed Henkel-Stutenpreis at Dusseldorf in May. She is currently around 14/1 for the Preis der Diana, with the Aidan O'Brien-trained Toy (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) co-favourite with Gestut Schlenderhan's Mountaha (Ger) (Giuliani {Ger}) at 9/2.

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There will be 10 nations represented across the four teams for the 21st renewal of the Shergar Cup with Dettori, the most successful jockey in Royal Ascot history of those who still hold a licence, captaining the European team.

Dettori, who will be making his 11th appearance at the Shergar Cup, said, “It's been a few years since I've ridden in the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup and I'm looking forward to it. I love Ascot and it's always a great day so I hope people put it in their diary and come along to have a good time and enjoy something a bit different.

“The European team looks really strong. I remember when we won it in 2014 it was a really special day and hopefully we can lift the trophy again this year.”

Dettori will be joined by compatriot Antonio Fresu as well as last year's Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Rene Piechulek from Germany and nine-times champion Spanish jockey Jose-Luis Martinez.

The Great Britain and Ireland team will be captained by Jamie Spencer, who is one of just a handful of jockeys to have ridden more than 2,000 winners, including 26 at Royal Ascot. He will have Danny Tudhope, who enjoyed an excellent Royal Ascot this year with four winners, Neil Callan and Kieran Shoemark alongside him.

The Ladies team, victorious last year for the third time, will once again be captained by Hayley Turner and she will be joined by last year's Alistair Haggis Silver Saddle winner Nicola Currie and multiple Royal Ascot winner Hollie Doyle. The side is completed by Canadian star Emma-Jayne Wilson, who has appeared at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup six times, including when on the winning side in 2015.

Turner said, “I love the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, it's always one of my favourite days of the year. It's great for the event to have lots of international riders travelling over for the day again and I'm excited to have Emma-Jayne back again on our team.

“Winning last year for the third time was really special as they let me keep the trophy which I've now got at home. The Ladies look strong again with Hollie and Nicola so hopefully. we can retain the crown and win the new trophy as well.”

The Rest of the World team features two of Japan's leading riders at the moment in Takeshi Yokoyama and French-born Christophe Lemaire who represents Japan as a JRA licensed jockey. They are joined by three-time Melbourne Cup winner Kerrin McEvoy from Australia and New Zealander Jason Collett, who has enjoyed a superb season in Sydney.

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse, said, “This is an exciting year for the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup which is breaking new ground with an extended race programme, more jockeys riding and more prize money on offer than ever before.

“In fact, with £500 available to the horses that finish 11th or 12th, and no entry fees, it is all upside for running in these unique races. Additionally, we will also have our stable bonus scheme in operation for the second time following the King George, with £20,000 going to the three leading trainers on the day and £5,000 to their staff.”      

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“It is with sadness that we confirm that Anthony Van Dyck had to be humanely euthanized after sustaining a fractured fetlock during the running of the Melbourne Cup at Flemington,” said Racing Victoria's (RV) Executive General Manager – Integrity Services, Jamie Stier. “The horse received immediate veterinary care, however he was unable to be saved due to the nature of the injury sustained.

“Our sympathies are extended to the owners of Anthony Van Dyck, trainer Aidan O'Brien and all his staff who cared for the horse and are greatly saddened by their loss.”

Stier explained that a fatality report will now be prepared by the RV Integrity Services team as is standard practice.

“The fatality report gives consideration to the circumstances of the incident and any potential learnings to assist in the prevention of similar injuries in the future,” Stier explained. “The report will include the findings of a post-mortem which will now be conducted by the University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic and we expect it will be several weeks before we have a completed report for consideration.”

Anthony Van Dyck's jockey, Hugh Bowman, was uninjured in the incident.

Tuesday's fatality marks the seventh horse to die after the Melbourne Cup since 2013.

The 2020 Melbourne Cup was contested without fans in attendance due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. The race saw a second victor from the barn of young trainer Joseph O'Brien, as Twilight Payment led all the way under jockey Jye McNeil. O'Brien won his first Cup in 2017 with Rekindling.

The runner-up, Tiger Moth, is trained by Joseph O'Brien's father, Aidan O'Brien.

Tiger Moth was ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, who was assigned one of the largest fines for whip use in Australian racing history, per The Guardian. Race stewards fined McEvoy AUS$50,000 (about US$36,000) and suspended him for 13 meetings for using his whip 13 times before the 100-meter mark, and 21 times overall. Jockeys are allowed to use the whip no more than five times before the 100-meter point.

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