Royal Merchant delivers Maher and Eustace a sparkling triumph in The Goodwood
Three-year-old daughter of Merchant Navy hands powerhouse duo their tenth Group 1 win of the season and third in Adelaide
Another bold move from Ciaron Maher and David Eustace reaped rich rewards at Morphettville yesterday as Royal Merchant (Merchant Navy) got the better of her older rivals to land a thrilling edition of The Goodwood (Gr 1, 1200m), in the process becoming the first elite-level winner for Kooringal Stud’s new recruit Merchant Navy (Fastnet Rock).
It is the second time this season the Maher and Eustace team have thrown a three-year-old filly into open Group 1 company and came out the other side with a victory, having repeated the trick with Ruthless Dame (Tavistock) against her own sex in the Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) a fortnight ago.
Royal Merchant, clashing with some seasoned older sprinters, was the only three-year-old in the field and younger legs and a light weight won the day as she battled on resolutely under Michael Dee to defeat Robert Sangster Stakes runner-up Another Award (Shamus Award) by a neck. Zapateo (Brazen Beau) finished a further three-quarters of a length away in third.
The filly has endured an arduous campaign, having opened her preparation when finishing fifth in a Benchmark 72 handicap over 1300 metres at Rosehill on January 14. That performance was followed by five appearances where she finished no worse than fourth.
However, the filly signalled on her most recent appearance that she was up to the Group 1 task when tasting her first black type success in the Tobin Bronze Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m).
With yesterday’s victory also came a little slice of history, as Royal Merchant became only the third three-year-old filly to prevail in the time-honoured Goodwood since the Pattern was introduced, joining 1989 winner Boardwalk Angel (Bletchingly) and Lone Rock (Fastnet Rock), who won the 1200-metre sprint in 2011.
While Eustace was confident the filly would run well yesterday, he admitted the team were coming into the race with realistic expectations.
“I was under a bit of pressure today, the boss had been delivering the goods,” Eustace told Racing.com post-race. “I can’t honestly say we came here thinking we’d win. We were hopeful of getting some more black type and maybe a placing.
“Credit to her, she’s incredibly tough. I was saying to the boss beforehand that his first Group 1 winner was Tears I Cry and he had a similar campaign to this filly.
“She’s had to dance every dance. We served it up to her and she’s delivered. Full credit to Micky Dee as well – he’s riding terrifically well and he kept it nice and smooth.
“I wouldn’t say it was a comfortable watch, but I was confident at the top of the straight she was going to have a right crack.”
With the filly thriving on racing, Eustace did not rule out sending the three-year-old to Queensland, where she could contest the Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) on June 24.
Dee, who will begin a riding stint in Hong Kong from Tuesday, notched up his sixth Group 1 win of the campaign and 11th in his career and he said Royal Merchant had improved since her last-start win in the Tobin Bronze Stakes.
“I’ve been lucky enough to stick with her,” Dee said. “She gave me a far better feel than she did last start so credit to the team and it is just amazing to get her from early in the prep trying to get black type. She got that last time, and here we are today.
“We had to do it the hard way from a wide barrier (14) but we never had any cover. I actually pressed the button too soon because when I did she really took off.”
The Goodwood victory capped off a tremendous Adelaide carnival for Maher and Eustace, who, as well as celebrating their first win in the Robert Sangster Stakes, saddled Affaire A Suivre (Astern) to win the Australiasian Oaks (Gr 1, 2000m), handing the partnership their maiden victory in the 2000-metre Group 1.
The Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2500m) was the only contest that eluded Maher and Eustace from a Group 1 cleansweep in South Australia, with the stable having come up just short in the Classic when Promises Kept (Cluster) was narrowly denied victory by Dunkel (Dundeel).
After all the good work in South Australia over the last couple of weeks, the powerhouse training partnership’s Group 1 tally for the season now stands at ten, a figure which sees them trail only James Cummings and Chris Waller by one in that metric. The victory handed the trainers their 25th elite-level success since Eustace was promoted to co-trainer in 2018, while they are well on track to clinch their first Australian trainers’ premiership title at the conclusion of the season.
Royal Merchant (3 f Merchant Navy – Seventhchic by Seventh Reason) was bred by Edinburgh Park’s Ian Smith, who is in the process of selling all his stock unreserved at the Magic Millions National Sale and, after a successful weanling sale, the dispersal will conclude on Tuesday when Smith sells 40 mares during the broodmare element of the Gold Coast sale.
The three-year-old filly was purchased for $160,000 by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock from the Edinburgh Park Stud draft at the 2021 edition of the Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. Royal Merchant is out of the three-time winner Seventhchic (Seventh Reason) and hails from the same family as 1993 Golden Slipper Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) winner Bint Marscay (Marscay).
Seventhchic’s 2020 colt foal by Rubick (Encosta De Lago) was bought by Tony Gollan and John Foote for $55,000 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale last year. Now named Turn The Corner, the two-year-old has been gelded and has yet to hit a racecourse.
Earlier this year, trainer Phillip Stokes and Rick Connolly Bloodstock parted with $170,000 to secure Royal Merchant’s yearling half-brother by The Autumn Sun (Redoute’s Choice) at the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale.
Last season, Seventhchic produced a filly by Kitchwin Hills-based sire Graff (Star Witness) and she was covered by Darley shuttler Palace Pier (Kingman) last November.
Royal Merchant is one of two stakes winners for former Maher inmate and dual Group 1 winner Merchant Navy, with her Group 2-winning stablemate Steel City being the other.
Having stood his first five seasons at Coolmore’s Jerrys Plains base, Merchant Navy will cover his first book of mares at the Lamont family’s Kooringal Stud in Wagga, where he will command a fee of $13,200 (inc GST).