Tom Marquand is concentrating on the result rather than the occasion ahead of his bid to carry the royal colours to Classic glory in the Betfred St Leger at Doncaster.
It is 46 years since Dunfermline provided the late Queen with the last of her five British Classic wins in the Town Moor showpiece and optimism is high that Desert Hero can end the long wait for another victory by adding his name to the roll of honour on Saturday.
The William Haggas-trained colt brought the house down after giving the newly-crowned King and Queen their first taste of Royal Ascot success in the King George V Stakes in June and he has since enhanced his Leger claims by landing the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood.
Marquand has ridden multiple Group One winners at home and abroad, including a first Classic win with Galileo Chrome in a behind-closed-doors Leger three years ago – but in his view Desert Hero’s victory in Berkshire three months ago tops the lot.
“I’d be lying if I said anything other than I didn’t even give it a thought beforehand, as a jockey you don’t. There’s only one thing that matters and that’s winning and everything else pales into insignificance unless you win,” he said.
“It was an absolutely incredible day and an extremely special one that will probably rank up right up there for the rest of my days riding.
“Honestly, it’s probably the highest. Obviously you’ll have higher profile wins in higher grade races, but as an Englishman the opportunity to ride the King’s first Royal Ascot winner, with them there and seeing the excitement and the pleasure both the King and Queen got from it, was incredible.”
Following the Queen’s death 12 months ago, there were genuine concerns the royal patronage of the sport might fade. Marquand feels Desert Hero’s Ascot win went some way to allaying those fears.
“For racing it’s extremely important and gratifying that the passion for the sport that we all love so much is there,” he continued.
“I think that’s what made the occasion so special, that it was so clear for everyone that was there and watching on the TV as well the joy the King and Queen got from that winner.
“I didn’t think that I’d get a Classic-winning opportunity for them so soon after obviously, but that Royal Ascot will be hard to topple off top spot.
“It was great, but to have that line of progression from Desert Hero to the point where he’s going into the St Leger as one of the main chances in the race is fantastic for everyone.”
Given the expectation, Marquand will have plenty of pressure on his shoulders when he heads out onto the Doncaster turf on Saturday afternoon, but he is keen to treat it like just another race.
He said: “I’m looking forward to it, it’s a big day and an important one with pretty special circumstances, obviously. It’s great.
“Obviously we’re very appreciative to be in the situation we are going into the weekend with him, but we kind of put that to one side going into the racing scenario as it’s all insignificant unless his head lands in front in the right place.
“It doesn’t matter who owns him or who is involved or whatever if that doesn’t happen, so first and foremost the main priority is to give him the best opportunity to win that we can and after that hopefully we’ll have a bit more to worry about!
“It’s all insignificant if he doesn’t win, so there’s not much point spending time thinking about it.”
Desert Hero finished only eighth when favourite for Newbury’s London Gold Cup on his seasonal debut, but Marquand insists he was far from despondent.
He said: “He didn’t disappoint us all at Newbury. It was a mile and a quarter, it was obviously his first run of the year and things didn’t quite go to plan as I ended up making the running, so I actually came back in extremely happy with him.
“I just thought he’d been a bit slow and he’d love going up to a mile and a half and the progression from there has been massive.
“Ascot was obviously a huge performance, but he went and cemented that at Goodwood up in Stakes company and on very different ground as well.”
One question Desert Hero will have to answer is whether his stamina will last out over a mile and three-quarters, but Marquand is as hopeful as he can be the longer trip will not be an issue.
“He’s shown how appliable he is to different things and different conditions. He’s got a different trip to contend with this time, but I think it’s fair to say he’s shown the trip shouldn’t be an issue and on breeding it shouldn’t be an issue, so we’re hoping it’s not going to be,” he added.
“Until you run over it, it’s still a question mark, but I think it’s one of the question marks going into a race like this you don’t mind having. If the trip is the only problem we have then fantastic!”
Marquand knows Desert Hero will not have things all his own way, with a clutch of talented rivals lying in wait.
Frankie Dettori bids for one final Classic win before his retirement aboard Arrest, while Continuous and Gregory renew rivalry after finishing first and third in the Great Voltigeur at York last month.
Further strength in depth is added by the supplemented Middle Earth and Chesspiece, who was only a neck behind Desert Hero at Goodwood in early August.
Assessing the field, Marquand said: “It’s a race where there’s a lot of strength in it, but there’s no standout horse that needs to disappoint for something else to win. It makes it interesting.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity and I know William and the team at Somerville Lodge are thrilled they’ve found a horse like him this year for the King and Queen – it’s given everyone a huge amount of pleasure to be in this position.
“Whatever happens, they’ve done a fantastic job with him and everyone has enjoyed the ride so far.”
Ghostwriter gallop sparking Cox’s Classic dream
Clive Cox has been buoyed by a racecourse gallop ahead of Ghostwriter’s Qipco 2000 Guineas bid, confident his smart Newmarket form can prove a positive in the opening Classic of the season.
The son of Invincible Spirit was unbeaten throughout his two-year-old season and finished 2023 with a statement victory on the Rowley Mile in the Royal Lodge Stakes.
With that experience under the colt’s belt, Cox was happy to forego an early-season trial in favour of a pipe-opener at Kempton, with Ghostwriter – a general 14-1 shot to claim the scalp of Aidan O’Brien’s odds-on favourite City Of Troy on May 4 – reported to have thrived over the winter.
“I’m very happy with Ghostwriter and he has his Newmarket course form,” explained Cox.
“I’m very pleased he has done exceptionally well over the winter and we will be going there with a racecourse gallop under his belt. He’s done very well and that is why he hasn’t run in a trial.
“He’s been to Kempton and he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse who has done well over the winter and we think that will have benefitted him far more than racing on testing ground, with his previous experience at Newmarket hopefully holding him in good stead.”
Another star juvenile for the Beechdown Stables team last season was the Kennet Valley-owned Dragon Leader, who suffered defeat just the once in five starts in 2023 as he proved a real money-spinner for connections.
Big victories at York and Redcar sandwiched a near miss in a valuable Doncaster event and Cox is eyeing stepping the son of El Kabeir up in trip this term when ground conditions allow him to return to action.
“He was a very productive runner last year earning over £300,000 in prize-money,” continued Cox.
“I’m pleased to say he’s wintered well, but he’s definitely better with a dry surface and we wouldn’t be making any concrete plans at the minute. When the ground gets a little bit quicker you will see him.
“Last year he was looking like seven furlongs would help him and I would be very hopeful he will get a mile. We kept him at six last year simply because he was so well qualified for those races. Six and a half was no problem for him at Doncaster though in the Weatherbys race.”
‘Mixed emotions’ for connections of Surrey Quest after epic Scottish National
Connections of Surrey Quest may have suffered agony at Ayr in the Coral Scottish Grand National, but could have bigger and better days on the horizon, with next year’s Grand National now entering calculations.
After four miles of action, Toby Lawes’ progressive seven-year-old was left to fight out a thrilling finish to the Ayr feature with Willie Mullins’ Macdermott, with the trainers’ title-chasing Irishman’s runner coming out on top after not only a titanic battle to the line but an excruciating wait while the judge deliberated over the result.
A standard-bearer over jumps for the Surrey Racing syndicate, Surrey Quest’s owners headed to Ayr full of confidence in their Kevin Brogan-ridden 20-1 shot after some promising results this season.
And despite being left with “mixed emotions” following the nose reversal at the hands of the Danny Mullins-ridden winner, they can take comfort that their charge has continued on the upward curve that has already seen him strike twice in his four starts this term.
“We’ve got mixed emotions and we thought the horse was in absolute brilliant shape heading up there,” said Clive Clive Hadingham, co-founder of Surrey Racing with Steve Grubb.
“Statistically we might have needed the run, but other than that everything went to plan and Toby was very meticulous in his preparations. He came here in great shape and everything went to plan, we just lost out on the nod.
“Winning is everything in this business and coming second, not matter how close, it feels like we came nowhere. We’d have been happy with a top-seven finish to be honest so we have to be proud. Kevin and Toby have done a fantastic job with this horse.
“We know he is a good horse and we wouldn’t have come up here if we didn’t think we had a chance. Surrey Racing as a company doesn’t go to races we don’t think we have a chance in and we’re just so proud of the run – we honestly thought at the line we had done it.
“Willie Mullins has so much ammunition and it’s just unfortunate we have come up against one of his and I guess the funny thing is if he wasn’t going for the championship he might not have been here today.”
Surrey Quest holds an entry for the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown on the final day of the jumps season, but his exertions north of the border make it unlikely he will try to replicate what Kitty’s Light’s achieved 12 months ago and make a rapid reappearance.
Instead sights are fully turned to Liverpool and the famous Grand National fences where Surrey Quest could take in December’s Becher Chase ahead a crack at the big one itself in 12 months’ time.
Hadingham continued: “It’s just mixed emotions, we’re so proud of him and we’ve had a super time up here in Ayr. I guess now we know we’re going to go on to bigger and better things with him.
“We might have a look at the Grand National now and we might look at coming back to Ayr again. He’s such an economical jumper that now the National has changed a bit and the fences are slightly lower, that is something we can look at.
“There’s so many big races next year he can go for and the Becher is one we will look at and we’ll take it from there.”
Arrest expected to make his mark as a four-year-old
Kieran Shoemark is relishing stepping into the boots of Frankie Dettori aboard Arrest, as the St Leger runner-up makes his return in the Dubai Duty Free Finest Surprise Stakes at Newbury.
Arrest played a key role in Dettori’s UK swansong last season and was a beaten favourite for the Italian’s final Derby ride at Epsom, before just failing to send the 53-year-old off in a blaze of Classic glory when second to Continuous at Doncaster in September.
Shoemark was three places behind Arrest with Gregory on Town Moor, but having taken the reins aboard many of John and Thady Gosden’s star Clarehaven inmates since the relocation of Dettori to California, he will get the leg-up aboard Arrest for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
The 28-year-old hopes the soft-ground loving colt can build on his positive finish to last season and feels there is plenty of improvement to be seen during his four-year-old campaign.
“He’s obviously a big horse and hopefully he’s going to improve with age,” said Shoemark.
“Hopefully the ground is not going to dry out too much at Newbury and we know he wants soft ground.
“His run in the Leger was brilliant – the ground went against me on Gregory, but he enjoyed it. He’s a proper mile-and-a-half horse, not short of speed by all means, and the softer the better for him.
“He’s a big, strapping horse and I honestly believe he will get better with age. He’s entitled to, so there will be plenty to look forward to for the year ahead.”
As well as winning the Chester Vase, Arrest’s other victory last term came at Newbury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes and joint-trainer Thady Gosden is confident the race more commonly known as the John Porter is the ideal spot to kick-start the son of Frankel’s season.
“He’s a very talented horse, he ran great last year and was second in a Classic,” he said.
“He’s developed very well over the winter and is a horse of great size and quality and he’s really filled into his frame and has been really pleasing leading into this race.
“He doesn’t mind getting his toe in at all and the track and trip should suit.”
Arrest will be in receipt of 3lb from William Haggas’ Hamish, who went through 2023 unbeaten, winning on four occasions, all at Group Three level.
Hamish is one of two in the race for the Somerville Lodge handler alongside Mujtaba, but main hopes lie with the stable stalwart, who is owned by the trainer’s father, Brian, and got the better of Karl Burke’s Al Qareem on his final start of last year in the rearranged St Simon Stakes.
The Spigot Lodge-trained five-year-old is another slated to concede weight to Arrest and his trainer is excited to get Al Qareem back on track.
Burke said: “I’m looking forward to seeing him run and he’s been ready to run for the last month.
“He’s working well, a mile and a half is his minimum trip, but on this ground I’m happy to start him off there.
“He’ll step up and be a good one-mile-six and two-mile horse later in the year. It’ll be a tough race, but I think he’ll run really well.
“We were lucky to keep him and he got travel sickness coming back (from Dubai). He’s hard work at home, Danielle Mooney rides him every day and he pulls her arms out every day, but he’s a lovely horse to have.”
Simon and Ed Crisford’s Chesspiece was behind Arrest when sixth in the Leger before finishing off his season with a silver medal in the Listed Noel Murless Stakes at Ascot.
He makes his first start after being gelded in the royal blue of Godolphin, while Andrew Balding’s Alsakib steps out of handicap company after finishing last year on a real high on home soil.
Max Vega won this in 2022 and having finished third last season, returns for a third crack, while trainer Ralph Beckett is also represented by Salt Bay.
Last year’s Irish Derby fourth Peking Opera makes his first Flat outing for Gary Moore, having been seen juvenile hurdling this winter, with Jack Channon’s Certain Lad completing the line-up.
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