First top-level winner for Merchant Navy as Royal Merchant defies history in The Goodwood

Another bold move from Ciaron Maher and David Eustace reaped rich rewards at Morphettville as Royal Merchant got the better of her older rivals to land a thrilling edition of The Goodwood, in the process becoming the first elite-level winner for Kooringal Stud’s new recruit Merchant Navy.

Merchant Navy had already collected a Group 1 victory in the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington before dispatched to Ireland in 2018 to conclude his racing career with Aidan O'Brien.

It proved a hugely successful move, with the son of Fastnet Rock landing the Group 2 Greenlands Stakes at the Curragh and the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot by a short head from City Light. He then returned to Australia to commence stallion duties for Coolmore.

Saturday was the second time this season the Maher and Eustace team had thrown a three-year-old filly into open Group 1 company and came out the other side with a victory, having done the trick with Ruthless Dame against her own sex in the Robert Sangster Stakes 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 by a neck. Zapateo finished a further three-quarters of a length away in third. 

Royal Merchant has endured an arduous campaign, having opened her preparation when finishing fifth in a Benchmark 72 handicap over six and a half furlongs 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. 

Royal Merchant: first Group 1 winner for Merchant NavyCredit: Atkins Photography

With Saturday’s victory came a little slice of history, as Royal Merchant became only the third three-year-old filly to prevail in the prestigious Goodwood, joining 1989 winner Boardwalk Angel and Lone Rock, who won the six-furlong contest in 2011.

While Eustace was confident the filly would run well, 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. “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 on June 24. 

David Eustace: "I was confident at the top of the straight she was going to have a right crack."Credit: Lee Mottershead

Dee, who will begin a riding stint in Hong Kong from Tuesday, was notching 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.  

"I've been lucky enough to stick with her," he 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 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 to win the Australasian Oaks, handing the partnership their maiden victory in the ten-furlong Group 1. 

The Australian Derby was the only contest that eluded Maher and Eustace from a Group 1 clean sweep in South Australia, with the stable having come up just short in the Classic when Promises Kept was narrowly denied by Dunkel. 

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 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 A$160,000 (£85,000/€98,000) 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 and hails from the family of 1993 Golden Slipper Stakes winner Bint Marscay. 

Seventhchic’s 2020 colt foal by Rubick was bought by Tony Gollan and John Foote for A$55,000 at the Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale last year. Now named Turn The Corner, the two-year-old has been gelded and is yet to hit a racecourse. 

Earlier this year, trainer Phillip Stokes and Rick Connolly Bloodstock parted with A$170,000 to secure Royal Merchant’s yearling half-brother by The Autumn Sun at the Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale. 

Last season, Seventhchic produced a filly by Kitchwin Hills-based sire Graff and she was covered by Darley shuttler Palace Pier 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 A$13,200.  

Subscribe to make sure you never miss updates from Australia, New Zealand and beyond and to have ANZ Bloodstock delivered to your inbox every day