Richard Fahey on Mayson 10 years on from his July Cup success at Newmarket

A lot can change in a decade, particularly when it comes to professional sport.

Rewind the clock to July 2012 and it was on the first day of that month that Spain beat Italy 4-0 in the final of the UEFA European Championship, securing their third consecutive major title.

10 years on and Spain are still waiting to win another trophy having made it beyond the round of 16 at just one of the last four major tournaments.

Rewind the clock to September 2012 and it was on the ninth day of that month that Andy Murray won the US Open with a thrilling five-set defeat of Novak Djokovic in the final, ending Britain's 76-year wait for a male Grand Slam singles champion.

10 years on and Murray was recently knocked out by John Isner in the second round of Wimbledon, his earliest ever exit at the tournament following his return from a series of injury setbacks.

On the racing front, rewind the clock to October 2012 and it was on the twentieth day of that month that Tom Queally guided the great Frankel to victory in the Champion Stakes at Ascot, the fourteenth win from as many starts together for horse and jockey.

10 years on and Queally has so far ridden a total of nine winners in 2022, with no Group One winners on his CV since The Tin Man won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes in 2017.

It’s one thing dining at the top table but staying there is quite another, particularly in Flat racing where horses capable of mixing it with the very best around are so difficult to come by.

It was for that reason that Sporting Life ambassador Richard Fahey was so emotional after his Perfect Power had won the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot last month.

“When you’re a small trainer from the north of England, you need Group One horses," Fahey told ITV Racing's Rishi Persad. "When you’ve got a great belief in a horse and he doesn’t let you down, it’s fantastic."

Fahey may have done himself a disservice by describing himself as a small trainer from the north of England, but he is never likely to take a Group One victory on home soil for granted given how long it took him to achieve that milestone.

At the beginning of 2012, Fahey had already trained over 1,100 winners on the Flat in Britain since starting out in the summer of 1993, but none of them had been successful in Group One company.

Wootton Bassett had struck at the highest level in France, when winning the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in 2010, but near-misses with the likes of Utmost Respect (beaten less than a length when third in the 2008 Sprint Cup) and Barefoot Lady (beaten less than three lengths when third in the 2011 Coronation Stakes) had been among his best results on home turf.

So, it’s at this point that we rewind to July 2012 and the fourteenth day of that month when Mayson lined up as a 20/1 shot in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket.

“My God, time flies," was Fahey’s reaction upon being reminded that it’s been nearly 10 years. The conversation which followed wasn’t quite so emotional for Fahey as the one with Persad, but there were similarities as he described Mayson’s transition from promising youngster to a sprinter with bona fide Group One credentials, notably repeating the word “belief” several times.

“We had a few little niggly problems with him early on, but we always did have good belief in him," Fahey said. "He was a horse we liked a lot as a two-year-old. He was quick and he was rated 100, but he had a little problem, with a joint I think it was, and it was quite late when he came back as a three-year-old. David [Armstrong, owner] had to give him plenty of time."

Mayson returned at three with an encouraging third in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon, passing the post around four lengths behind the winner as a 40/1 shot. There was better to come from him later in the season, notably filling the runner-up spot in a Listed race at Doncaster on his final start, but it was the one day he really disappointed which still sticks out in his trainer’s memory.

Fahey explained: "He finished third in the Great St Wilfrid and that looked an ideal prep run for the Ayr Gold Cup, but I don’t know whether he bounced because he never rose a gallop at Ayr. Maybe he lost his confidence a little bit, but I was hopeful he was slowly getting his way back to form."

Mayson began his four-year-old campaign with a Timeform rating of 114, a smart sprinter no doubt but still some way off the level required to typically mix it in Group One company. Fahey’s belief in the horse remained undimmed, though, particularly given the signs he was starting to see at home.

The trainer said: “He was a lot stronger and a lot more mature as a four-year-old. We’d had a good run at him – we’d had no training issues and we were able to train him properly. He’d strengthened up and really done well. We were very hopeful that he would come good."

Mayson certainly came good on his first two starts of 2012 at Newmarket, winning the Listed Abernant Stakes by three and a half lengths before following up in the Group Three Palace House Stakes. He coped well with the drop back to five furlongs on the last occasion, beating his 15 rivals comfortably in the style of a very smart sprinter.

On the face of it, Mayson was then a big disappointment on his next two starts, finishing well held in both the Duke of York Stakes and Chipchase Stakes.

However, the son of Invincible Spirit reportedly had valid excuses which convinced Fahey he could put a line through those runs, first getting a leg stuck after becoming upset in the stalls at York and then getting bogged down in near-unraceable ground at Newcastle.

“We were very happy with the horse,” Fahey stressed when asked to describe what confidence levels were like going to Newmarket for the July Cup.

"I remember we had quite a bit of rain on the day, and we were hopeful he’d run a good race on his early-season form, winning the Abernant and the Palace House. But I could never be sure he’d win."

If Fahey wasn’t sure before the July Cup that Mayson would win, then it didn’t take him long to be convinced in the race itself. Indeed, his first Group One win in Britain was essentially in safe keeping from quite a long way out as Mayson drew right away inside the final two furlongs to land the spoils by five lengths, a rare margin of victory for a top-level sprint.

"He never looked like getting beat,” Fahey admitted before elaborating on the emotions which accompanied that breakthrough success.

"We’d had a Group One winner in France, but to get one at home felt like we were hitting the big time. Horses like him are very difficult to come by. He was a wonderful racehorse, and I was just delighted he came good for David Armstrong when we got the chance to train him properly. Not many horses win the Abernant, the Palace House and the July Cup in the same season."

10 years on and Fahey still feels that Mayson didn’t necessarily get all the credit he deserved for his achievements as a four-year-old.

Another source of frustration for the trainer is the narrow defeat Mayson suffered on his swansong in the Prix de l’Abbaye, another Group One in which he underlined that his July Cup success was no fluke. It just wasn’t quite enough for him to get the win this time, briefly edging to the front before he himself was mugged by Wizz Kid in the final strides.

Regardless, Mayson’s future as a stallion was already secure by then thanks to his July Cup success. Cheveley Park Stud bought a majority share in him shortly afterwards and it is there that he has spent the last 10 years of his life, as discussed with Cheveley Park’s Matthew Sigsworth (see the video earlier in this article).

For his part, Fahey is just as big a fan of his former stable star in his new role.

Fahey added: “In all my life he’s been the most underrated sire in British racing. He gets loads of winners and I think he got tarred with the brush of being a soft-ground sire, which I’ve always felt is unfair.”

Mayson enjoyed his biggest success as a stallion when Oxted followed in his sire’s footsteps by winning the July Cup two years ago. This year Mayson could be represented by the Michael Dods-trained Blackrod, a progressive sort who also carries the colours of David Armstrong and was last seen finishing seventh in the Wokingham at Royal Ascot.

However, there is little doubt who many people have earmarked as the horse to beat on Saturday, namely Perfect Power, who will try to give Fahey his second victory in the July Cup 10 years after his first.

Fahey has recorded eight more Group One wins in the intervening period, including three with the high-class miler Ribchester and three already with Perfect Power, who also won the Prix Morny and Middle Park Stakes as a two-year-old.

Perfect Power also had the option of Sunday’s Prix Jean Prat at Deauville, but Fahey confirmed that all roads lead to Newmarket. That announcement certainly came as no surprise after what he’d told me a few days earlier, both about the horse and how much it would mean to win the July Cup again.

Fahey said: “Perfect Power is probably a little bit unlucky in his life to actually be beaten at any stage. He fell out of the gates first-time-out in his maiden and was very unlucky in the Richmond Stakes at Goodwood. He knows how to win and he’s a special horse.

"I'm looking forward to the July Cup. It’s a great race to be involved in and everybody targets it, so to have a fancied one is fantastic. It would be a huge achievement for us and for the whole team to win it again."

Why would be it such a huge achievement? Well, as touched upon, staying at the top is not a simple matter. A lot can change in 10 years, but for Fahey it's nearly all been for the better, seeing him become so much more than just a small trainer from the north of England.

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