Mayson storms to victory in the Darley July Cup

Mayson and jockey Paul Hanagan lead their rivals a merry dance in the Darley July Cup. Image courtesy of racingfotos.com.

After breaking smartly and leading after a furlong, Mayson was always in control in the 2012 Darley July Cup to register a first British Group 1 race success for trainer Richard Fahey and jockey Paul Hanagan.

Hanagan asked his mount, who clearly relished the heavy ground on Newmarket’s July Course after endless amounts of rain overnight and during the day, to stride on with over a furlong to go.

Mayson was soon clear, staying on really strongly to win unchallenged by five lengths from The Cheka, with favourite Society Rock back in third and Australian challenger Ortensia in fourth.

Bated Breath, Krypton Factor and Libranno were all non-runners in the fourth sprint in the 2012 QIPCO British Champions Series due to the ground.

The next sprint is the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes at York on Friday 24 August.

The successful trainer, who had his ex-stable jockey in the saddle for this race, said: "It’s fantastic for me and Paul. They don’t realise he’s still my number one and we borrow him from time to time!

"We thought he was very good, but it went wrong at York when he got his leg stuck in the stalls and the ground at Newcastle was unraceable the other day and he just got bogged down.

"The ground was a lot worse than it is today. At Newcastle, you put you foot on the track and water was coming through, but this track has taken the rain fantastic.

"We thought he’d win the Ayr Gold Cup last year and why he didn’t win, I don’t know. Things just didn’t go right, but he’s paying his way now and it’s grand.

"I’m delighted for the owners. David (Armstrong) is very hearty at the sales, but to actually breed one is fantastic.

"He wants to stick to the breeding and leave the buying to someone else!

"For the last 100 yards, I felt comfortable. Paul said when he asked him to go he just took off.

"He’s in the Nunthorpe, but he got very upset at York in the stalls, so we’ll see."

Eve Johnson Houghton, trainer of the second, said: "I’m absolutely delighted with him.

"Jimmy (Fortune) said that he loved the ground, but I said I thought that was pushing it. He handled it.

"He just let him bowl along and fair play to the winner, we’ve beaten him (before) and he’s beaten us.

"I suspect we will look at Champions Day now."

James Fanshawe, Society Rock’s trainer, has a similar plan and said: "I’m pleased with the run and we’ll look at the sprint on Champions Day now."

Paul Messara, trainer of Ortensia, is meanwhile hoping for better ground at York next month.

He said: "She hated the track, didn’t handle it at all and she’d never run on ground anything like that before.

"On that basis it was a huge run and we’ll see how we go in the Nunthorpe."