Royal Performer Makes Surprise Group 1 Breakthrough

British-bred veteran Royal Performer, by the late Cheveley Park stallion Medicean, provided quite an upset Feb. 13 by landing the Herbie Dyke Stakes (G1) at Te Rapa.

Certainly Royal Performer has a few stories to tell, having been bred by Lady Legard out of ex-Juddmonte Polish Precedent mare Quadri.

Related to some minor winners, he was actually offered as a yearling at an Ascot sale in November 2014 but was bought back for just £600 (US$959) and began his racing career under the name of Turn Tide for David Brown and John Fretwell.

A winner of three of his five starts in Britain, as well as finishing fourth behind future classic winner Galileo Gold in a novice race at Haydock, he was bought for Hong Kong and appeared as Royal Performer for Casper Fownes.

He won two handicaps at Sha Tin in a somewhat stop-start time in Asia and in 2019 moved to the care of Jenny and Bob Vance in New Zealand. 

Royal Performer had made obvious progress in his new home, making his debut at the end of October and was a winner of three of his previous six starts in the country.

This event was a marked step up in class and all eyes were on Melody Belle, attempting to move one clear of the New Zealand record 13 group 1 wins that she holds with the great Sunline.

She suffered a rough trip and was nursed home by Opie Bosson while Royal Performer had the perfect run along the rail under Jonathan Riddell, hitting the front just over a furlong out and coming 2 1/4 lengths clear of The Chosen One.

It was an emotional occasion for Bob Vance.

"He was only gelded 16 months ago and when he came back from Hong Kong, we were very lucky to get to work with him," he told Racing.com. "He's had a lot of chiropractic work and Jenny does all the intricate details, as I just ride him.

"Every time he has won lately, I've told Jonathan that he has a real turn of foot. He is such a lovely horse to work with and you'd love to have more like him.

"It's my first group 1 as a trainer. Although Jenny has trained a couple, I never won this race as a jockey either, so I'm delighted to get this result."

The Eclipse winner Medicean stood at Cheveley Park for 16 seasons and by his death, aged 21, in 2018, had been the sire of 10 top-level winners headed by Dutch Art and Nannina.