I WAS delighted to hear from Merry Fox Stud’s Craig Bennett recently. He wanted me to have a commemorative stud book he had commissioned to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Merry Fox. It duly arrived, and is something to treasure.

Craig has enjoyed racing from a young age, going with his grandfather who was a bookmaker. He dabbled in ownership over the years, and with success. The first horse he owned was Money Trix. Owned and bred by Bunny Cox, the gelding was second in a Navan bumper on his debut at five, moved to Nicky Richards, and raced four times over hurdles, winning the first three and was runner-up in a Grade 1 at Aintree to Black Jack Ketchum.

Money Trix was off the track for more than 21 months, and had other spells on the sidelines, but he won four chases, and showed what he was capable of when travelling to Leopardstown. He found one too good for him twice in the Grade 1 Lexus Chase, beaten half a length in 2009, but sadly he suffered a fatal injury in the Hennessy Gold Cup, an incident that led to Bennett exiting National Hunt racing.

it was the sale of his business which gave Bennett both time and finances to get involved seriously in flat racing and breeding. The plan was to buy well-bred fillies to race and breed from, but with a formidable ambition; to create families that would go on to be synonymous with Merry Fox.

Formidable challenge

As anyone who follows breeding closely knows, this was a real challenge. Craig, who would later enlist the help of Wicklow’s Gary Hadden, set out to accomplish his aim by purchasing four yearling fillies in Book 1 of the 2006 Tattersalls Yearling Sale. Incredibly, two of them became dams of Group 1 winners. It was a phenomenal start, and a success story that has continued.

Breeders, even those of note, would be fearful of looking back on their life’s work by way of statistics. Not so Craig Bennett. His broodmare band is now 30, and has grown significantly over the years. In the time that he has had Merry Fox, and up to July this year, this enterprise has bred 108 runners, and 77% of these are winners. More than one in three of the winners went on to achieve some blacktype, and one in five won at that level.

Blacktype is one thing, but the ultimate measure of success, and Bennett’s stated aim, is to breed horses of the highest standard; that means Group 1 winners. It hardly needs stating that to have a single Group 1 winner in a lifetime would be amazing. Bennett has bred five top-level winners.

In a five-week period in 2014, Cursory Glance (Distorted Humor) won the Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes in her breeder’s colours, having earlier given what Bennett told The Irish Field was his best day ever at the races when she won the Group 3 Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot. Charming Thought (Oasis Dream), a 625,000gns yearling sale to Godolphin, then won the Group 1 Middle Park Stakes.

Ylang Ylang

After that, Second Step (Dalakhani) carried the Merry Fox colours to success in the Group 1 Grosser Preis von Berlin, while Digital Age (Invincible Spirit), a 325,000gns yearling who stands at stud in South Africa, won close to £1 million with five wins that included the Grade 1 Turf Classic Stakes. The most recent Group 1 winner has been Ylang Ylang (Frankel), bred in equal partnership with Newsells Park Stud, who won the Fillies’ Mile. She had been a sale star, realising 1,500,000gns.

Ylang Ylang’s full-brother will be offered in Book 1 next week, as will two other yearling fillies by Frankel (Galileo) that Merry Fox has with Newsells Park. They are daughters of the dual Group 3 winner Luminate (Lawman), and the first foal of the French listed winner and Irish Group 3-placed Mea Domina (Pivotal). It won’t go unnoticed that Frankel on Pivotal (Polar Falcon) mares has given us multiple Group 1 stars Cracksman and Nashwa, Australian Oaks winner Hungry Heart, Wild Beauty and Veracious. Four of the five are fillies.

Voodoo Queen

Cursory Glance sadly died last year, having produced her eighth and final foal, a now yearling son by Lope De Vega (Shamardal). She had only two fillies, an unraced daughter who is now in Australia, and Voodoo Queen (Frankel), a listed winner and group-placed seven-year-old who boards at Ballylinch Stud. Her first offspring is a yearling filly, ensuring the line continues, named Creole Queen (Dubawi).

Craig Bennett’s first horse in training in Ireland was Treasure Trove (Siyouni), with Paddy Twomey. She went from winning a maiden at Down Royal on her fourth run – having earlier finished third to Blackbeard in a Curragh listed – to winning a listed race at York at three, and following up in the Group 3 Round Tower Stakes at the Curragh. She has two fillies, a yearling and foal, on the ground by Justify (Scat Daddy). Treasure Trove lives at Hunter Valley Farm in Kentucky, managed and part-owned by the Irish duo of Fergus Galvin and Adrian Regan.

An addition to the broodmare band has been Zero Gravity (Dansili), owned with Newsells Park. She is the dam of leading Arc hope Kalpana (Study Of Man). Zero Gravity’s first produce for the new owners was a filly, now a yearling, by Chaldean (Frankel).