THE glamour, prestige and setting of Royal Ascot can make for a surreal experience, so it’s understandable that many have described having winners there as ‘what dreams are made of’.

The rock-solid competition of every race - from handicaps to Group 1s - adds to the weight of the achievement, so it’s really something to get on the scoresheet twice during the meeting, and the fact that Fozzy Stack was two from two last week was a terrific advertisement for the Co Tipperary trainer.

Those watching on ITV Racing will have got a taste of the 46-year-old’s laid-back personality during Matt Chapman’s interview following his second success. “Lovely to get one, two’s unbelievable,” Stack said, before giving credit to the owners.

The success hasn’t gone to Stack’s head since, either, as he was as subdued as ever after a few days to reflect on his achievement. “Back in the daily routine now after a great few days. Lucky to have two nice horses,” he summarised, reluctant to talk himself or the feat up.

Chesham Stakes victor Nola Soul provided Stack with the first Royal winner of his career, though he had been assistant to his father Tommy when Lolly For Dolly landed the Group 2 Windsor Forest Stakes, now known as the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes, under Wayne Lordan in 2011.

Tommy Stack gained five top-flight wins as a trainer before handing over the licence to Fozzy in 2017 and the current master of Thomastown Castle Stables conquered the highest level himself when Aspen Grove captured the 2023 Belmont Oaks in the colours of Craig Bernick - just like Nola Soul.

So where does the Royal Ascot double figure in his career highlights, I wonder? “It’s definitely one of the highlights, if not the highlight,” he says. “It’s a hard place to run a place, never mind two winners. There’s a lot of good horses in every race.”

Stack’s expectations heading over were similarly measured. “We thought Nola Soul would run well, but you can never be too confident about a two-year-old at Ascot, how they’ll handle everything.

“I thought Thesecretadversary would run a big race, but obviously there was a lot of chat about Haggas’ horse. Thesecretadversary beat himself in Newmarket, he got no room at the Curragh and yet, he wasn’t disgraced in either race.”

Nola Soul received an important update a day before his assignment, as King Of Cloughan, who he beat on debut at Leopardstown, landed the Windsor Castle Stakes, which saw Stack’s Chesham contender shorten in price to 11/2.

Supporters first had cause for concern when the Justify colt entered the stalls, their hopes waning slightly again when he gave Seamie Heffernan a tough time, racing keenly. However, Stack is quick to dismiss the idea that the unbeaten colt’s personality is anything to worry about.

Futurity plans

“He’s just a big raw horse; he’s a work in progress,” he explains. “He stuck his head down and galloped out well, considering he was keen earlier on in the race. A lot of horses would have folded, but he toughed it out well. I’d imagine, all things going well, that he’ll probably head to the Futurity next at the Curragh.”

There’s no doubting Thesecretadversary’s will to win, as the flashy chesnut stuck out his white face to deny fellow Irish raider Take Charge by a neck in the Jersey Stakes, the 3lb penalty he carried and the five-length gap back to the third adding to the smart nature of his win.

It was a welcome change in fortune for Cayton Park Stud and Coolmore’s home-bred, following his respective fifth and sixth in the Newmarket and Irish Guineas. The son of St Mark’s Basilica will now remain over seven furlongs - also the trip of his taking performance in the Red Rocks Stakes on seasonal debut.

“I think we’ll probably go for the Prix Jean Prat in Deauville with him on July 12th,” his trainer states. “Three-year-olds only, seven furlongs, it’s his last chance to run against his own age group. He’s won two Group 3s now, so hopefully he can progress up the ladder.”

Of course, Stack shared a memorable double with Seamie Heffernan, who linked up with the yard after leaving Ballydoyle. On the connection, Stack commented: “We’ve known each other a long time, and it kind of suited us both at the time.

“It was good for him; he’s a great help to us. He’s won Derbies and everything, so these are only small little successes for him. It’s great he was a part of it.”

Loyalty and longstanding connections have been a hallmark of the Stack operation - first under Tommy’s reign and now with Fozzy. Wayne Lordan was a major part of Stack Senior’s operation, while Chris Hayes was aboard most of Fozzy’s stakes winners earlier in his training career.

Owners, too, have forged strong relationships with the stable and Thesecretadversary is a product of many years of success between the Magnier, Rupert and Stack families, as he is a grandson of their first horse together, dual stakes winner Scream Blue Murder.

The Oratorio mare went on to produce three stakes horses for the combination, including Thesecretadversary’s dam, Too Soon To Panic.

On where the three-year-old colt features in the standings, Stack comments: “He’s probably the best of them, but his mother wasn’t too bad herself - she won a listed race for us and placed in a Group 2. It’s a family that’s not short of pace, either.”

The story’s next chapter unfolds at the Curragh on Sunday, as Endless Night, a full-sister to the Jersey Stacks victor, debuts at 1.10pm. “She will be a nice filly; she’ll improve for Sunday,” Stack reports.

“She’s just ready to start off, but hopefully she’ll develop into a nice filly. She’s probably not as good as her brother at this stage.”

Best of the best

While we’re in the business of making comparisons, I ask Stack if his Grade 1 winner Aspen Grove is the best horse he’s trained and he instead highlights another.

“Castle Star was a very good three-year-old, who was just touched off the Middle Park. Hopefully one of these horses will hit the jackpot in a Group 1.”

Castle Star, a dual stakes winner who now stands at Capital Stud, is one of a number of stakes horses by Starspangledbanner to have been trained by Stack, who previously enjoyed great success with the Castlehyde Stud stallion’s own sire, Choisir.

He must be the luckiest trainer with the sire, I suggest, to which he replies, in his usual style: “I think Aidan’s doing a pretty good job of winning that title.” Self praise is no praise, I guess.

Given his tendency to downplay and discomfort in the spotlight, I’m unsurprised by Stack’s favourite aspect of the job - “Just being out in the morning with the horses; being with the animals in general.”

Training was always the goal, he confirms: “When I realised I wasn’t going to be the next Maradona or something, that was probably the next thing in line.”

In preparation, Stack flew the nest to spend time with Nicholas Clement and John Dunlop, but the then 19-year-old’s role as pupil assistant to the latter was cut short, he explains.

“I was meant to be with Mr Dunlop a lot longer, but my dad got sick with meningitis and I came home. I do remember asking him one day, ‘What’s the Derby horse?’ And he said, ‘A six-furlong sprinter who stays a mile and a half’. I haven’t found one of those yet [laughs].”

Tommy Stack remains a constant presence around the place and Fozzy insists that he shares a very similar approach to his father. The string, currently numbering 50, benefits from extensive gallops, which are a popular tool for visiting breeze-up consignors preparing juveniles.

“We’ve an all-weather gallop that’s seven furlongs, straight, with grass gallops either side, and a mile round grass gallop as well, so there’s no shortage of grass to be cut,” Stack explains.

Stack’s solutions

If he loses little sleep over his facilities, what does Stack see as his biggest challenge as a trainer - finding the horses, stable staff, prize money?

“Sure all those three things you mentioned there are challenges,” he muses. “The biggest thing is probably prize money; it’s been fairly stagnant for years, and the cost of everything has gone up.

“I don’t know how you address it now, and there seems to be more racing than ever now. It doesn’t work in England anyway; a lot of racing every day.”

There is something that Stack sees as an obvious remedy for some of racing’s woes, though. “I don’t know if there’s any quick fixes for anything, but the bookmakers probably don’t make a great contribution to racing, but then they’ll probably claim that the people bet more in soccer matches or whatever.

“I’m not talking about the bookies at the races - I’m talking about the big, multinational firms. The ring bookmakers are suffering because everybody has a Paddy Power account, or whatever betting firm they use, in the palm of their hands on their phones.

“The big firms probably get the most out of racing and put the least into it.”

The most pressing concern for Stack right now though is Irish Derby weekend at the Curragh, where his five runners across the two days include smart sprinter Bodhi Bear in the Listed Jebel Ali Racecourse & Stables Dash Stakes.

Owned by John and Sophie Barrett, the now four-year-old son of Starspangledbanner has risen to a career-high mark of 99 after winning two of his four starts this season after being gelded.

“He’s progressing,” Stack notes. “It certainly helped getting him gelded - it’s easier to get him fit, because he was quite gross when he was a colt.

“We were probably having a row with him every day, trying to get him fit. He’s training and running well this year, and he seems to be in a good place, so hopefully he runs well at the weekend.”

As you may have surmised during the course of this read, Stack isn’t the type to deliver a bullish report.

As he says himself: “I’d rather let the horses do the talking rather than talking them up, because as you know, everybody can get disappointed very quickly in this game.”