THE old adage that class is permanent came to the fore in the Chesham Stakes when Seamie Heffernan, less than a month out from his 54th birthday, partnered his seventh Royal Ascot winner aboard high-class juvenile Nola Soul. This was a victory the multiple classic-winning rider appeared to seriously savour in the autumn of his career.

It’s been just over two years since the still ambitious veteran departed his significant role in the Ballydoyle operation, and he has now managed to partner winners at Royal Ascot in each of the last two editions of the meeting (guided George Baker’s Get It to victory in last year’s Wokingham at 28/1).

Nobody has provided Heffernan with more rides or winners this season in Ireland than Fozzy Stack, so being the jockey to deliver the Grade 1-winning trainer his first success at the Royal Meeting meant the world to Heffernan. This brought the rider to 218 listed or group winners in his career, including 36 at the highest level.

“This means more than you can ever imagine,” said Heffernan in the immediate aftermath. “It worked out brilliantly. I’d like to be busier [here this week], but every jockey would. I’m at the retiring end of my age, so hopefully I’ll get a few more wins.”

One person watching on who relished Thursday’s victory was Heffernan’s agent, Ruaidhri Tierney.

“I’m so pleased for Seamie,” he says. “He’s a class act and Fozzy is a great supporter of his, so it was fantastic to see both of them have a moment like that together on the big day. Seamie goes into him a few days a week and it seems to be working well.

“He’s a very consistent rider. I can assure you, he certainly hasn’t lost his hunger for the game. It’s great to have someone like him on the books. Everyone knows it’s a competitive scene in Ireland, but he’s riding as well as ever.”

Young guns

Heffernan referred to the rising quality of Ireland’s next generation of jockeys in his post-race debrief, noting: “It’s tough to get rides, but you see the talent of the young jockeys coming along... They’re absolutely professional. Before, you could see the lads who had the talent but weren’t professional, and the lads who had the ability as well as being professional, but they’re all professional nowadays.”

Tierney says: “I’d totally concur with that. I mean, this country is unbelievable for producing jockeys all over the world. I’ve got some great young people coming through on my books. Jack Cleary is one of them and Wesley Joyce, who is coming towards the end of his apprenticeship, had a nice bit of advertisement from riding at Ascot this week.

“We’ve got some good 7lb claimers coming along too, like Jimmy Dalton, amongst others. There are some great kids coming through.”

Tony Hind is responsible for Colin Keane’s British rides, but the six-time champion jockey has long held an association with Tierney in Ireland.

“It was great for Colin to get up and running for the week [in the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes on Blue Bolt],” says Tierney. “He tends to leave his riding to do the talking for him, and another big winner this week is super for everyone involved.”