Joe Mercer (jockey) - Career - 1977-1979

1977-1979

Henry Cecil was not only taking on a new stable-jockey in 1977, he was also moving to a new stable. Cecil’s father-in-law Noel Murless had retired at the end of 1976 and he was taking over his Warren Place stable yard and most of his horses. He was not taking over the Murless trained Champion two-year-old of 1976 J. O. Tobin who was sent to finish his career in America. Although having been the British flat racing Champion Trainer of 1976 Cecil stated he had no champion horses in his stable for 1977.

Mercer’s first winner in 1977 was for Jeremy Hindley, who used Mercer when he was available (amongst his winning rides for Hindley in 1977 was the Royal Ascot winner, He Loves Me, in the Cork and Orrery Stakes: now the Golden Jubilee Stakes). On the final day of the Newmarket Craven meeting Mercer rode his first winner for his new stable when Habeebti won a small handicap for owner Charles St George. Later in the day he rode another winner for Cecil. The next day he rode another double for Cecil at Newbury. The second winner of this double was Royal Blend (again for Charles St George) who a month later followed up in the Predominate Stakes at Goodwood. Unfortunately the colt split a pastern in this race and was unable to race again that season. The Mercer/Cecil partnership was regularly notching winners but the first significant one was St George’s four-year-old colt Lucky Wednesday who was a newcomer to Cecil’s stable. After running placed in his first race at Newmarket he won his second race at Sandown in the Westbury Stakes (now the Gordon Richards Stakes. In this race Mercer had the pleasure of beating a Willie Carson ridden Relkino. Lucky Wednesday rapidly improved and went on to win the Clive Graham Stakes at Goodwood, followed by the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was then beaten in to second in the Eclipse Stakes by Artaius on very firm ground, which he disliked. Cecil felt he was never the same horse again after this run.

Winners continued to flow but bigger wins were few and far between At Epsom Mercer rode Cecil’s Royal Plume in the Derby: the colt had previously won the Dee Stakes at Chester. He did ride Cecil's first ever winner at the Derby meeing when Amboise won a sponsored handicap. Also at the Epsom meeting Mercer rode Gunner B to win the Diomed Stakes for George Toft. Mr Carlo d’Alessio’s Aliante proved a useful handicapper winning two good handicaps. The first was the William Hill Gold Cup at Redcar (on a day Mercer rode a four-timer, including another winner for Cecil) and another at Sandown. The best three year old to come through was Mr Louis Freedman’s Royal Hive, who ended up winning the Park Hill Stakes (under Mercer) at Doncaster, amongst her four wins. She also finished second in the Yorkshire Oaks and Prix Vermeille. Mercer eventually won 102 races in Britain, his first century since 1965. Despite the stable being short of big winners Cecil had numerically his second best season with 74 wins.

1978 saw a major improvement but the season started disappointingly with the complete failure of a horse called Brigata. This three year old filly was unraced as a two-year-old yet was strongly fancied for the One Thousand Guineas and was made favourite for her first race, the Nell Gwyn Stakes. She ran unaccountably badly and finished last, and a week later repeated the feat at Ascot in a further Guineas trial. The year did take off with the victory of Gunner B in the Earl of Sefton Stakes at Newmarket. This colt had been transferred by his owner to be trained by Cecil. It proved to be an inspired move as he improved in the hands of Mercer and Cecil to follow up this win with victories in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown. This five year old colt then ran second in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup (now the Juddmonte International Stakes) to the Derby second, Hawaiian Sound. He returned to winning ways in the Valdoe Stakes at Goodwood, before ending his season with a third place in Newmarket’s Champion Stakes.

Aside from this, the season really got going for Mercer when he rode five winners in two days at Newmarket, all for his retained stable. None of them were big wins but included the stables’ first two year old winner in Mixed Applause and the three year old maiden winner Le Moss. This colt was having only his second run but went on to win his next two races, including the Queen's Vase at Royal Ascot in the hands of Geoff Baxter, as Mercer could not do the weight. When Mercer was reunited with the colt they won the March Stakes at Goodwood. Fancied for the St Leger he became fractious in the preliminaries to the final classic and according to Mercer took no interest in the race. Hit by another horse during the race he suddenly changed mood and finished a fast finishing second to the winner, Julio Mariner. Mixed Applause appeared a useful filly, and was ridden into second place in the Cherry Hinton Stakes by Mercer. She was then made favourite for the Waterford Candelabra Stakes at Goodwood but was soundly beaten by her stable companion Formulate (ridden by Muis Roberts). Mercer had already won a small maiden on Formulate, and after Goodwood went on to ride her to victory in both the May Hill Stakes and the Hoover Fillies' Mile. Formulate ended up Cecil’s top rated 2yo that year.

However the stable was endowed with a fine set of two year olds. An early winner at the end of May was Mr H J Joel’s Mill Reef colt Main Reef. Mercer rode him to win his maiden debut at Sandown Park at the end of May, and then again to win the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot. He completed a quickfire hat-trick in early July when winning the July Stakes at Newmarket. He then took a break before reappearing at Newbury when winning the Mill Reef Stakes, later losing the race through disqualification. His season ended slightly disappointingly when beaten into fourth in the Middle Park Stakes. The next top two-year-old to come along was Lord Howard de Walden’s colt Kris. Lord Howard had had horses both with Cecil and Murless, but up to this point the best horse Cecil had trained for him had been the gelding Fool’s Mate, who was a tough handicapper. Kris took the relationship into another realm, but one could not have foretold this from Kris’s early runs. Kris appeared first at Leicester in mid-June and won impressively at 6-1 on his 5furlong maiden debut. Although the press liked his performance, expectations were dampened when stable representative Paddy Rudkin said ‘we have plenty better at home’. His next race was chosen to be a maidens-at-closing race at Folkestone in early July, which he again won well. Kris then suffered a slight setback and was not seen out again until mid-October when with a lot of stable confidence he won the 6 furlong Rockingham Stakes at York, coming away powerfully from his field to win by an impressive 4 lengths. Twelve days later he finished off his season when winning the Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury. Not as dominant as in his previous races as Mercer had to give him a harder race, it did show he was improving with each race.

The day after Kris won at Folkestone Mercer rode another fine colt on his debut at Yarmouth. This was Mr Carlo d’Alessio’s Lyphard colt, Lyphard’s Wish, and, odds on, he won this 7furlong maiden well. In mid-July he similarly won his follow-up race the Limekiln Stakes. His third victory was most impressive when he won the Solario Stakes in a course-record time. His season ended with two defeats in the Royal Lodge Stakes and William Hill Futurity that showed him to be just below the best juveniles of that year. Mercer had an embarrassment of riches, as this colt was soon followed by Mr Charles St. George’s colt R B Chesne. Mercer missed this colt’s debut victory as he was under suspension, but rode him in an impressive Washington Singer Stakes victory at Newbury. He again rode him at Doncaster when favourite for the Champagne Stakes. R B Chesne won, but while beating More Light (Hern/Carson), veered off a straight line and made his task more difficult. His final race was as favourite for the Dewhurst Stakes in which he was soundly beaten and finished a disappointing 5th to Tromos. St George was lucky to have another promising two-year-old colt, Borzoi, who created a strong impression when winning his second race at Newmarket.

A new owner to the stable was Helena Springfield Limited who entered horseracing by purchasing three yearlings fillies at the 1977 Newmarket Sales. One was sent to be trained by Michael Stoute (Reprocolor)and the other two went into training with Cecil. Cecil’s first runner for his new owner was Odeon, who finished second (ridden by Mercer) on her debut. Ridden by other jockeys, she then won her maiden before finishing second in the Hoover Fillies Mile to the Mercer ridden Formulate. In the same ownership, One in a Million was ridden in both her races by Mercer. She appeared at the end of September in the Blue Seal Stakes, which she won impressively. She then stepped up further when winning the Houghton Stakes at Newmarket, convincingly beating the highly rated, Hern trained colt Milford.

In midsummer Cecil’s stable was endowed with a further owner under more peculiar circumstances. Mr Daniel Wildenstein, a rich Paris art dealer, had owned horses for many years and had won the 1976 One Thousand Guineas with Flying Water and the Oaks with Pawneese, both trained in France by Angel Penna. Penna had decided to retire and return to Argentina, and some horses were sent to be trained in England by Peter Walwyn. Some success was gained and more were sent in 1978, amongst them Wildenstein’s prized stayer Buckskin. All seemed well but at that year’s Royal Ascot Buckskin was well beaten by Shangamuzo in the Ascot Gold Cup. In the unsaddling enclosure Wildenstein complained about jockey Pat Eddery’s riding of the horse and an argument ensued the result of which was that Walwyn asked Wildenstein to remove his horses from his stable. A few weeks later the announcement was made that these horses would be joining Cecil’s Warrren Place string. Mercer and Cecil’s first runner and first winner for Wildenstein was the five year old horse Malecite, who won the Winter Hill Stakes at Windsor. This victory was swiftly followed by Southern Seas winning her maiden at Yarmouth: this three year old filly went on to win four races all ridden by Mercer. Many other races were won, none more important than Buckskin’s victory in the Doncaster Cup. He followed up this victory with a sparkling victory in Jockey Club Cup at Newmarket. In both these victories Mercer chose to lead on this difficult to train five year old.

Despite not winning a classic race Henry Cecil regained the leading trainer title and won more races than any previous season, and Mercer rode 115 winners, his highest ever total for a British Flat Season.

1979 was no different from previous seasons and Mercer arrived at the season’s first big meeting (Newmarket Craven Meeting) having ridden only three winners for long time stalwarts Harry Wragg, Jeremy Hindley and Peter Walwyn.The first day of this meeting was to see Cecil have his first runners. Mercer rode a treble on the first day, the most significant of which was Lyphard’s Wish in the Craven Stakes. Pitted against the Two Thousand Guineas favourite (and the previous year’s top two year old), Tromos, Mercer’s mount was second favourite at 11-2. In a small field of three Mercer took the lead from the start and that there was to be an upset was never in doubt: Tromos the odds-on 30-100 favourite was beaten decisively by two and a half lengths. Later in the afternoon Mercer had another winner for Cecil, when Chalet won a handicap with top weight. The jockey’s afternoon finished with a last gasp victory on Romara for Harry Wragg beating a hot favourite in Reprocolor (Helena Springfield’s filly with Michael Stoute).

The next day Cecil introduced Welsh Chanter in the Wood Ditton Stakes (a race for hitherto unraced three year olds). Mercer thus rode his fourth winner of the meeting, and this colt later gave him a Royal Ascot winner in June, when winning the Britannia Stakes for his owner Jim Joel. Mercer’s fifth winner of the meeting was One in a Million in the Nell Gwyn Stakes. Taking on the One Thousand Guineas favourite, Devon Ditty, she was made favourite and easily repaid her supporters with a most impressive victory. She immediately became the new Guineas favourite. One in a Million went on to win the Thousand Guineas in a race where Mercer took full control of the race by using his filly’s speed to open up a large lead three furlongs out. As she tired coming up the final hill her lead was diminishing but this tactic enabled her to hold on by a length. The filly ran later at Royal Ascot and won the Coronation Stakes, but only on the disqualification of Buz Kashi. Her career ended when she could finish only third in the July Cup.

Following the Craven meeting, the stable then went to Newbury where Mercer rode two Wildenstein horses to win their maidens. But the highlight of a strong week for the stable was the seasonal debut of Kris in the Greenham Stakes. Mercer rode his typical race bringing Kris to hit the front at the distance. He then was strongly challenged by Young Generation who appeared certain to beat Kris. However this colt was not finished and he reasserted himself in the last hundred yards to win an exciting race by half a length. Soon after the race it was announced that Mercer was to ride Lord Howard de Walden’s colt in the Two Thousand Guineas and the ride on Lyphard’s Wish was to go to Yves Saint-Martin. What wasn’t known was that Kris had overstretched and injured himself in the race and had to be handled carefully in order to be fit for his classic race.

Kris started as favourite for the Two Thousand Guineas and nearest to him in the betting were joint second favourites Young Generation and Kris’s stable companion Lyphard’s Wish. Mercer had chosen the right horse and the race seemed at his mercy with a furlong to go as he loomed up to challenge the leader Tap on Wood. But Kris did not fire as he did at Newbury and Tap on Wood held on to win by half a length with Young Generation only a short-head behind Kris.

Disappointed by this defeat Cecil felt Kris needed more experience and he was given an easy race at Kempton when Mercer rode him to win the Heron Stakes. At Royal Ascot Young Generation was expected to beat Kris and so started favourite for the St James Palace Stakes. Kris started as second favourite but now showed his true worth and confidently ridden by Mercer beat his old rival decisively by one and a half lengths. Ridden by Mercer Kris remained supreme amongst milers for the rest of the season winning the Sussex Stakes, Waterford Candelabra Stakes (Goodwood Mile), Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and finally the Challenge Stakes.

Kris was the third of Mercer’s four Royal Ascot winners. The fourth was the Jeremy Hindley trained Rollahead who won the Windsor Castle Stakes. Cecil also had four winners but his fourth was a bitter-sweet victory in the Ascot Gold Cup involving the Daniel Wildenstein colt Buckskin. This six-year old had reappeared on a wet day at Sandown in May and on the perfect (for him) going of soft ground had won the Henry II Stakes easily by 15 lengths. It was an impressive performance and despite an encouraging first win of the year on Le Moss Mercer chose to ride Buckskin in the Gold Cup (Lester Piggott took over from Mercer on Le Moss). For all of the race Buckskin was stalked by Le Moss but on the firmer ground was unable to shake off his younger stablemate. Coming into the straight Buckskin took over the lead but soon after Le Moss drew upsides and after a short battle Mercer accepted the situation and allowed Buckskin to come home 5 lengths ahead of Araphos (who was third), but 7 lengths behind Le Moss. For Cecil (who was visibly upset for his gallant horse) and Mercer the wrong horse had won. Buckskin was retired after this race. Le Moss went on to take the Stayer’s Triple Crown when back in the hands of Mercer he won both the Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup.

Lyphard’s Wish came out of his Two Thousand Guineas race well and re-united with Mercer led almost all the way to win the Dante Stakes at York. He was then to be aimed at the Derby. Mercer had already won the Lingfield Derby Trial on Milford (owned by the Queen) for Dick Hern, when he deputised for an injured Willie Carson. Piggott eventually took the ride on Milford in the Derby who was joint third favourite and preferred in the market to Lyphard’s Wish. As it was Mercer was to lead most of the way in this 200th Derby, but his colt’s stamina ran out at the 10 furlong pole and he gave way to Dickens Hill who eventually finished 4 lengths in front of the 5th finishing Mercer mount. But the whole field was massacred by Dick Hern’s Troy as the Willie Carson ridden colt beat his field by 7 lengths. Milford finished unplaced as he did when Mercer ridden in the St Leger later in the year. Although Lyphard’s continued to run well in a number of Group 1 races he failed to add to his score. Mercer did ride him to be placed in three Group 1 races; the Prince of Wales Stakes, Benson and Hedges Gold Cup and Prix du Moulin.

Following Royal Ascot Mercer had a successful July in which he rode 29 winners, 16 of them for his retained stable. A feature of this hit-rate was five doubles and three trebles. In terms of big wins it was a lesser month and his biggest win was on Rollahead in the National Stakes. The biggest disappointment of the month was the total eclipse of Borzoi in the Eclipse. Mr Charles St George’s colt had only reappeared in early June when he won the John of Gaunt Stakes under jockey Taffy Thomas. Reunited with Mercer he was strongly fancied for Royal Ascot’s Jersey Stakes. His final race was a dismal effort in the Eclipse. St George did not have much luck with his older horses as R B Chesne was badly ill early in the year and appeared only once when second at Doncaster in September. Another 3yo to take his time to find his feet was Jim Joel’s Main Reef. Seen as the stables’ leading Derby horse he ran a disappointing couple of races early in the season in the Blue Riband Stakes at Epsom and then the Dee Stakes at Chester. However given a rest over the summer he reappeared in the Autumn and Mercer rode him to win the Crown of Crown Stakes at Goodwood followed by the Cumberland Lodge Stakes at Ascot.

If July was a strong month August was stronger and started with the important Goodwood Festival. Mercer rode seven winners and as well as the aforementioned victories on Le Moss and Kris, his most important success was on Connaught Bridge who won the Nassau Stakes. This filly had seemed well exposed as a two year old when she won twice at small meetings. Shed did not come to hand early as a three year old and missed the fillies classics. She eventually reappeared in early July running 3rd under jockey John Higgins. She then stepped up in class for this Nassau victory when ridden by Mercer to beat her stable companion Odeon (ridden by Piggott). Connaught Bridge next took the Yorkshire Oaks when Mercer rode her to a three length victory over Senorita Poquito and Reprocolor. She finished off her year with a storming victory in the Twickenham Fillies Stakes at Kempton, again Mercer ridden.

The leading filly at the start of the season had been Wildenstein's Li'Ile du Reve. This filly was beautifully bred being out of the Oaks winner Lupe. Unraced as a two year old she won her debut maiden and then easily scored in the Cheshire Oaks and was made favourite for The Oaks in which she was easily beaten. Although she ran again she could not be compared to Connaught Bridge or Odeon amongst the staying fillies in the stable.

On the same day that Kris won the Sussex Stakes, Mercer rode Jim Joel’s The Solent to win the Goodwood Stakes (his third win of the season on this staying handicapper).The day after The Solent’s win Mercer took the Lanson Champagne Stakes on Mr Louis Freedman’s Marathon Gold, who at that time appeared the best two year old in the yard having won his first race convincingly at Ascot. As it was he was to disappoint thereafter and was replaced by more consistent and promising colts in the stable. Mercer drew a blank on the Friday of Goodwood but finished the meeting with a treble on the aforementioned Connaught Bridge, Suavity (an early 2yo colt who was winning his third race from three starts) and Tahitian King. Richard Baerlein in the Guardian commented on the Monday after Goodwood that "It certainly be a wonderful feat if at the age of 44, Joe Mercer could win his first jockey championship. I fear with his lowest riding weight of 8 st 4 lb it is simply not on unless Carson and Eddery are sidelined through accidents. At present Mercer leads with 86 winners from Carson with 82 and Eddery with 75".

By the end of the month he had ridden 31 winners in the month and 109 thus far for the season: a long way ahead of his previous scoring rate (even 1967). His chief pursuers were champion Willie Carson and Pat Eddery but Mercer’s ten doubles and one treble in August kept Carson 10 to 20 winners behind. Important wins in the month (after Goodwood) were Piaffer (Rose of York Handicap), Odeon (Galtres Stakes), Connaught Bridge and Kris. In addition a promising two year old in the shape of Charles St George’s Ginistrelli appeared at Yarmouth to win comfortably on his debut. Mercer missed this colt’s second win a few weeks later as he was riding at another meeting.

Although he couldn’t keep up this run-rate in September he still had 24 winners. At this time Cecil’s stable was hit by the virus as reported by Mercer to Jonathan Powell in an article in the News of the World. This happened at a time Cecil was revealing his two year olds and trying himself to win the Trainer’s Championship. He took steps to quarantine the sick horses.

Despite this Mercer had a brilliant spell mid-September when he won 8 races in three days; these included the consistent Volcanic (his third win), Le Moss (Doncaster Cup), Nocino (a 2yo of Daniel Wildesteins’s in the Rous Nursery Handicap: Mercer’s third win on this colt) and Kashmir Lass (a Louis Freedman 2yo) as well as winning rides for Bill Wightman, William Hastings-Bass and Charles Nelson. By the end of the Doncaster St Leger meeting Mercer was 3-1 on to win his first jockey championship. The month ended with another treble at Ascot when as well as winning on Kris, he took the Royal Lodge Stakes on Daniel Wildenstein’s colt Hello Gorgeous and the Blue Seal Stakes (for the second year) on Lord Howard de Walden’s promising filly Evita.

A feature of October was the number of wins on promising 2yo’s. Although Super Asset was second first time out in September this Charles St. George hose won 3 races in quick succession, including the important Hyperion Stakes and the even more important Horris Hill Stakes. Such was the impression this Sir Ivor colt made he was rated second only (one pound below) to the Dewhurst winner Monteverdi in the Two Year old Handicap for 1979. Hello Gorgeous was rated only two pounds lower after winning his final race the William Hill Futurity (previously the Timeform or Observer Gold Cup). This important win gave Mercer his 155th winner of the season. Another interesting colt to make his debut in the month was Jim Joel’s Light Cavalry who provided Mercer with his 150th winner. October was such a strong month in which Mercer rode 25 winners including 5 doubles, one treble and one four-timer.

In the article with Powell Mercer mentioned that he had never phoned around for rides, and even in pursuing his first title he had refused to but that many trainers were calling him. As he said "just recently a number of people I don’t normally ride for have been offering me mounts’’ and "so many people have said they’d like to see me do it". In September and October Mercer rode winners for Cecil (27), Hindley (3), Reg Akehurst (1), Jeremy Tree (2), Mick Musson (1), Bill Wightman (2), Ron Smyth (1), William Hastings-Bass (1), Charles Nelson (2), Denys Smith (1), Neil Adam (1), Scobie Breasley (2), John Sutcliffe (2), John Tierney (1), Ryan Jarvis (1) and Andy Turnell (1).

Mercer did not slacken off right up to the end of the season. He only rode 6 winners in November but that was enough. He finished with doubles on the penultimate and final days of the season for his retained stable of Henry Cecil. Cecil finished Champion Trainer with a record of 128 winners and winnings of £683,971. Mercer finished with 164 winners beating his nearest rival Willie Carson by 22 winners. His percentage of winners to rides was a formidable 26.97%, so that he beat Carson who had 212 more rides than he did. Mercer was not the oldest winner, Richards had won at 48 and Scobie Breasley at 51: but he was the oldest first-time winner. In the New Year's Honours List he was awarded the OBE: so ended a memorable decade for Joe Mercer.