Springfield House Stud, Roscrea

RACING fans and breeders alike will have their first chance to see the July Cup-winning sprinter Mayson standing on Irish soil next weekend.

Being the only July Cup-winning son of the legendary Invincible Spirit, as well as having already sired Group 1 winning progeny in Britain, this speed sire is sure to be popular in his first season at Linda and Reddy Coffey’s Springfield House Stud in North Tipperary.

Mayson’s most significant triumph on the track came in 2012 when he clinched victory in the prestigious Group 1 July Cup at Newmarket. Prior to his July Cup success, he secured a victory in the Group 2 Duke of York Stakes in May 2012. The same year, Mayson also contested in the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye in Longchamp, where he came up short by a neck.

His impressive CV has continued to go from strength-to-strength since retiring from racing and taking up his role as a stallion at Cheveley Park Stud. He has produced 243 winners, including 30 blacktype winners, and they have amassed an accumulative £12 million. Mayson’s most noteworthy offspring is Oxted, who, like his father, won the Group 1 Darley July Cup in 2020.

Trained by Richard Fahey, Mayson was effective on soft ground, as is his daughter Honey Girl, who was a Group 3 winner for trainer Joseph O’Brien this season and finished second in the Group 2 Minstrel Stakes.

To relocate a stallion with Mayson’s reputation across the Irish Sea is no easy task. But there are not many out there with more experience than Reddy and Linda Coffey. The Coffeys bred top sprinter Blue Point.

“We’ve been trying to get Mayson for a while now, thankfully our persistence has paid off,” Reddy told us this week. “He’ll have a whole new pool of mares to serve, as he’s been in England since retirement.”

Fortunately, for breeders who visit Springfield House Stud to view Mayson, there is another star in the yard. Unfortunately may have an unfortunate name but the son of Society Rock was quite a racehorse. He raced 12 times across his career, recording four wins over distances between five and six furlongs. On his way to victory in the Group 1 Prix Morny over six furlongs, Unfortunately set a track record in Deauville.

In his first year at stud, Unfortunately covered 30 mares and from that crop 14 have gone on to become individual winners. That’s a remarkable 45% winners-to-runners strike rate.

Last year’s ITM Irish Stallion Trail proved popular for Springfield House Stud and Reddy is keen to showcase the latest addition to their team next weekend.

“The Stallion Trail helps to make racing and breeding accessible to everyone”, said Reddy. “It shows that racing is not just a rich man’s sport.”