Marcel (foaled 25 March 2013) is an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won two of his three starts as a juvenile in 2015 including the

Racing Post Trophy The Vertem Futurity Trophy is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), ...

. After failing in the

2000 Guineas The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year ...

on his only run of 2016 he was retired from racing.

Background

Marcel is a dark bay colt with a white sock on his left hind leg, bred by David Hyland at the Oghill House Stud in County Kildare. He is from the fifth crop of foals sired by Lawman who won the

Prix du Jockey Club The Prix du Jockey Club, sometimes referred to as the French Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Chantilly over ...

and the

Prix Jean Prat The Prix Jean Prat is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,400 metres (about 7 furlongs), and it is sche ...

in 2006. His other progeny have included Most Improved and

Just The Judge Just The Judge (19 April 2010 – April 2019) was an Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won major races in both Europe and North America. She was unbeaten in three starts as a two-year-old in 2012 including ...

(

Irish 1000 Guineas The Irish 1,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled t ...

and E. P. Taylor Stakes). His dam Mauresmo was unraced daughter of Absaar, a half-sister to At Talaq. Marcel was offered for sale as a foal at Goffs in November 2003 and was bought for €50,000 by the bloodstock agent Mick Flanagan. In October 2014 the

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

returned to the sales ring at

Tattersalls Tattersalls (formerly Tattersall's) is the main auctioneer of race horses in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founding It was founded in 1766 by Richard Tattersall (1724–1795), who had been stud groom to the second Duke of Kingston. T ...

and was sold for 26,000

guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...

to Troy Steve Bloodstock. The colt entered the ownership of Paul Hancock and was sent into training with Peter Chapple-Hyam at Newmarket, Suffolk.

Racing career

2015: two-year-old season

Marcel made his first appearance in a seven

furlong A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hor ...

maiden race at

Ascot Racecourse Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...

on 11 July in which he started a 16/1 outsider and finished fifth behind Ray's The Bar. The colt reappeared on 31 August in a similar event at

Newcastle Racecourse Newcastle Racecourse is a horse racing course located at Gosforth Park in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned by Arena Racing Company. It stages both flat and National Hunt racing, with its biggest meeting being the Northumberland Plate held a ...

and started the 7/4 joint-favourite against seven opponents. Ridden by James Doyle he took the lead approaching the final furlong and went clear of the field to win by three and three quarter

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

. For his third and final start as a juvenile, Marcel was stepped up sharply in class for the Racing Post Trophy over one mile at Doncaster Racecourse on 24 October. The

Royal Lodge Stakes The Royal Lodge Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and geldings. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) ...

winner Foundation started favourite whilst Marcel was the 33/1 outsider in the seven runner field. The other runners included Deauville ( Tyros Stakes), Johannes Vermeer ( Juvenile Turf Stakes) and the highly regarded maiden winner Mengli Khan. After being restrained by

Andrea Atzeni Andrea Atzeni (born 26 March 1991) is a professional Italian jockey based in England. He hails from the Mediterranean island of Sardinia and his family has no history of racing; his father is a farmer and his mother a dentist. Atzeni however exp ...

in the early stages, Marcel made rapid progress and overtook Deauville to take the lead a furlong and a half from the finish. He stayed on well in the closing stages to win by one and a half lengths from Johannes Vermeer with Foundation two and a half lengths back in third place. After the race Chapple-Hyam commented "I thought we would be placed but I didn't really see us beating John Gosden's horse (Foundation). He is a big horse and he has taken time to come together. His work had been really good coming into the race".

2016: three-year-old season

On his first appearance as a three-year-old, Marcel contested the

over the Rowley mile at Newmarket on 30 April. After encouraging reports of his training performances he started the 8/1 third favourite but after being in contention for most of the way he faded badly in the final quarter mile and finished last of the thirteen runners behind

Galileo Gold Galileo Gold (foaled 31 January 2013) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old he won the Vintage Stakes and finished third in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardère. On his three-year-old debut he won the classic 2000 Guineas and went on to ...

. He never raced again and was retired from racing at the end of the year.

Stud record

Marcel began his career as a breeding stallion at the

National Stud The National Stud is a United Kingdom Thoroughbred horse breeding farm located two miles from Newmarket. The Stud originated in 1916 as a result of a gift by William Hall Walker (later Lord Wavertree) of the entire bloodstock of his stud farm ...

before moving to the Anngrove Stud at

Mountmellick Mountmellick or Mountmellic () is a town in the north of County Laois, Ireland. It lies on the N80 national secondary road and the R422 and R423 regional roads. Name ''Mountmellick'', sometimes spelt ''Montmellick'' or ''Montmellic'', is a ...

, County Laois in 2019.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist

External links

Career 1-2-3 Colour Chart
– ''Marcel'' 2013 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 1-c