Thornley, Fletcher and Royal Aspirations — the trio kicking goals in 2022

They say good things come in threes, and the trio of Fred Fletcher, Sam Thornley and Royal Aspirations are all synonymous in the success each of them is enjoying in the 2022 harness racing season.

Royal Aspirations (Monarchy) is a sire on the rise and the last few months in particular, there’s hardly a New Zealand race meeting where his stock aren’t featuring prominently.

He has had nine starters this season for eight winners and 13 wins all told.

A phenomenal effort when you consider his first two produced just 15 live foals.

Canterbury junior driver, Sam Thornley, has had a significant hand in the continued rise of the sire having reigned home four of Royal Aspirations eight winners himself.

Thornley is the stable employee of the Fletcher barn having joined him in advance of his burgeoning junior driver career and has had the pleasure of seeing everything unfold before him.

“When I first got to Fred’s was when the first four Royal Aspirations progeny were born so I had a bit to do with them and broke them in as young horses with Fred. It’s been pretty cool to watch them all go on and win races since.

“It’s been a big thrill and especially for Fred as he’s put so much time into them and wanted the sire to succeed and it’s been one of his final goals in harness racing to see him do a job at stud,” he said.

Hall of Fame horseman, Fred Fletcher, was the man responsible for producing Royal Aspirations on the track where he delivered from a young age. A decade on from his 2YO Ruby triumph at Cambridge, he still holds the national 2YO record for the mile in 1:56.5 which is remarkable when you consider the improvement in trotting genetics in that time.

The influx of frozen semen sires from Europe and North America along with the domination of Majestic Son make it extremely hard for any trotting stallion to establish themselves with a mare population that sits just north of 600.

Breeders have sat up and taken notice of the young sire who at the affordable price of $2500 looks set to serve a book well in advance of the 32 he covered last season with reports his bookings are already well ahead of that figure.

It should come with great satisfaction then for the Fletcher and his wife Faye given their legacy with the greatest colonial sire New Zealand has ever produced in Sundon.

“We’re pretty busy at the moment and have about 27 in work with a lot of them being younger horses coming through.”

“We’ve got about five two-year-olds who have been slowed down a bit by the weather here lately, but they shouldn’t be far away. And then we have a whole lot of yearlings who are all coming up nice, so the future is looking really good for him.

“They all have good manners and from the day they are born they seem to be able to trot which makes it pretty easy to get them up and going,” said Thornley.

Manners were the key to success with his latest winner in Paris Prince who tipped over a handy field of in form trotters at Addington Raceway last Friday night (Aug. 5). The field included some handy types in nine-win mare My Moments Now (Majestic Son) and the progressive blue blood, Resolve (Andover Hall).

“He always goes a good race, and he has great manners which were the key to winning in the end. When he got in the trail and they ran along a bit in front I was confident he would be able to finish it off like he did,” said Thornley.

PARIS PRINCE REPLAY

Paris Prince is out of the Soky’s Atom mare, Paris Belle, a family the Fletchers have been breeding from for over 50 years spanning several generations.

It was the third win of his burgeoning nine start career and is starting to become a victim of his own success.

“The handicapping system doesn’t suit a horse like him because he is so consistent and only dropped a single rating point in his whole life. We had him sold because of that but he failed the vet and will stay in the barn.

“He gets into a good race this week on the conditions, and we expect him to be very competitive again,” he said.

The win last Friday night (Aug. 5) took Thornley to 20 wins for the season, a figure he seems pleasantly surprised about given the competition currently in the junior driving ranks.

Like Royal Aspirations, Thornley has a bit of pedigree behind him and with the likes of his father Robin, brothers Chris and Craig, sister Olivia and niece Gemma all extremely gifted harness folk.

As the driving premiership stands however, Sam is leaving the latter three in his wake in a breakout year that continues to go from strength to strength.

“Fred and Faye have been great to me and there aren’t many better teachers when it comes to working with trotters then Fred. I’ve learnt a lot regarding shoeing horses and how to get them going.

“This is my third season, and the main goal was really to improve on my 14 wins from last year. With the extended season last year (18 months) I wasn’t sure I would get there, but I’m a few in front of that figure now and I’m pretty rapt about that.

“I’ve never driven in a group race yet and Sunny Louis will hopefully be aimed at races like the Derby later in the year which I hope to keep the drive for. It would be a big thrill to drive a son of Royal Aspirations in a race as historic as that for Fred,” he said.

Fletcher is clearly enjoying life at his Claymore Farm base in Weedons and is experiencing a renaissance of his own with 16 training wins in the twilight of his glittering career.

The figure is his highest tally since 2001 and he looks set to give his career best 28 wins (achieved in 1980 and 2000) a real shake in the latter half of the year and has two solid chances this Friday night (Aug. 12) at Addington where he lines up Paris Prince and the evergreen son of Mach Three, Mikey Maguire.

Here’s hoping the trio of Fletcher, Thornley and Royal Aspirations continue to kick goals.

by Brad Reid, for Harnesslink