The rise of Incentivise in 2021 was one of the stories of the year in Australian racing. Incentivise was beaten out of sight in a Toowoomba maiden in March at his third career start, but then something clicked. By October, he was a three-time Group 1 winner, including one of the most dominant Caulfield Cup victories in memory. While his run of victories ended with a 2nd placing in the Melbourne Cup, his season was no less diminished.
It would be a stretch to suggest that our latest acquisition, Mercian Hymn, is the ‘next’ Incentivise. What is apparent with him, however, is that something has clicked. Stepped out to 2400m by his trainer Sir Mark Todd after a series of plain runs over the mile, Mercian Hymn has been a revelation. Wins by 5l and 2.5l respectively saw Sir Mark spell Mercian Hymn with staying races at the Royal Ascot and Goodwood carnivals now at the forefront of 2022 race plans.
Mercian Hymn is bred in the purple. From a late maturing family, he is by France’s top stallion in Siyouni. His dam, Astronome Domine (by Galileo) has produced four winners from her four foals to race and is from high-class mare named Platonic. It is a classic European family. As a type, Mercian Hymn is a beautiful specimen as you would expect given his breeding.
We look forward to watching Mercian Hymn progress through the first half of 2022 towards the Royal Ascot carnival. Who knows – by the end of 2022, his might be a story to vie that of Incentivise.
