Any knowledge of Spanish racing in Britain pretty much starts and ends with the jockey Oscar Urbina, but prepare for a new Iberian name at Royal Ascot next week.

While French racegoers will be aware of the presence of Mauricio Delcher-Sanchez, when Equiano goes to post in the King's Stand Stakes it will be the Madrid-based trainer's first runner in England.

It would be fair to say the three-year-old will have his work cut out against the likes of Fleeting Spirit and Takeover Target, but he will not arrive in Berkshire as a complete no-hoper.

Third in the Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte last season, Equiano has been contesting decent level sprints this term, winning at Chantilly before returning to the same track to finish a neck behind Marchand D'Or in the Group Two Prix du Gros-Chene.

With the likes of Sir Gerry, Captain Gerrard and Abbaye winner Benbaun following in his wake that day, the trip to Ascot seems worth making.

"I think he is coming - the owner is keen anyway," says Delcher-Sanchez.

"I think his best distance is around 1000 metres (five furlongs) and he ran well last time.

"I am very happy to be going there. I think it is one of the big meetings of the world and it is great to have a runner with good possibilities. He can run his race and is a very nice horse to have for a Spanish trainer."

Delcher-Sanchez was also an accomplished gentleman rider in his younger days, finishing second in the Fegentri series on two occasions.

"I rode in a number of races in Britain at Epsom, Sandown and Kempton but at Ascot I have only been to see the races, never ride," he recalls.

"I have been training now for 19 years. My father is a trainer, my brother is a trainer and has also been a jockey so we are really a family around horses."

Now 43, he tutored thoroughbreds for the likes of the late Spanish industrialist Enrique Sarasola, who had the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Helissio with Elie Lellouche. Sarasola also owned the Hipodromo de la Zarzuela, the racecourse where Delcher-Sanchez trains but one with a chequered history despite its beautiful surroundings.

He explains: "We were stopped racing there for many years but it started again two years ago. There are around 1,000 horses based in Madrid but the racing is not of great quality.

"Although I train there I often go to France and do a little season - take two or three horses to Paris, stay a month to run them and then come back to Spain.

"My best win in France was maybe Suances in the Prix Jean Prat and I also won with another horse, Partipral, in a Group Two (the Prix Maurice de Nieuil).

"I had a Group Three in 2006 with Midnight Beauty (Prix de Cond) so I have run many times in France and won a few races."

You can get 25-1 about him winning one here too.

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