The First Sir Percy The First Sir Percy The First Sir Percy is a 1920 adventure novel by Baroness Orczy featuring Sir Percy Blake, ancestor of Orczy's character The Scarlet Pimpernel. It is a direct sequel to "The Laughing Cavalier", occurring a few months after the events in the first book. It is March 1624 in Holland. Two months earlier, a mercenary/adventurer who calls himself "Diogenes" foiled the plot on the life of the Stadtholder. Now, he has finally met his real father, an English nobleman, and realized his true identity as Sir Percy Blake of Blakeney, heir to a large estate in Sussex.
Sir Percy Dwyer called Sir Percy an exceptional horse with a "tremendous turn of foot". Martin Dwyer's ride on Sir Percy at Epsom earned him the 2006 Lester Award for Flat Ride of the Year. Sir Percy was troubled with a series of training problems which included a shoulder injury which ruled him out of a run in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. On his only start after his Derby win he finished seventh of eight runners behind Pride in the Champion Stakes, when it was revealed he was still suffering the ill effects of an injury sustained in the Derby.