bearstone stud
Bearstone Stud has long been a nurturing ground for speedy horses and the farm got its rewards with Glass Slippers’ Abbaye win in October. We chat to owner Terry Holdcroft
Glass Slippers after her Abbaye success. The daughter of Dream Ahead stays in training for 2020
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HE BEARSTONE STUD TEAM and owner Terry Holdcroft have been producing quality sprinters for over 30 years at the tranquil farm in Shropshire, but the success gained by the three-yearold Glass Slippers in this October’s Prix de l’Abbaye was the first Group 1 winner bred by Bearstone and owned by Holdcroft. When the rains came in France this autumn, the landmark achievement might very nearly have not happened at all. “Her first run of the season was over 7f in a Group 3 at Newbury, it was soft ground. She lost both her front shoes and trailed in last,” recalls Holdcroft of his one-time Guineas hope. “We decided then she did not want soft ground – it was one thing that trainer Kevin Ryan said all summer ‘if there is one thing we don’t want to do, is run her on soft ground,” smiles Holdcroft.
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The filly’s form picked up after that disappointing seasonal start with a fifth and a second in Listed races and then a fourth in the Group 3 Summer Stakes. The decision to make the Group 1 entry was made in the middle of summer, and before the filly had even been successful in a stakes race. “I rang Kevin up and said, ‘You are going to think I am absolutely bonkers, but I want you to put her in the Abbaye!’,” laughs the breeder. “He said ‘alright’ – I expected him to say I think you’re mad because I thought I was mad, her form at the time didn’t warrant the entry. “After that she won her Listed and then a Group 3 in France. She won that in 55 seconds, which is pretty good – I don’t think Mind Games ever did that over 5f. “She came from last to first in the last furlong, it was a far more impressive run than the Abbaye.” After that performance the Group 1 entry
Bearstone Stud: the farm is naturally sheltered and has its own spring water used to supply the horses
proved to have been a fortuitous plan, and the sprint target on Arc weekend was set. But the gathering clouds over France put Group 1 participation into doubt. “The ground went soft and we thought we had no chance,” says Holdcroft, though the attractions of a weekend in Paris for the Arc helped make a decision to run. “We had booked in the hotel so we thought we might as well go and enjoy the weekend, just go and have some fun and a good time.” The rest as they say is history. The filly jumped the stalls quickly – unlike in most of
