14 minute read
Not a passing Hobby
The Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye winner Makarova will be playing a pivotal role in the future of Brightwalton Stud
For an owner-breeder there is not a better view in life than looking out of your kitchen window to see your homebred Group 1-winning filly of that year contentedly standing fetlock-deep in grass, snugly wrapped up in her waterproof ear-high rug in the company of her equine friends and in fine condition ready to move to the next stage of her career.
Jeffrey and Phoebe Hobby are one such lucky couple, their homebred Acclamation five-year-old filly Makarova, the winner of this year’s Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye.
She arrived back at their Brightwalton Stud from trainer Ed Walker’s yard at the end of October, the filly having had some autumn down time at Walker’s Lambourn stables after her winning exploits at ParisLongchamp.
The best paddock on the farm was, as befits a Group 1 queen, kept vacant and readied like a luxury penthouse suite for a VIP’s arrival.
“The yard had a bit of a goodbye gathering, which was lovely,” says Hobby, who has no regrets that possible top level options on British Champions Day at Ascot or at Del Mar were declined.
He explains:“We had set out to do what we wanted to do, win that Group 1.
“She was fast – the time in Ireland in the Flying Five was the fastest in ten years and the Abbaye was quick, too – so the 6f at Ascot was too far for her really, and she did not show her best on fast ground so the US trip was out, as well.”
Looking back now on the autumn’s achievement the Hobbys quite rightly struggle to hide their pride in the homebred.
For many looking back at the filly’s career, now that it is concluded, it might be a surprise that she achieved such heights given that she started her career off a lowly BHA handicap mark of 68.
In France it was lovely that after the race we were in the car park drinking champagne I could wander over to the yard and go and see her
But for the couple the Group 1 win was perhaps really not such an unexpected event – she has always been the apple of her breeder’s eye right from her early days on the Berkshire farm.
“I loved her as a yearling and all the sales companies wanted to take her,” recalls Hobby. “At that point her younger sister Nina Ballarina, who was a bit potty and very unlike this filly, was about to run in the Cheveley Park Stud Stakes, so the companies were keen to have her half-sister.
“I told them the Acclamation filly was going nowhere near a sale – that was a particularly surprising thing for me to say as we did sell most of our stock at that point.”
When training days beckoned the filly was sent to near-at-hand Walker but, when she went through her growing “teenage” stage, few saw her hidden talents. Hobby, possibly wearing those special rose-tinted glasses that only breeders reach for, kept the faith, but admits he was disappointed that everyone else was disappointed.
“No one really liked her, but she was not a two-year-old type at all, a real gangly teenager at that point and she only ran once at two,” he recalls. “But then as a three-yearold she just kept getting better and better.
“We carried on messing around in handicaps that summer, but at the end of the season there was the Listed Boadicea Stakes at Newmarket and I was keen she ran – both Ed and Matt Coleman thought I was mad!
“I have still got their What’s App messages saying as such saved on my phone!” he laughs, adding: “I had been there for all of her previous wins, and she always came back without ever really blowing – I always find it really useful to stand by the horses after their races and get a feeling for how they are, watching on TV you don’t get that insight at all.
“There was far more in the tank than anyone had realised; she was a lazy thing and I think always just did what she needed to do – fillies can be a bit like that, they are not fools, they work it out a bit.
“Anyway she ran at Newmarket, and she won her race her side, but Azure Blue on the other side just pipped her.
“That performance sort of changed the trajectory of where were going with her, and for the next season we set out with a completely different mind set with black-type firmly on the agenda.”
The purchase of her dam, the Cheveley Park Stud-bred Vesnina, came courtesy of agent Matt Coleman at the Tattersalls July Sale in 2015 when the daughter of Sea The Stars was just a three-year-old.
Hobby recalls: “Matt put her up to me –I like pedigrees that have a bit of depth to them and she is from the family of Russian Rhythm and that is a proper family.
“Although not much had been happening up top in the pedigree, sometimes you find that it comes back. Vesnina’s dam Safina was the best daughter of Russian Rhythm and she had been Listed placed, while Vesnina had been fourth in the Listed Dick Poole at Salisbury and had achieved a rating of 90 as a two-year-old – I thought that was quite impressive.
“She is tiny, she was a first foal out of a first foal, she is nothing to look at but she has some length.”
Vesnina’s breeding programme began, the mare sent to Ireland for a first covering.
“That first foal Nina Ballarina is by Lope De Vega. She is a nice sort and had some talent and is on the farm now.
“We sold the second by Shalaa and then kept Makarova, who has been a little rock star. The next foal Vicario, also by Lope De Vega, is with Ed and she is truly beautiful but perhaps not as quick as Makarova.
“We have a Cracksman yearling filly who is going to Ed’s and she had a Night Of Thunder filly foal this year – unbelievably Vesnina has only produced fillies so far!
“She is now in-foal to Havana Grey.”
Owner-breeders are more patient, but when we need to be brave we are braver, and we take any disappointments better
HOBBY ENJOYS a hands-on approach with the horses and admits that he has spent more time in Walker’s yard in the mornings than maybe in the office.
“My car thinks its morning commute is to Lambourn,” he laughs alluding to his working life which is as owner of the successful commercial property business Dunmoore.
The down-with-the-horses approach also means that he really enjoys the access that owners are allowed in France when they can go into the stables and the weighing room.
“I just love it, and in France it was lovely that, after the race, when we were in the car park drinking champagne I could wander over to the yard and go and see her,” he says. “It is such a shame that in Britain owners are kept so removed from the horses, and are treated really just as a pay packet.
“I know some owners have hardly ever met their horses before the races, but for owner-breeders it is a bit different because you have raised them and been with them; it is pretty much your journey, too.”
As H0bby outlines horses produced wearing an owner-breeder’s hat require a different strategic approach, right from covering plans through to training decisions.
“I think if you breed and race your horses it is slightly different than just sending them to the sales,” he counters. “You do look at your breeding plans differently as you want to use stallions who will breed you a racehorse – if we get a filly we will keep her and race her.
“I think we are different with trainers, too, we have a different engagement. We are not trying to get into handicaps, win one and be kept happy. We are a bit more patient and are prepared to say that if a horse is not ready then we don’t run, but, equally, then when the horse is ready we want to get on, not be messing around in handicaps, step up, be brave and look for black-type.
“Owner-breeders are more patient, but when we need to be brave we are braver, and we do take any disappointments better.”
He adds: “I think that is why maybe breeders do slightly better than other owners – they can be more patient at the start but are then prepared to crack on and can roll the dice a bit.
“For us, it was really worth investing in Makarova and see how far she could go –if it did work out, as it has, then we have won five times over through her sisters and her mum.”
Unsurprisingly, through the late autumn many stallion farms have been in touch with Hobby offering the services of their equine suitors, many friends and advisors have also had their input.
It is fair to say that it is a dynamic time for Brightwalton Stud, the opportunity that a Group 1 winner can bring to a pedigree can be life-changing, especially when her own dam, still on the farm and not old, is particularly adept at producing fillies.
The threads of that top level pedigree update and choices regarding subsequent covering plans can be far reaching. It is not an over-estimation to say that Brightwalton Stud could be on the cusp of a “moment” and plans need to be considered carefully.
“I have got to think about it, this step up, because it is not just her, it is her sister and her mother the whole lot,” agrees the breeder. “The whole farm is doing better, we sold the Lope De Vega out of Isabella for 750,ooogns this autumn which is our best price so far, and we have got a few higher grade mares on the farm now.
“But, unfortunately, a few of the best mares are not in-foal, so we will have bit of a hole coming in our foal crop.”
Explaining the impact this will have on covering plans, Hobby says, “Although we have had a great year on the track with prize-money won and in the sale ring, in terms of paying for lots of future stud fees we are not necessarily going to have the sales revenue next autumn to balance that.
“We do have some nice foals on the ground, and, hopefully, will be nice yearlings but who knows if they will really fly?
“We have also made a capital investment into the farm so that has to be factored as well, too – you can’t keep pouring money in.”
At the end of the year, we do a whole financial analysis, it is rigorously costed so we make sure it does not run away with itself
ORIGINALLY PART of a dairy farm found on the outskirts of Brightwalton village, which is some 15 minutes drive from Newbury, the property was purchased by the couple in 2001 as a bare site. After various planning delays, the stud became a reality in 2009.
“I grew up on the Downs and I had moved to the village after we sold Hillwood Stud,” recalls Hobby. “It has good ground and it grows good grass, and the opportunity to purchase came along. I would like to say it was a big strategic purchase, but we just thought we will give that a go – I think in life sometimes you just have to take things as you find them.”
The stud started off in with a few “rag bag” boarders and a few cheap mares and some pinhooks, a few of which are still bought by Hobby as he finds it a good way to sharpen the eye, but, over the last few years, he and Phoebe have concentrated on buying quality mares and developing families, which in itself presents a challenge.
“It has got harder to buy mares, so it makes sense to keep the fillies and put them in training, although the prize-money is so shxxt and British-based owner-breeders are shafted unless they get to the very top.
“We hope that we can make enough money at the yearling sales – the plan being that one or two sell well enough to pay the nominations, run the farm and provide enough to pay for a couple of training fees.”
While Hobby would probably admit that he does enjoy the romance of breeding racehorses, he is also an astute businessman and does bring a rational approach to the stud farm enterprise.
“At the end of the year, we do a financial analysis, it is rigorously costed so we make sure the stud does not run away with itself.
“We know then what a mare has cost us and whether she might be worth that financial input. I think you have to be a bit brutal and be prepared to make decisions that a mare may have to go.
“Obviously we do take a rational approach, too; if she is producing good athletic, running stock then she will get a bit more time, but if she is producing horrible yearlings then she has to be moved on.
“I like good-looking, athletic mares and, of course, we do get horrors, but generally they produce good-walking, athletic stock. I have got to like the progeny the mare is producing.”
Brightwalton Stud has recently grown with the additional purchase of a further neighbouring 100 acres, Hobby casually mentioning that the new land brings the farm to a comparable size to Meon Valley.
That almost throw-away line leaves the impression that is where ambitions lie – with a private broodmare band of high quality, Group-class, self-generating families.
Hobby manages the farm alongside the day job, previously he and Phoebe both rode seriously and were heavily involved in the mastership of the Berks and Bucks Draghounds.
“I suppose I have always worn two hats, I used to do a lot with the hunt, I was pretty obsessed, it came before everything. When we had our eldest, we were told she could come home on a Sunday and I said it was inconvenient because I would be hunting! This has taken over now.
“I suppose if this was not working and we were not moving forwards, I would be trying to discover why not and trying to make sure that I could do something about it – after all people do succeed at this, so if you are not then you have to work out why.”
He adds: “A couple of years ago we had a dreadful stint, lost mares and foals; I think people in this industry are hugely resilient, everyone know what goes into making the good days.
“And that is what is so great about this industry, everyone realises what it takes.”
Aside from the commercial reality of running a farm, Hobby genuinely enjoys the bloodstock industry, its people, its craic, its dynamics. He makes the most of his involvement, enjoys his hands-on approach, making decisions and the research required to achieve the right solution, alongside getting to the races, the yards and the sales.
And, of course, all plans are made under the watchful eye of Phoebe, who just makes sure that her husband does not get a run of it.
We rightly leave the last words to the breeder, who has enjoyed a fantastic year on the track and in the sale ring – he sums it all up rather neatly: “This is just a really fun industry to be part of, it is fantastic.”
