FIRST WORD

DEATH IS A THIEF. This year it has grabbed and stolen so many, robbed us of some of the best. The bloodstock industry has lost some of its most influential participants – the persona of death seemingly growing in strength in a feeding frenzy fuelled by a pandemic.

Death steals people away from their loved ones, but it steals them away from their own visions and creations, from achievements that were still flourishing, from accomplishments that they were continuing to enjoy and watch as growing legacies.

Of those we have recently lost in our industry, boy, did they live some lives and accomplish much.

This autumn we lost Harry Beeby, who took Doncaster Sales to its pre-eminent position on the bloodstock auction markets, as well as stalwart NH Grand National-winning owner, Trevor Hemmings. Both will continue to be remembered fondly as this NH season runs its course and each man’s influence will be key to so many future results for so many people.

Early in 2021, Cheveley Park’s David Thompson passed. Sadly, he failed to see his colours carried to three superb Grade 1 successes at the Cheltenham Festival – Quilixios, the son of Maxios, won the Triumph Hurdle, Allaho took the Ryanair Chase and Sir Gerhard was successful in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. A Plus Tard ran a fabulous race to finish second in the Gold Cup and Cheveley Park Stud finished off the meeting as leading owner.

On the Flat, Cheveley Park’s homebred filly Inspiral (Frankel) produced a dominant display to win the Fillies’ Mile and she goes into the winter as a favourite for next spring’s 1,000 Guineas. Her victory was the first top level win for the stud since Veracious won the Falmouth Stakes in 2019, and she could become the farm’s first homebred Classic winner.

Trevor Hemmings was a highly successful businessman and racehorse owner, so many have written after his death of his love for the sport, how well he cared for his horses and what a pleasure he was to train and ride for

Inspiral helped Frankel to his first, and one has to think it will be a host of, champion sires’ titles. We can only guess at the delights that Prince Khalid Abdullah would have taken from this glorious feat achieved by the best horse he bred. Juddmonte Farm is the first non-Coolmore farm to stand the leading sire since Blushing Groom in 1989, a fairly monumental accomplishment.

Frankel’s understudy Kingman is enjoying a top ten finish – alongside Coolmore’s Australia the pair are the youngest sires (retired to stud for 2015 season) in the top echelons of the stallion table. Kingman, alongside Frankel and Dubawi, a triumvirate of a British-based stallions in the European top ten.

Juddmonte breeding is having a significant impact with even younger sires standing at different farms – New Bay and Time Test are both from the farm’s pre-eminent pedigrees and both are making significant impacts [see our younger sires review, page 113].

The late Sheikh Hamdan would have enjoyed one of the day of his days at Ascot on British Champions day with Shadwell Stud’s three-timer, headlined by the emergence of the unbeaten Baaeed, who is now one of the best colts of his generation. As has already been commented on, his lineage stretches to a Shadwell foundation mare, also one of Sheikh Hamdan’s favourites, Height Of Fashion.

We lost owner-breeder Guy Innes-Kerr, the 10th Duke of Roxburghe, in August 2019. The man’s foresight and his love of the British racehorse and the bloodstock industry has been pivotal to one of the best developments of the 2021 British season.

As a chairman of The National Stud, The Duke was instrumental in adding Time Test to its roster in 2018, syndicating the stallion and encouraging breeders to use the stallion’s services.

A Juddmonte-bred son of Dubawi, the two-time Group 2 winner and dual Grade 1 runner-up was not deemed to be of the required quality to stand at the home farm as a five-year-old, with two already young influential sires on its own roster, so the Duke took the opportunity that the sale of the colt, with his fantastic pedigree, offered The National Stud.

“He helped take The National Stud to new places in the last few years, and put a lot of his own time and resource into acquiring Time Test,” said Tim Lane to the Racing Post immediately after the Duke’s death, adding: “I spoke to the Duke on the phone for the last time last week and among the things he said to me was, ‘Just promise you’ll make a success of Time Test’. We’ll do our utmost to ensure that happens for him.”

Lane and The National Stud are currently successfully achieving the Duke’s last bloodstock wish – the stallion has had 11 winners of 17 races, including two Group 3 winners and a Group 1 third.

The vibe at Tattersalls October Book 2 sale was all about Time Test, highlighted by the sale of his sole Book 2 lot, the colt from Ballyvolane Stud who fetched 400,000gns (Lot 1193).

The trend continued into Book 3, and the stallion closed-up the Friday session as leading Book 3 sire with 15 lots sold for an aggregate of 595,000gns. He was also second-leading sire by average (of those stallions with more than five lots offered) behind New Bay.

The Duke certainly realised that the strength of a national bloodstock industry, in the sale ring and on the track, relies on stallion power. How vital it is to the British industry that stallions with the potential of Time Test could stand in the UK, and be available to breeders and investors at financially attractive prices.

And, while some might be wringing their hands after the buoyant Tattersalls Autumn HIT Sale – disappointed that so many horses are being sold to go abroad, crying at the perceived diminishment of quality within the British racing industry – as long as “proper” commercial stallions are continually restocking at the yearling end, then the problem is less evident, the high quality of the “Made in Britain” brand can be maintained. Stallions really are the engine for our industry. With proper stallions on rosters, breeders can make money, and then trainers and owners can make money; stallion power leads to financial power.

Nothing can happen without cash funds. Without money in their pockets breeders can not continue to own mares or continue to improve the pedigree standard of their home broodmare bands.

A lack of cash is the biggest threat to the industry and leads to a vicious circle of disappointment in the sale ring, a lack of results on the racecourse and a reduction in the pedigree quality on stud farms.

Prince Khalid Abdullah with Frankel and jockey Tom Queally after the colt won the 2,000 Guineas: the Prince’s best horse has become the best stallion

The experience of watching Ireland able to stand the best stallions through the 1980s due to its advantageous tax system would very much have formulated the Duke’s views, but also his own experiences as a breeder – despite having his lovely broodmares at Floors Stud, the farm only really hit commercial heights with seven-figure sales in the auction ring after 2014 when the Duke started to patronise stallions such as Frankel and Dubawi.

The only way the British industry can survive within its poor prize-money structure is by resale of horses-intraining to jurisdictions that do not possess the Godgiven climate with which we are blessed in Britain and Ireland, or the historic infrastructure that has, for the last 200 years, made the most of the perfect conditions for the growing and racing of thoroughbreds.

Those who we have lost over the last two years recognised that our little windy and wet islands of Britain and Ireland are the most perfect places to produce the racehorse.

We owe much to the foresight and wisdom of all them. And it is up to us now to do the best we can to protect and nurture their bloodstock legacies.

The 10th Duke of Roxburghe. His enthusiasm for the British bloodstock industry found its zenith in the plans to stand and syndicate Time Test at The National Stud. The Duke understood just how important stallion power is to drive forward a bloodstock industry on a national scale

Harry Beeby in the rostrum at Doncaster Sales with a young Henry on spotting duty besides him. Beeby Snr joined DBS as a partner in 1964 with Ken Oliver and Willie Stephenson. They created a family business that has grown into an internationally important bloodstock concern. Beeby was a managing director of Doncaster Bloodstock Sales from 1976 to 1998 and chairman until 2016. Many have remembered his kindness, his passion for the industry and his willingness to mentor young people