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Breeding Group 1 winners
This spring’s Dubai Turf winner Facteur Cheval became the third Group 1 winner bred by the County Down-based McCracken Farms.
At this year’s Tattersalls October Book 1 Sale the farm is set to consign siblings to the top level winners.
Jamie McGlynn chats with Craig McCracken and finds out the secrets of such regular Group 1 success
THE BLOODSTOCK INDUSTRY never stands still. The dust will have barely settled on ParisLongchamp’s Prix de Arc de Triomphe card on October 6, with its six Group 1 contests, before the eyes of the bloodstock world will focus firmly on Park Paddocks for Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
Europe’s premier yearling sale, which begins its three-day run on Tuesday, October 8, achieved turnover of just over 95,00,000gns in 2023.
The best to emerge so far from last year’s sale is Whistlejacket (No Nay Never), named after George Stubbs’s painting of the Marques of Rockingham’s horse of the same name, who made all of the running to win the Prix Morny (G1) at Deauville in August, just eight days after finishing runner-up in the Phoenix Stakes (G1) at The Curragh. As we go to press he has some significant races on his upcoming agenda.
On the vendors’ list at Book 1 this year will be McCracken Farms, which will present a draft of two lots through its second venture consigning at the premier sale.
And that’’s not to say that the County Down nursery is in its infancy, or in fact is new to the game, far from it – the family-run operation, located near Banbridge, south-west of Belfast, has been breeding and selling more than its fair share of top-class horses from a relatively small number of mares over the years, though usually at the foal sales.
“The change to offering yearlings happened over time,” says the farm’s Craig McCracken, who adds that: “We just weren’t inititally equipped to keep yearlings, especially colts, simply due to the way the farm was laid out.
It also wasn’t the business model to be selling yearlings – we sold our foals – but as with any business, you always need to adapt.
The family of Cecil and wife Martha, their sons Martin and Craig, and daughters Lucy and Katie, started off in the industry as NH breeders, and produced the 2013 Scottish National winner Godsmejudge (Witness Box) and Ayr’s Future Champion Novices’ Chase (G2) winner Eduard (Morozov).
“We were exclusively NH breeders and had very little interest in breeding Flat horses back then,” recalls McCracken.
“I suppose it was a mixture of the recession in 2008 and the fact that, by the time a horse had proven themselves to be useful, the mare tended to be getting old.
“At the same time, my brother Martin, a farrier by trade, was doing work for the late Brian Kennedy of Meadowlands Stud and had seen the way that Brian was operating.
“He was very sharp and was making a good go of selling Flat foals. We sat down, analysed what we thought might work and set about to buy a Flat mare.”
At the Tattersalls December Mare Sale in 2009, the McCrackens purchased Mashie, a Selkirk half-sister to the Yellow Ribbon Stakes (G1) heroine Light Jig (Danehill) for 14,500gns.
She was sent to visit Bushranger in his first season at Tally-Ho Stud, the resulting colt foal sold to Taroka Stud for 30,000gns at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.
Named Riverboat Springs, he got the team off to a flyer – as a juvenile he finished second in the Listed 6f Woodcote Stakes and the Listed Ripon Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy over the same distance for trainer Mick Channon.
“We thought it was a good bit of business,” continues McCracken. “He had gone on to make 50,000gns as a yearling, so we were delighted to see that, but the most important part was that he delivered on the track for his connections.”
The importance that Riverboat Springs has in this story shouldn’t be underestimated.
Buoyed by the success of their first foray into breeding Flat horses, the McCrackens went on to buy three more mares in 2012 – and it also marked the beginning of what became a mutually beneficial working relationship with Tally-Ho Stud.
“The O’Callaghans have been brilliant to deal with from day one,” says McCracken. “Tony always told me ‘breed racehorses and the rest will come,’ and that’s sort of stamped on our back door when you walk out to the yard in the morning.
“At the end of the day that is what every breeder’s objective should be, though I agree, it is easy to lose sight of from time to time.
“When our mother comes down to the yard and we’re mulling over a decision, she will often remind us of it and, sometimes, it can make the decision an easy one. It’s a simple thing, but it’s worth remembering.”
When the McCracken-bred Best Solution crossed the line in front in the Caulfield Cup (G1) in 2018, which was the colt’s third success at the highest level in just 63 days, backing up victories in the Grosser Preis von Baden and Grosser Preis von Berlin, the family’s decision to switch focus from breeding jumps horses to concentrate more on the Flat was more than “just” vindicated.
The second foal out of Al Andalyya, who was one of the three mares purchased in 2012 on the back of the success of Riverboat Springs, Best Solution achieved a feat for the family that most commercial breeders will never accomplish.
Now standing at Gestüt Lünzen, his win in the Grosser Preis von Berlin was also a second winner at the highest level for his sire Kodiac, following Tiggy Wiggy’s Cheveley Park Stakes victory four years earlier. The now 23-year-old sire has added another six to that Group 1 tally over the years, and has been a trusty ally to those who latched onto his prowess early.
While Kodiac has flown the flag for Tally-Ho, Al Andalyya has most definitely been a luminary for the McCrackens.
A ONCE-PLACED daughter of Kingmambo from the family of the dual Group 1-winning sires Brian Boru (Sadler’s Wells) and Workforce (King’s Best), she returned to visit Kodiac twice more –the later mating producing El Bodegon.
A 70,000gns yearling purchase by trainer James Ferguson at Book 2, just over 12 months later the colt provided the Newmarket handler with a debut top-flight winner when winning the Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
“Al Andalyya is the seventh member of our family, really,” explains McCracken, whose tone softens when talking about the mare who has “pride of place” at the Banbridge farm.
“What she has done for us is amazing,” he continues. “Al Andalyya put us on the map and, not only did she do it once, but to do it again was really special.
“She will always be in the front paddock in our farm.”
McCracken Farms will offer the latest of Al Andalyya’s offspring – a filly from the first crop of St Mark’s Basilica – as Lot 64 at Book 1.
“She is a good representation of the dam,” says the breeder, who is keen to let his horses do the talking. “What we have learned over the years is that her stock have improved plenty from foals to yearlings.
“They developed a lot in spring, so we decided to give them all that time and not offer them as foals, as we're trying to do our best by the horse.
“I liked the mating on paper and physically, and I think it’s matched up well.”
When El Bodegon was foaled in April 2019, the McCracken’s also had a one-month-old bay colt on the farm from the first-crop of Darley’s four-time Group 1 winner Ribchester (Iffraaj).
The second foal out of the Shamardal mare Jawlaat, an unraced half-sister to the three-time Group 3 winner Tantheem (Teofilo) from the immediate family of the Group 1 Prix Jacques le Marois and Group 1 Prix Jean Prat winner and sire Tamayuz (Nayef), he was bought for 145,000gns by Hubert Honoré at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale.
Named Facteur Cheval he added to the farm’s enviable record at the top when winning the Dubai Turf (G1) earlier this year. He has also been placed a further five times at the highest level and carries an official rating of 120, the same as his former paddock mate El Bodegon and just a pound behind Best Solution.
Though Al Andalyaa may be hard to budge, Jawlaat is doing her best to challenge for bragging rights at the County Down farm, as Factuer Cheval’s year-younger half-sister and now four-year-old filly Queen Of The Mud has won twice and been placed twice in stakes company for Graham Motion.
The daughter of Kodiac was a 45,000gns purchase by Yeomanstown Stud at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale before providing the Kildare farm with a significant return on its investment when she was sold for 180,000gns in Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.
JAWLAAT’S YEARLING colt of this year is by Sottsass and is described by McCracken as “a strong, robust colt, who has plenty of Shamardal about him.” He is set to be offered as Lot 220 at Book 1.
“Jawlaat is doing her best to usurp Al Andalyya and a bit of healthy competition is good for everyone!” jokes McCracken.
“Facteur Cheval has done everyone proud. He was a very good foal and we were well paid for him, while Queen Of The Mud has been very consistent in the US, having been placed in a couple of stakes races.
We’re incredible lucky to have both Al Andalyya and Jawlaat at the same time.
It’s not just a two-mare broodmare band that the family are playing with.
What might go unnoticed is that, from a foal crop numbering just 13 in 2023, McCracken Farms has five homebred lots who will be offered at Book 1 this year.
Alongside the two that will be presented by the farm, there are also three more who were sold as foals and who will be offered by pinhookers.
“We sold four foals last year, three of whom are set to be offered in Book 1 and one is in Book 2,” said McCracken. “Obviously it’s a good sign, as, on the face of it, we’re producing horses who are what the market seems to want, but at the end of the day, it’s what they do on the track that matters.”
Pushed on what makes the farm different, he adds: “There is no simple formula. We make decisions and try to learn from our mistakes.
“We plan matings based on statistics, physical match-up and pedigree – broodmare sires are very important to me, it’s something I’m particularly keen on.
“I also like to talk a lot to other people who have had the families that we have. You never know where a simple conversation will take you, especially if the people that you’re talking to have had the family for years.
“They’ve either made the right choices, or learnt from their mistakes, and there’s little point in us making the same mistakes again.
“But, at the end of the day, you’ve got to make your own decisions, but adding a little extra weight to things here and there can put you on the right track.
“Having the drive to succeed is also very important. When Best Solution won his first Group 1, Roger O’Callaghan called me to congratulate me.
At the end of the conversation, he signed off by saying: ‘Now, do it again!’ That tells you everything about how successful people think.”
Well, the McCrackens did manage to do it again, and then again. One fancies that, with O’Callaghan’s words ringing in their ears, it would be a brave man to bet against them pulling it off once more.
