Thoroughbred Owner Breeder

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£6.95 NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE 231

Myth or legend?

City Of Troy justifies connections’ faith in Dewhurst demolition

PLUS

Dullingham Park

Steve Parkin’s new stallion venture

William Jarvis

‘Training’s a battle outside the top tier’

Niarchos jewels

Prime pedigrees on offer at Goffs

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Oasis Dream Green Desert - Hope (Bahamian)

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£6.95 NOVEMBER 2023 ISSUE 231

Myth or legend?

City Of Troy justifies connections’ faith in Dewhurst demolition

PLUS

Dullingham Park

Steve Parkin’s new stallion venture

William Jarvis

‘Training’s a battle outside the top tier’

Niarchos jewels

Prime pedigrees on offer at Goffs

www.theownerbreeder.com

Cover: Ryan Moore makes every yard of the running on Coolmore’s City Of Troy to win the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on October 14 Photo: Bill Selwyn

Edward Rosenthal Editor

City’s limits up for debate as Coolmore justify the hype I s City Of Troy Coolmore’s next superstar?

Will the 2,000 Guineas be a formality for the son of US Triple Crown victor Justify next May? Have we really seen the last of Frankie Dettori riding on these shores? So many questions and very few answers following an exhilarating climax to the 2023 Flat season.

The buzz around City Of Troy only increased after his brilliant performance in the Dewhurst Stakes, with trainer Aidan O’Brien describing the unbeaten colt as the best juvenile he has ever trained and co-owner Michael Tabor mentioning him in the same breath as Juddmonte legend Frankel.

It is surely far too early for such a comparison, while superlatives about runners from these quarters is not exactly a new phenomenon. Yet these are two men who have been involved in countless top-class thoroughbreds – who better than to judge the merits of a potential champion?

City Of Troy looked better the further he went at Newmarket, galloping clear of some talented rivals to score by three and a half lengths, a result that saw him cut to even money favourite for next year’s Guineas. He provided another European Group 1 winner for his US-based sire after stable companion Opera Singer’s triumph in the Prix Marcel Boussac on Arc weekend.

In this month’s Dr Statz column, John Boyce analyses Justify’s stud career so far as he ponders how Coolmore will categorise this “sire for all surfaces” (Dr Statz, pages 58-59).

Frankie Dettori’s UK farewell was the subplot to last month’s British Champions Day and the masterful Italian penned his own perfect script as he secured a double on the card, following Trawlerman’s success in the Long Distance Cup with a beautifully judged ride on King Of Steel in the showpiece Champion Stakes (Big Picture, pages 18-19).

California will be Dettori’s home for the next few months as he rides off into the sunset at Santa Anita… or will he? It doesn’t take too much imagination to picture the owner of a

fancied runner in next year’s Derby searching for a jockey who’s been there and done it before at Epsom and asking the question. Only time will tell if we have truly seen the final act of Dettori’s outstanding career on British racecourses.

From closing chapters to new adventures, and owner-breeder Steve Parkin has taken the plunge to become a stallion master at Dullingham Park, recruiting top-class sprinter Shaquille to the roster at the redeveloped Newmarket stud.

James Thomas caught up with the man behind Clipper Logistics – he sold the actual business last year – who enjoyed a first homebred Group 1 winner in September when Fallen Angel captured the Moyglare Stud

“Aidan O’Brien described him as the best juvenile he has trained” Stakes at the Curragh.

“A lot of the good stallion prospects move to Ireland, and you’re never going to change that because horses are part of the fabric over there,” Parkin says (pages 22-26). “But let’s try to reverse the trend a little bit and stand some good, commercial stallions in Britain and give something back to the breeder.

“That’s what Clipper Logistics was all about: collaboration with the customer. The customers here are the breeders, and we’ve got to deliver for them.”

Our back-page interview this month sees William Jarvis reflect on a training career that took him all around the globe and brought top-level victories with Grand Lodge and Lady Bowthorpe (The Finish Line, page 88).

THE OWNER BREEDER

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Contents

November 2023

28

News & Views

88

ROA Leader Ownership merits industry strategy

7

TBA Leader Welcome from your new Chairman

9

News Premierisation influences 2024 fixtures

10

Changes News in a nutshell

14

Howard Wright Racecourses under pressure

20

Features The Big Picture Frankie says farewell in style

18

Dullingham Park Steve Parkin's new stallion venture

22

The Niarchos family Famous pedigrees on offer at Goffs

2

THE OWNER BREEDER

28

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Contents 18

›› Breeders' Digest Yearling market readjustment

22

37

Sales Circuit Figures fall at Tattersalls

38

Dr Statz Justify's reputation soars with City Of Troy

58

Caulfield Files Havana Grey takes the plaudits

60

The Finish Line William Jarvis reflects on his training career

88

Forum Breeding Forum Stable lighting in focus

63

Equine Health Update Broodmare nutrition in the breeding season

67

ROA Forum Horseracing Awards: early bird ticket offer

74

TBA Forum Julian Richmond-Watson's AGM warning

82

Breeder of the Month Superb spell for Steve Parkin

4

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86

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ROA Leader

Charlie Parker President

Strategy essential to grow ranks of owners I

n a recent television interview, Richard Hannon described a trainer’s job as “selling a dream and delivering a nightmare”.

This sums up what most of us owners feel as we buy a share in a yearling in the autumn, spending the winter dreaming of success but then suffering the setbacks that almost inevitably come. However, the times when the dream stays alive and is fulfilled to some degree keep us coming back for more.

Hannon also described how days out to visit the training yard and trips to the gallops to watch the beautiful horses work, followed in many cases by a drink and lunch, are as much a part of the whole experience of ownership as going racing itself. Indeed, the off-course experience, without the stress of a having a runner, can be far more enjoyable than a trip to the races, which we all know is going to end more frequently in disappointment than euphoria.

The point is that racehorse ownership is about so much more than pure results, yet the financial burden increases daily in these uncertain times, with trainers’ fees rising in order to balance the books, and sundry costs escalating at a frightening rate.

The ‘trainer experience’ therefore becomes increasingly important in maintaining and attracting ownership participation in whatever form. If you drive out of Lambourn on a Sunday and look to your left, often you will see rows of cars parked at Seven Barrows as Nicky Henderson hosts yet another open morning for one of his syndicate ownership groups. It is undoubtedly a huge draw for people to be able to visit their trainer’s yard and get close to the other equine stars that reside there, alongside their own horse(s).

The industry strategy work that has concentrated initially on the fixture list and the importance of giving the highest profile races increased funding and the ‘space to breathe’ in a busy racing programme must also look at other areas, including ownership. The Commercial Committee has made good progress in trying to combine what is clearly working well today with an overarching strategy to promote and support new and existing initiatives to grow ownership.

Whilst there has been progress, we all know that in many cases the raceday experience, recognition of owners, facilities on the racecourse and trainer communication can all still be improved to make the ownership journey more straightforward and enjoyable. Returning to a common theme in this column, in order to achieve that, the industry constituents must come together to allow data to flow and the processes to be managed better.

There is undoubtedly a lot of work to do, but the results would be beneficial to the whole industry.

By the time you read this, we may have seen some white smoke rise above the levy reform negotiations, although

I wouldn’t necessarily be holding my breath on that. The government is undoubtedly keen that some form of agreement is reached quickly between the betting operators and the racing industry, thereby avoiding the need for the government itself to opine on the subject. There has been some public disagreement over numbers this summer, with incorrect figures being quoted initially by the Betting & Gaming Council. However, the participants have been strongly encouraged to get on with their discussions, so my hope is that we are nearing the conclusion of a process that has been rumbling on for months.

In the meantime, the Gambling Act and the dreaded white

“The ‘trainer experience’ is increasingly important in maintaining and attracting ownership participation” paper seem to cause more worry by the day. The Gambling Commission’s recent musings seemed to suggest that the consultation process that recently ended was not designed to result in any significant changes to their draft, but more to reinforce what they believe is the brief supplied by the government.

The BHA has run its own consultation process, via a much more open and straightforward survey than the GC version, which has garnered a response far larger than was anticipated.

The feedback received is a clear indication of the feelings that followers of and investors in the sport have regarding invasive affordability checks. My hope is that sense will prevail, and the weight of evidence will persuade the government to tone down the rhetoric around the checks and see racing’s links to betting as the special case that it undoubtedly is, otherwise the dream could really turn into a nightmare.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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TBA Leader

Philip Newton Chairman

Looking to the future as your new Chairman A

fter serving as a Trustee of the TBA for 12 years, including eight and a half years as Chairman, Julian Richmond-Watson stepped down from his recordbreaking tenure at the 106th AGM held in the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket on October 6. I am proud and honoured to have taken his place as Chairman.

Julian leaves big boots to fill. He has been an exceptional Chairman and friend, who has supported the TBA and the breeding and racing industries unfailingly. He transformed the TBA Board to suit the needs and requirements of the breeding industry. Thankfully, his wise counsel will not be lost to us.

One of the resolutions passed unanimously at the AGM was the facility to appoint an Honorary President. It is not a new position and has appeared and disappeared over the years with no apparent explanation. The Trustees decided that now is the right time to bring it back, since the TBA’s remit has grown and grown, not only at the production line but also at higher industry levels, where it is important for breeders to be represented.

Julian is the Honorary President we need. He has overseen the development of a professional and achieving executive team at Stanstead House, as well as a Board of Trustees who have worked well together, something to which every Chairman aspires but not all manage.

I can personally vouch for Julian’s qualities, having served as his deputy since 2018. Some will have regarded us as ‘the odd couple’, because of our very different backgrounds. Indeed, Julian alluded to this in his AGM address, when he pointed out: “I wear long trousers, Philip usually wears shorts!”

That’s as maybe, but we worked extremely well together. I admit I am an acquired taste, which might have something to do with being a village policeman’s son from near Stevenage, whose secondary-modern schooling gave me a great education. I tend to say what I think and do what I say – not everyone in the industry is prepared to listen to someone like that, but to his credit Julian did.

I hope the same will apply with my own deputy, Kate Sigsworth, who joined the Board in 2020. Perhaps we can make another odd couple.

Having been a TBA Trustee since 2012, I have served my apprenticeship. I don’t particularly like the word ‘passionate’, but it comes as close as anything to describing my feelings about British thoroughbred breeding. This is a world-class, hugely important industry, and the TBA is making a big difference to maintaining its legacy.

For my own part, I have been an owner-breeder for the best part of 40 years and have to admit that while I am

unashamedly commercial in business matters, that approach does not extend to my breeding operation.

In a working career that began with no special purpose, doors opened up and I walked through them, until I became CEO of a substantial retail PLC in 1998. We built up the company from a modest share price to one 30-40 times higher.

Eventually it was acquired by the international health and beauty retailer AS Watson, and I moved on to other executive and non-executive roles.

As far as breeding is concerned, I dipped my toe into the

“This is a world-class industry and the TBA is making a big difference to maintaining its legacy” commercial market and quickly took it out again. I now have three mares and race everything myself.

I’ve been fortunate to breed Group winners, starting with Teamster, who won the Henry II Stakes and Sagaro Stakes (twice) and was beaten a neck in the Doncaster Cup; then there was the Park Hill Stakes winner Hi Calypso, and Rob Roy, who won and was second in the Sandown Mile and runnerup to Pride in the Champion Stakes, all trained by Sir Michael Stoute. I have also had a number of National Hunt winners and trained point-to-pointers for a few years with some success.

I cannot say there was a grand plan to the breeding and racing of any of them. They all came despite my interference, I suppose. In fact, they mirrored my business career, as I have always believed in taking and making the most of all and any opportunities that come my way.

Yet the key to my success has been to ensure I had the right people around me all of the time. That’s still the case today, and it is very much the case with the team at the TBA as we set out on another chapter of the association’s history.

THE OWNER BREEDER

9

News

BILL SELWYN

Premierisation plans laid out as BHA reveals 2024 fixture list

Showcasing the best of the sport on ITV is a key aspect of racing’s industry strategy

A

2024 fixture list featuring 170 Premier racedays was published by the British Horseracing Authority last month, with much riding on how this first phase of the long-term industry strategy pans out over a twoyear trial period.

The changes aim to grow British racing by increasing engagement among new and existing customers, improve revenues across all areas of the industry, promote investment in the sport through the recruitment and retention of owners, and encourage the best horses to be trained

and raced in Britain.

The innovations in next year’s fixture list were recommended by the industry’s Commercial Committee and approved by the BHA Board. Additional funding has been provided by the Levy Board.

Industry modelling projects an

Grand National field size cut to 34 The Jockey Club last month announced several changes to the Randox Grand National at Aintree, including reducing the field size to 34 from 40, a number which has been in place since 1984.

Insights from independent research papers, combined with the Jockey Club’s own internal analysis of jump races, was said to provide evidence of a direct correlation between the number of runners in a race and the risk of falling.

Hill Sixteen suffered a fatal injury when falling at the first fence this year, and another major change instigated by the Jockey Club to take effect from 2024 is moving the first fence 60 yards closer to the start to slow the early stages of the race.

This will be accompanied by a standing start that will apply to all races over the Grand National fences throughout the 2023-24 season and beyond.

The start time of the Grand National

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THE OWNER BREEDER

will also be brought forward to help ensure Aintree can provide optimal ground conditions, while the minimum handicap rating for all horses running will be raised to 130, an increase from the current minimum rating of 125.

In addition, the height of fence 11 is being reduced by two inches (from 5ft to 4ft 10in) on the take-off side, with some levelling off on the landing side to reduce the height of the drop. Foam and rubber toe boards on every fence will also be introduced.

The changes divided opinion, especially the decision to reduce the field size to 34 and to raise the minimum qualifying rating to 130.

Those supportive of the amendments argued the measures would help protect the race’s long-term future; those saddened by the continued erosion of some unique aspects of the race fear the opposite will be true and that they will hasten its demise, while also increasing

the risk of the contest being dominated by powerhouse trainers such as WillIe Mullins and Gordon Elliott.

Nevin Truesdale, Chief Executive of the Jockey Club, said the changes to the Grand National are part of the organisation’s “relentless focus on welfare”.

He said: “The Randox Grand National is the most iconic race in the world and one which transcends our sport. It is part of the fabric of British sporting life alongside the likes of Wimbledon, the FA Cup and the Open golf, and is loved and watched by millions of people all over the world every year.

“For many, it is also their introduction to horseracing and I believe that a competitive, fair and safe Randox Grand National is one of the best ways of ensuring the sport continues to thrive for generations to come and remains an important part of Britain’s culture and economy.”

Stories from the racing world Higher minimum prize-money values will be in place at Premier racedays, with no race run for less than £20,000 (Flat) and £15,000 (jumps), while a protected 2-4pm window will be in place, during which the number of fixtures which can be staged is controlled.

The upshot of that development is a number of meetings which used to occupy primetime Saturday afternoon slots, but are not designated Premier fixtures, will have to start either in the morning or late afternoon.

Raising issues likely to be experienced by a number of other tracks, Wetherby Chief Executive Jonjo Sanderson, quoted by the Racing Post, said: “If we’re running a six-race card and they want us to finish before the prime action in the afternoon, I’d have thought we’d have to start at half ten to quarter to 11 and be finished by 1pm at the latest.

“If there’s an inspection planned for any reason, it’s going to have to be a clear-cut decision at that time as there’ll be no chance to push it back and wait for the sun to rise.

“Another potential impracticality is that it might put people off travelling and we might end up with very poor field sizes.

We get a lot of runners from Gloucestershire, Lambourn, Somerset, Wiltshire and Scotland and if they’re all going to leave the day before, I’m going to have to find accommodation for about

40 people, which we haven’t got at Wetherby.

“They’re the cards we’ve been dealt and we’ll just have to deal with them and see how it works.”

Another prime goal around the 2024 fixture list is to improve Sunday racing, while the removal of 300 jump races and 20 jump fixtures is designed to create a more competitive and engaging racing product through improved field sizes.

There are also initiatives, such as longer breaks and code dark days, aimed at supporting the wellbeing of those working in the sport.

BHA Chief Executive Julie Harrington said: “Compiling the fixture list was a truly collaborative process on a scale which I have never before seen in our industry, with the sport pulling in the same direction to achieve a shared objective. I am extremely grateful to my teams at the BHA and everyone across the sport who has engaged so constructively in this process.

“We accept, and expected that, with significant change, there will always be some who feel the cards have not fallen their way. However, the objective for these changes is that they grow the sport as a whole, with benefits that reach throughout the entire industry in the medium to long-term.

“All of the changes are being introduced on a trial basis. They will be closely monitored and measured.”

BILL SELWYN

estimated £90 million improvement to British racing’s finances over a five-year period from 2024 to 2028 as a result of the work of the industry strategy when compared with a ‘do nothing’ scenario, in which industry revenues would continue to decline.

Over the two-year trial period, benchmark measures to assess success or failure will be developed, covering a range of factors including economic, attendance, fan and TV audience engagement, betting, ownership, performance of the racing product, customer feedback and participant wellbeing.

The key change – and most divisive – is the introduction of Premier racedays, underpinned by criteria around prizemoney and quality of racing, and designed to act as the sport’s main shop window.

The idea is consistent, high-quality racing which can be differentiated from the rest of the fixture list and better promoted to showcase the sport to new and existing audiences.

Premier racedays will account for approximately 12 per cent of fixtures, and prize-money will include an additional £3.8m of Levy Board funding. This will comprise both significant extra investment, alongside some redistribution of funds from other fixtures. Minimum race values at non-Premier fixtures will, however, remain unaltered.

The Randox Grand National has just become a little less hectic with the maximum field size reduced by six for 2024

Aintree Clerk of the Course Sulekha Varma said: “One of our key areas of focus is reducing the risk of incidents during the race. We know from research papers and internal analysis of jump races that there is a direct correlation between the number of runners and the risk of falling, unseating or being brought down.

“However, we also must consider that reducing the field size by too great a number could create a faster race and have an adverse impact in terms of safety. Using the information available to us and considering the experiences of participants, our conclusion is that 34 should be the maximum number of runners in the race, which we hope will

result in the least number of incidents.”

Emma Slawinski, RSPCA Director of Policy, said: “This is a welcome step from the Jockey Club and we’re very pleased to see the organisation taking horse welfare seriously and making changes to the Grand National as a result, including decreasing the current maximum number of runners.”

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News

Tributes have been paid to Nick Robinson, a pioneer in ownership syndication and magazine publishing, following his death in September at the age of 87.

His love of horseracing was inherited from his grandfather, Sir Foster Robinson, a successful owner-breeder who was Chairman of the family firm E.S. & A. Robinson, which specialised in paper, packaging and printing and was once a major employer in Bristol.

Sir Foster was also a first-class cricketer, captaining Gloucester between 1919 and 1923, and while his grandson did not display the same talent for that sport – he did return to play for his boarding house at Harrow School, The Park, for the Association Day cricket games in 1955 – his flair was evidenced repeatedly in his racing endeavours.

Ten years after Sir Forster captured the 1964 Oaks with homebred Homeward Bound, Robinson’s Dibidale lined up at Epsom for the fillies’ Classic on the back of an easy success in the Cheshire Oaks.

The daughter of Aggressor was bred at Swettenham Stud by Robert Sangster, whom Robinson had met in the 1950s while working for E.S & A. Robinson.

It was Robinson who had introduced Sangster to horseracing by advising a hefty bet on his grandfather’s Chalk Stream in the 1960 Lincoln Handicap. Chalk Stream finished nearer last than first, but Sangster was enthralled, bought Chalk Stream as a present for his fiancée and embarked on his own racing odyssey that later took him into the orbit of John Magnier.

Sadly for Robinson, Dibidale’s Oaks chances evaporated when her saddle gave way in the straight. Willie Carson performed a minor miracle to keep the partnership intact, crossing the line in third as Louis Freedman’s Polygamy took the spoils under Pat Eddery, but Dibidale was disqualified when it was discovered that her weight cloth had been dislodged. She made amends with impressive wins in the Irish Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks and was later sold back to her breeder.

The 1970s saw Robinson move into publishing with the acquisition of Pacemaker. Michael Harris, later editor of the Racing Post and Chief Executive of the Racehorse Owners Association, recalls the impact his former boss had on the publication and his own career.

He said: “Nick bought Pacemaker in the

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GEORGE SELWYN

Nick Robinson, 1936 – 2023

Nick Robinson started Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds and enjoyed plenty of big wins, including with grand performer Tullius (left)

early 70s with his friend and business partner, Robert Sangster. I had been editing the magazine for a short while and he kept me on as editor.

“Although they were very exciting times, it was well before the internet and nobody had ever heard of social media or the million and one electronic publishing technologies available today.

“Then, places for bloodstock advertising were relatively few. Nick, who was very well connected within racing and bloodstock, set about transforming the magazine with the help of a small but very hard-working team.

“Several acquisitions of other publications were made and the business gradually came good, greatly assisted by the employment of Peter Mulvagh. Years earlier, Mulvagh had founded the established bloodstock magazine Stud & Stable, which was later bought by Nick and Robert and merged with Pacemaker.

“These were the days when the big Arab owners were beginning to get involved in UK racing. It was also the time when Sangster brilliantly exploited the idea of building stallion values, which led to the creation of Coolmore. Pacemaker was therefore around at the time of an explosion of bloodstock advertising, much of it from America.”

Harris added: “Nick was a good boss who had a profound effect on my career for which I will always be grateful. We had

a professional rather than close relationship when I was editing Pacemaker, though in later years we became good friends.”

Pacemaker was later sold to Jefferson Smurfit before being bought by Haymarket Publishing – the title was subsequently incorporated into Owner Breeder magazine – while Robinson, who was also for a time Interim Chairman of Owner Breeder, entered the world of racing politics, becoming President of the Racehorse Owners Association between 1982 and 1984.

He owned plenty of other good horses, including Phoenix Stakes victor Kilijaro in partnership with John Mulcahy – she was later sold and won a string of top-level races in France and America – before spotting an opportunity to broaden the ownership base in the late 1980s.

A new race, the Cartier Million, open to graduates of the Goffs Orby Sale, was launched as the richest two-year-old contest in Europe. Robinson targeted this ultra-valuable prize by setting up his own syndicate, Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds, and tasked John Warren and Harry Herbert with sourcing the raw material.

Kennet Valley Thoroughbreds fielded three runners in the inaugural Cartier Million at Phoenix Park in 1988 and picked up plenty of prize-money when its duo Miss Demure and French Pretender chased home Corwyn Bay. French Pretender was trained by the soon-to-retire William Jarvis. Recalling his

first involvement with syndicates in a 2021 article on shared ownership, Jarvis told Owner Breeder: “French Pretender was the first syndicate horse I trained. Kennet Valley was very well run – I would call it an upmarket syndicate, like Highclere is today.

“Nick was a pioneer. I’m not sure how many other syndicates went to Goffs that year to buy horses for the Cartier Million, but certainly KVT was a high-profile, well-organised syndicate that was good

fun to train for. They had a lot of enthusiastic owners – I think some of them are still involved with Kennet Valley today.”

Kennet Valley runners – which now carry the two-tone blue and red silks with white cap formerly associated with the Robinson family – have become a familiar sight in the top races and the likes of Gateman, Firebreak, Tullius – now enjoying his retirement at the HEROS retraining and rehabilitation centre – Sir Busker and

GEORGE SELWYN

Tributes to Gerry Cranham

Two legends: Gerry Cranham with Lester Piggott at Epsom in 1992

Gerry Cranham, one of sports photography’s true greats, died last month. He was 94.

He snapped some iconic photos of sporting legends, including Muhammad Ali, Pele, Bjorn Borg and Jack Nicklaus, and his images covering such as the Olympic Games, football, boxing, golf and motor racing through the 1960s, 70s and 80s graced the pages of newspapers and magazines on a daily basis.

The World Cup – he was present for England’s triumph in 1966, capturing the action, goals and celebrations at Wembley Stadium – and Wimbledon were also among major events expertly covered by Cranham.

Starting out in 1957 after a career in athletics was cut short, he did as much as anyone to turn sports photography into an art form.

He was only the second person in his profession to have an exhibition in the Victoria & Albert Museum, while his photos appeared in Sports Illustrated, The Observer, The Independent, The

Times, and later the Racing Post.

Red Rum’s famous 1973 Grand National triumph over Crisp, the golden era of hurdlers in the 1970s, and Dancing Brave’s sensational Arc win in 1986 were among some of the outstanding moments superbly immortalised by Cranham.

Broadcaster and journalist Brough Scott travelled with him to more than 15 countries to produce the 1983 book The World of Flat Racing, and hailed Cranham as a legend of his trade.

“He put cameras in places and took pictures that nobody else would, he was completely obsessive about putting the picture first,” said Scott, quoted by the Racing Post.

“He was a remarkable man. I’m very proud to have worked with him. Some of the best things I’ve been involved with were with him. I’ve been very lucky in life, and working with Gerry was one of the things I was lucky about.”

From the 1980s he moved to focusing on horseracing, his photos from the Cheltenham Festival, Grand

current star Dragon Leader have continued the legacy that began with Robinson’s initial four purchases at Goffs.

He also co-authored the well-received book Horse Trader with Patrick Robinson, an account of his friend Robert Sangster’s adventures in the sport, while away from racing he enjoyed golf and fishing.

Robinson, who was married three times, is survived by wife Zani, children Samantha, Miranda and Max, and four grandchildren.

National and Derby conveying the atmosphere, energy and passion of the big occasion.

Cranham was given a lifetime achievement award for his services to racing photography at the Horserace Writers & Photographers Association (HWPA) Derby Awards. His son, Mark, is now one of the current crop of leading racing photographers.

The Racing Post’s Edward Whitaker, eight-time photographer of the year at the HWPA Awards, hailed Cranham as a major influence on his career when he started out in 1987.

“He was a brilliant photographer and way ahead of his time, particularly in Britain back in the sixties,” said Whitaker. “He was one of the greats and turned his skills from other sports to horseracing.

“He looked at photography in a different way; he looked around the periphery to convey the message of a sporting event when nobody else would. He’d photograph spectators, the stadiums, and was a historian who captured life. When you look back, it’s just brilliant.

“I was in my early twenties when I started and he was always encouraging me. He was a really good man and he started it all. Modern sports photography was started by Gerry Cranham.”

George Selwyn, who worked alongside Cranham at the races for many years, said: “My first exposure to Gerry’s photography was in 1971 at the Victoria & Albert Museum. What struck me was his versatility at photographing other sports and his ability to think outside the box, which produced some truly original photos.

“When he started covering racing full time, I got to know him personally. We enjoyed many dinners together, along with his son Mark and my brother Bill, when working at Cheltenham.

“He certainly influenced me and countless other ‘snappers’.”

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Changes

Racing’s news in a nutshell

People and business Frankie Dettori

Confirms he will extend his career in the saddle by riding in the USA having previously stated that he would retire at the end of 2023.

Robert Tart

Jockey is suspended for three months after accepting that he lied to a BHA official about his whereabouts when asked to give a hair sample drug test.

Gestut Ammerland

German breeding powerhouse, producer of Arc winners Hurricane Run and Waldgeist, will disperse all its stock at Arqana’s December sale.

Roger Charlton

Multiple Classic-winning trainer calls time on 33-year career and hands over the reins to son Harry at Beckhampton Stables in Marlborough.

Professional Jockeys Association

Appoints two new Board members in commentator and presenter Mike Cattermole and Pete Burrell, who was Frankie Dettori’s manager for 30 years.

Racing Director and Clerk of the Course at Newmarket will join Cambridge-based technology company TurfTrax as Head of Racing Services.

Hollie Doyle

Receives a one-month suspended ban having tested positive for a banned substance after buying an over-thecounter painkiller in Japan.

Scott Smith

Chief Financial Officer at England & Wales Cricket Board is appointed Non-Executive Director of Racecourse Media Group.

Steve Cauthen

Three-time UK champion jockey who won the US Triple Crown on Affirmed in 1978 is inducted into the British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

Michael Prosser

Arena Racing Company

Saeed bin Suroor

Godolphin trainer enjoys his 500th Group/Graded victory with Mawj in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland.

Partners with Stephen Lawrence Foundation to create a series of apprenticeships at Lingfield for those aged 16-24 in four entry level roles.

Brian Toomey

Former jump jockey, 34, takes out a dual-purpose training licence based at Bowstridge Farm in Chalfont St Giles.

People obituaries Tommy Kinane 90

Ex-jump jockey and father of 13-time champion Flat rider Mick Kinane guided Monksfield to his first Champion Hurdle in 1978.

Paddy Prendergast jnr 88

Nick Robinson 87

Francis Lee 79

Mike Grech 63

Trained a Royal Ascot winner with Cooliney Prince in 1980 and won the Tattersalls Gold Cup with Assertive and Evening M’Lord.

Manchester City and England forward later took out a licence and sent out 181 winners in Britain and Ireland between 1984-1997.

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Classic-winning owner and syndicate pioneer was the publisher of Pacemaker magazine and former President of the ROA.

Racehorse owner saw his silks carried

by Grade 1 heroine Brandy Love having previously owned horses in partnership with Stuart Parkin.

Paul Burgoyne 71

Entered the training ranks after calling time on his career as a jump jockey.

His best season was in 2013 when he enjoyed ten winners.

FAMILY FIRST

2023 Group 1 horses produced from mares bred and sold by The Aga Khan Studs.

GOLD TRIP

Dual Group 1 winner, including the 2023 Turnbull Stakes.

Out of Sarvana, sold at Arqana in 2013.

BIG ROCK

Group 1 winner in 2023 in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes.

Out of Hardiyna, sold at Goffs in 2019.

ARREST

Dual Group winner, and 2nd 2023 St Leger Stakes.

Out of Nisriyna, sold at Goffs in 2010.

Don’t miss our drafts at the Goffs and Arqana Breeding Stock Sales.

Changes

Racehorse and stallion

Movements and retirements

Chaldean

Son of Frankel, winner of this year’s 2,000 Guineas, is retired and will join Juddmonte’s UK stallion roster in 2024.

Mage

Kentucky Derby victor, due to contest the Breeders’ Cup Classic, will stand at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky upon the conclusion of his racing career.

Dubai Mile

Son of Roaring Lion, a Group 1 winner at two, is retired from racing and will stand for the Manton Park stallion roster in 2024.

Postponed

Yorton Farm in Welshpool recruits multiple Group 1-winning son of Dubawi from Darley as a National Hunt sire for the new breeding season.

Hukum

Son of Sea The Stars, winner of the 2022 Coronation Cup and this year’s King George, is retired aged six and will stand for Darley in Japan.

Ace Impact

Brilliant Arc winner is retired aged three by owners Gousserie Racing & Ecuries Serge Stempniak and will stand at Haras de Beaumont in 2024.

Horse obituaries

Westover

Dual Group 1-winning son of Frankel is retired after suffering a career-ending injury when chasing home Ace Impact in the Arc at Longchamp.

Dragon Symbol

Top-class sprinter is retired aged five and will stand his first season at Whitsbury Manor Stud, where the son of Cable Bay was bred.

Modern Games

Godolphin’s top-class son of Dubawi, winner of five Group/Grade 1s, is retired aged four and will stand for Darley at Dalham Hall Stud in 2024.

Sharp Azteca

Shizunai Stallion Station in Japan recruits ten-year-old son of Freud from Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky.

Elite Power

Son of Curlin, a dual Grade 1 winner on dirt, will retire to Juddmonte’s US base after defending his crown in this month’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

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Scots Grey 28

Nicky Henderson-trained gelding’s biggest win came in the 2007 Fox Hunters’ Chase at Aintree for Henry Ponsonby’s syndicate.

Marsha 10

Elite Racing Club’s crack sprinter won the Prix de l’Abbaye and Nunthorpe Stakes, later selling for 6 million guineas to Coolmore.

Desert Crown 4

Derby winner in 2022 for owner Saeed Suhail, trainer Sir Michael Stoute and jockey Richard Kingscote succumbs to his fetlock injury sustained in August.

I Like To Move It 6

Classy hurdler for owners Anne-Marie and Jamie Sheppard and trainer Nigel Twiston-Davies suffers a fatal injury on his chasing debut.

The Big Picture Final act fairytale for Frankie Despite pausing his retirement plans to continue his career in California, British Champions Day at Ascot was due to be Frankie Dettori’s farewell appearance in Britain. The Italian promptly stole the show, taking the opening Long Distance Cup on Godolphin’s Trawlerman for long-time supporter John Gosden, now training in tandem with son Thady, and guiding Amo Racing’s King Of Steel to victory in the feature race, the QIPCO Champion Stakes, on his final UK ride. King Of Steel stayed on strongly down the outside to overhaul Via Sistina and Oisin Murphy (left), much to the delight of the jubilant crowd, trainer Roger Varian and owner Kia Joorabchian, pictured below with an ecstatic Dettori.

Photos Bill Selwyn

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Ascot

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19

The Howard Wright Column

Courses left out in the cold face uncertain future

Slater’s sad BBC legacy Bye bye, Barbara, but don’t expect a “Sorry you’re leaving” card from British racing. No-one did more to shuffle the sport off mainstream BBC television than Barbara Slater, who is retiring in the spring after 14 years as Director of Sports at the corporation.

The loss is even more remarkable since Slater, an international gymnast whose father Bill and uncle JJ Warr played football and cricket respectively for England, actually joined the BBC sports division as an assistant producer in 1984 and worked her way up to producing events such as the Grand National, Royal Ascot and the Derby.

The crown jewels of British racing were not the only rights that the BBC lost after she took the top job in 2009. The Open, the Masters, Formula One, as well as exclusive deals to show Wimbledon, the Six Nations and the Olympics, slipped from the national broadcaster’s grasp.

For British racing, these were almost incidentals to the transfer of power to Channel 4 in 2012, and thence to ITV in a deal that has been extended from January next year. Slater’s argument that the BBC was outbid for racing’s ongoing rights was a half-truth, unless one equates ‘outbid’ to ‘offering the same amount’ in a process where others dug deeper into their back pockets.

The truth was that the BBC’s interest in covering horseracing as it did in the past, using the best presenters and commentators, waned quickly on Slater’s watch; as quickly, in fact, as an overall mood change highlighted by Sunday Times columnist Martin Samuel, who noted: “Slater has presided over the rise of the studio cheerleaders, with commentators and analysts so one-eyed it is better with the sound muted.”

Comparisons with horseracing coverage are inevitable, and the first point to consider is that switching channels has introduced new personalities to British racing’s TV coverage, with

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GEORGE SELWYN

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eware of unintended consequences. They have an awkward habit of popping up everywhere, and British racing has had its share. More may be on the way under the heading of ‘Premierisation’, which is a fact now that the 2024 fixture list has been published.

One important aspect of the process had still to be formally established and made public at the time that next year’s calendar finally emerged bleary-eyed into the light of day. No-one seemed to know exactly what effect Premierisation is likely to have on those racecourses operating outside the top tier.

There must be a very real danger that some parts of British racing could face going down the same path as Wolverhampton Wolves and Peterborough Panthers in speedway, Scunthorpe United in football, or Turf Paradise and Arlington Park in horseracing. All have either sunk or floundered through influences largely outside their control.

The two speedway teams, both long established in the premier league, had their stadia facility whipped away, one because the Ladbrokes and Coral owner Entain, which, ironically, promotes greyhound racing at the Monmore Green venue, wants to develop a multi-discipline moto-park there, and the other

Towcester was the last UK racecourse to shut permanently in 2019

because its owner, the agricultural society behind the East of England Showground, needs to raise cash from 1,500 newbuild homes, a leisure centre and a hotel.

Scunthorpe’s woes as they tumbled through three divisions have also been exacerbated by stadium ownership issues, with

varying degrees of success. Adele Mulrennan, for her in-stable insight, and Ruby Walsh, for his Sky-like analysis, stand out in ITV’s new pack.

Elsewhere, however, the dumbing down of presentation that further damaged Slater’s reign at the BBC, where promoting talent at the expense of professional journalism seems to have been the editorial direction of travel, risks spilling over into ITV Racing’s domain.

One Twitter (now X) user, who trawled the thesaurus to come up with “cloying, fawning, banal – how does it feel, you’re a champion, a great jockey – trying to be too populist doesn’t work”, was somewhere on the right lines.

The podium and parade-ring fashion parade can sometimes be matched by the rush to find similar examples in the crowd, presumably in search of that unfathomable creature, the new audience, but to the exclusion of meaningful form discussion and, more unaccountably, the betting market.

ITV’s relationship with betting is ambivalent at best, hypocritical at worst. Perfunctory would be the most appropriate way to describe its general coverage of the single biggest influence over audience participation. The tendency towards ‘shouty television’ in the ring on bigger occasions washes over the fact that while betting companies can now exist without racing, racing cannot exist without betting.

Understandably from the channel’s economic perspective, ITV Racing’s coverage is bookended by and annoyingly punctuated with bookmaker ads. Yet many – including the smutty productions generated by one firm in particular – feature these very presenters, one of whom actually promotes a betting site that since May this year has carried the name of his oft-bellowed catchphrase.

In BBC TV racing history, no-one enjoyed a bet more than Sir Peter O’Sullevan, but would he have stopped so low as to have fronted what appears to be his own online gambling operation?

“The jolt that Premierisation will bring to established business plans at smaller tracks could be fatal” Scunthorpe United and, it seems, Turf Paradise. British racing has done well to avoid such commercial inconveniences, so far.

At the turn of the year, in the wake of the demise of Wasps and Worcester Warriors in rugby union, it was pointed out here that while Hereford came back from a four-year mothballing and Chelmsford City rose from the ashes of Great Leighs after six years’ absence, only two British racecourses – Folkestone in December 2012 and Towcester in 2019 – had closed since Stockton went by the wayside in 1981.

That remains the case. Two racecourse closures in 42 years constitutes a remarkable record when laid against similar examples in, say, football and greyhound racing, two more among Britain’s most popular sports for spectator numbers. But for how long will that be the case?

With raceday income generally reckoned to account for around 40 per cent of racecourse revenue, the jolt that Premierisation will bring to established business plans at certain smaller tracks could be monumental, perhaps even fatal, if executives are not nimble enough, or do not have the scope, to change tack in response.

British racing already faces stiff headwinds blown in by Covid and the ballooning cost of living, which one racecourse executive recently noted “has split people into those who have money and those who don’t, and those who don’t aren’t coming racing”. And that’s not to mention the threat likely to be exerted by financial checks envisaged under the government’s gambling review.

With risk assessments and KPIs missing from the original statements regarding the 2024 fixture list, the BHA must stand ready to address the consequences from measures it did not intend.

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Peter Swann’s retained control of the ground offering exactly inverse returns to his experience with the Cool Silk Partnership in racing, which continues to register a profit while his relinquishing the club to David Hilton, another chairman who now adds ‘ex-’ to his CV, has had the opposite effect.

Across the Atlantic, Turf Paradise was down on its knees at the end of September, when owner Jerry Simms said he was retiring to spend more time with his family. Closure was due at the end of the month but ten days later he said a buyer had been found and Arizona’s only commercially operating racetrack would be “saved from the wrecking ball,” as TDN columnist TD Thornton put it.

Ten days farther down the line, Thornton reported that the new buyer had not come forward with proposals, or dollars, and at the time of writing that remained the situation. The wrecking ball may yet be needed, just as it has been this summer at Arlington Park, the grand old Chicago racetrack whose destruction makes sorry viewing on YouTube clips.

Arlington, host to the world’s first million-dollar race in 1981, merged with the Churchill Downs Inc portfolio in 2000, but became redundant when the acquisitive racetrack group prioritised its casino operation nearby, and having closed to competition in 2021, the site has been taken over by the Chicago Bears american football team.

Arlington eventually suffered an unintended consequence of the CDI takeover, in similar circumstances to the outside influences that have hit the Peterborough Panthers, Wolverhampton Wolves,

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23/02/22 11:49

Dullingham Park

Joining the

CIRCLE

Having developed Clipper Logistics into a powerful ownership force, Steve Parkin is now turning his attention to the stallion business, with Shaquille the headline act of a fledgling roster at his Dullingham Park in Newmarket Words: James Thomas

BILL SELWYN

S

teve Parkin has already built his own business empire. He’s been there, done that and has the bank balance to prove it.

Now the man who was, quite literally at one stage, the driving force behind Clipper Logistics is embarking on an ambitious new stallion venture at Dullingham Park on the edge of Newmarket. He’s got a taste for empire building and he wants more.

“What do successful men do? Some go and buy a football club, but what do I get if I buy a football club?” Parkin says as he gazes out of the boardroom window that overlooks the Dullingham Park stallion yard. “This gives me as much of a buzz as owning a football club. But it’s closer to nature, it’s animals, it’s people, it’s more personal and something I can put my mark on.”

A key component at any stallion farm is the stallions. Parkin’s business interests may have been built from a standing start but the success in his

professional life has allowed him to take a running jump into his latest project.

The strapping Shaquille is the headline act after claiming back-to-back Group 1 sprints in the Commonwealth Cup and July Cup. He is joined by Clipper’s former colour bearer Soldier’s Call, whose first Ballyhane Stud-conceived crop has impressed by producing 25 European two-year-old winners – and counting.

Parkin’s background gives him a fresh perspective on how to conduct business in the stallion game.

His views carry added weight given his success in other walks of life, but he is not inclined to pontificate about where racing and bloodstock can do better.

Instead, he would rather lead by example.

“My wealth has given me a bit of power in the right places; I could ring Rishi Sunak up now if I wanted to,” he says matter of factly. “I’ve had various conversations with the powers that be in racing about potentially getting involved in the politics. But the problem I have is that I’m very much my own man. I see racing and I’ve studied it from afar and I’ve studied it internally. I’ve seen how it’s put together. Would you build an industry like this from scratch now? No, you wouldn’t. You’d have a completely different infrastructure.

“A lot of the good stallion prospects move to Ireland, and you’re never going to change that because horses are part of the fabric over there. But let’s try to reverse the trend a little bit and stand some good, commercial stallions here in Britain and give something back to the

Shaquille: an exciting recruit to the Dullingham Park stallion roster

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CAROLINE NORRIS

Fallen Angel provided Steve Parkin with a first homebred Group 1 winner when successful in the Moyglare Stud Stakes

out of a Hollywood script.

He delivered fish from Aberdeen to Yorkshire, then swapped his artic lorry for a transit van and began shifting clothing from London to Leeds. Just when things seemed to be going swimmingly, he had a disagreement with his boss and walked out of the job.

BILL SELWYN

breeder. That’s what Clipper Logistics was all about: collaboration with the customer. The customers here are the breeders, and we’ve got to deliver for them.”

Parkin is not your typical stallion owner. In fact, he has rarely cleaved to convention throughout his life. He grew up in Middleton, a staunchly workingclass area of Leeds with close ties to the mining industry. Despite this upbringing, he has always viewed Margaret Thatcher as a hero.

He recalls his final school report bearing the words “what a waste of talent” as he prepared to leave formal education at 16 without a single qualification. “That’s more down to being naughty, rather than not having intelligence,” Parkin says with a distinctive West Yorkshire twang. “My father was grammar school-educated and he was a clever man. Obviously I inherited part of that.”

Once Parkin began ploughing his own furrow his talents became anything but wasted. Given his Middleton upbringing, an 18-month spell down the local mine felt like an inevitability, but once he left the pit he gained his heavy goods licence and set in motion a career path straight

Steve Parkin: ambitious new venture

“I decided to buy a van and restarted the business with a £2,000 bank loan that my sister got me,” he recalls of what happened next. “I went back to my old contacts and gradually companies like

Bonmarche gave me a break. That was in 1992, and very quickly I’d created a £3 million-a-year business. On paper I was a millionaire within two years of restarting what became Clipper Logistics.”

The path to success is seldom linear and Parkin’s trajectory with Clipper Logistics is no exception. Suffice to say, every backwards step was followed by three in the right direction. Through a mixture of self-belief, savvy decision making and connections with the right kind of people, including a preknighthood Sir Philip Green, by 2006 Clipper was a £100 million business. The financial crisis of 2008 saw the company sailing perilously close to the wind, with the owner recalling that he lost “a third of turnover and 75 per cent of my profit in six weeks”.

But just when things seemed to be at their bleakest, Parkin had what he refers to as “another huge break”. By that time online shopping was becoming a major factor in the market, and Parkin had a reputation for getting things done.

Asda was the first company to turn to Clipper to handle the spiralling volume of deliveries and returns. A succession of major retailers followed suit and Parkin never looked back. Thirty years after it

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››

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Dullingham Park

Joe Foley (left) of Ballyhane Stud has been a central figure in Steve Parkin’s racing journey

›› was founded, Clipper was sold to the

New York-based GXO Logistics for a reported £965 million in May 2022.

“I made it a huge success and the revenue went up and up and up, and more importantly the share price went up too,” he says. “I did it differently. I wasn’t just a transport company. I thought outside of the box. In business I used the analogy of joining the circle. I started off as a transport business. Then I bought a warehousing business, a processing business and a truck business. Everything I was doing, the companies that I was buying, it was about joining the circle.

That’s what I’m doing here at Dullingham Park too.”

Brainpower isn’t the only thing Parkin inherited from his father, as he traces his passion for racing back to Saturdays at home during his youth. “When I was eight or nine my grandad lived with us and he and my father used to have a bet,” he says. “The only thing that was live on TV on a Saturday was racing.

I used to watch them arguing about the horses they’d backed and I was fascinated. From that I got interested in what they were arguing about.”

As business began to boom, Parkin took his first step into racehorse ownership with the appropriately-named Captain Clipper, whose portrait now hangs on the wall of the Dullingham Park boardroom. The son of Royal Applause’s victory in a humble five-

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runner Beverley maiden in August 2003 was the precursor to much bigger things.

When an associate Parkin was due to partner on a few horses with found himself in financial difficulty, Captain Rio transferred to the ownership of Clipper Group Holdings. At the end of his racing career, the eight-length winner of the Group 2 Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte was sold to stand at Ballyhane ahead of the 2004 breeding season. “And that’s how I met Joe Foley,” says Parkin.

Foley has been a central figure in Parkin’s racing journey and helped steer the owner in a direction that was not only more successful but also more sustainable. “One 40-minute phone call with Joe was basically the lightbulb moment when I realised that I needed to be more strategic,” says Parkin. “Buying a yearling was an investment, not just blowing money. At that point I’d just been thinking, ‘I like that yearling, I’ll buy that’.”

The first horse they bought together was Beyond Desire, winner of a French Group 3 and two Listed contests. One of those, the Lansdown Stakes, was won by her daughter Queen Of Desire seven years later, while her latest two-year-old, Zoustar colt Starlust, won this year’s Group 3 Sirenia Stakes in the colours of Fitri Hay. Clipper’s familiar all-grey silks have also been carried by the likes of 2012 Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes heroine

Rosdhu Queen, who was sold on to Coolmore for 2,100,000gns. Twelve months earlier Clipper’s German 1,000 Guineas winner Electrelane went the way of Shadai Farm at 500,000gns, while the high-achieving colts Soldier’s Call and Space Traveller are now plying their trade at stud.

The more strategic approach has seen Parkin evolve from a racehorse owner to an owner-breeder and now a stallion owner. He owns over 60 horses in training and three farms, with the purchase of Dullingham Park preceded

by Rathbride on the Curragh and Branton Court Stud in Yorkshire. The latter property is not only where 32 of Parkin’s elite broodmares reside, it is home to his family too, namely wife Joanne and their four children Fabienne, Delphine, Henri, and Severine.

The dynamic between Parkin and Foley is evidently much closer than the usual owner and advisor relationship.

“We’re nearly family and I treat him like a brother,” says Parkin, who quickly switches from sincerity to humour. “And I have to because I’d kill him if I didn’t!

I thought I could be hard work… he’s a superstar though. For somebody like me who’s come into the industry with wealth, there aren’t many Joe Foleys around.

He’s very straight, he wants the industry to be transparent and things to be run properly.”

Parkin likes things done properly, too,

his fee to the highest point we think we can reach, we’re going to stand him at a fee where we think breeders have a great chance of making a profit. We’re hoping to grow this place in conjunction with breeders. There’s no them and us attitude “What made Clipper Logistics different is the collaboration with the customer,

“Shaquille is a big name for us but we’re going to price him commercially” and that’s what we’re doing here. We want to collaborate with our customers, the breeders, because, in the end, nobody wins unless everybody wins.”

Parkin acknowledges that finding suitable occupants for the four remaining stallion boxes won’t be a simple task, but states that the aim is to have the yard fully stocked within the coming years.

“I would like to see the stallion boxes full in the next five years,” he says. “If

we could cover the whole spectrum for breeders, from £10,000 up to £50,000 stallions, that would be utopia for us.

“We were doing a bit of bidding last year and tried to buy one or two for lots of money, but couldn’t get our hands on anything. The problem with the good horses is nobody wants to sell them. We’ve been lucky with Shaquille because [co-owner and breeder] Martin Hughes is somebody I know outside of racing. Martin’s kept a piece and will be supporting the horse too. He’s happy to stay in for the adventure of Shaquille going from a high-class racehorse to, hopefully, being a very good stallion.”

Dullingham Park opens its doors at the end of a productive season for Parkin. The Clipper silks have been carried to numerous successes across Britain and Ireland, including by Flight Plan, who suggested he could one day be worthy of a berth in the stallion yard when running out a fitting winner of the Group 2 Dullingham Park Stakes at Leopardstown.

But nothing, not this year nor over the previous two decades, could match the poignancy of Fallen Angel’s victory in the prestigious Moyglare Stud Stakes. Not only did the daughter of Too Darn Hot provide Parkin with his first homebred Group 1 winner, but she added a fairytale

Ollie Fowlston: joined Dullingham Park earlier this year as Managing Director

››

BILL SELWYN

and isn’t prone to doing them by halves.

The 110-acre site at Dullingham Park has received care, attention and heavy investment since its new owner moved in, including planting 100 semi-mature trees and adding four kilometres of hedging.

But the picturesque foliage pales in comparison to the stallion station that is being developed.

No expense has been spared installing six palatial stallion boxes, a state-ofthe-art covering barn and stables for visiting mares. There is also a glasswalled hospitality pavilion overlooking the showing area, the presence of which speaks of Parkin’s customer-focused approach. This is a stud farm that marries form, function, style and substance.

It is an undeniably impressive facility but there is no sense that this project has been driven by vanity. Instead, the team at the helm, which includes Managing Director Ollie Fowlston, hopes Dullingham Park can become a pillar of the industry. Securing the services of a talent like Shaquille is a boon for British breeders, and the team believe the fee at which the Group 1-winning sprinter will stand highlights their cooperative approach.

“He’s a big name for us but we’re going to price him very commercially,” says Parkin. “We’re not going to squeeze

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Dullingham Park ›› chapter to a story that encapsulates all of

‘The most fun’ Three farms, a growing number of stallions, around 60 horses in training and close to 75 broodmares would be more than enough for most owners.

Not Steve Parkin, though. As well as the horses he runs under the Clipper Logistics banner, the passionate ownerbreeder is also behind the Bronte Collection syndicate.

“I know a lot of people in business and industry and lads who’ve been in racing, ex owners,” he says. “They’re always saying they’d like to have a horse with me. In the Clipper colours, it’s more of a business and it’s a project. It’s difficult for me to let people into that and financially I don’t need people to

BILL SELWYN

racing’s giddy highs and painful lows.

Fallen Angel is the fourth and last foal out of the star-crossed Agnes Stewart, who Parkin raced to win the May Hill Stakes. The owner was also there when the budding blue hen took a turn for the worse.

“Fallen Angel has extra special meaning because my favourite mare on my farm was Agnes Stewart,” he says.

“The reason she was my favourite was because she had a character about her. This filly is the spitting image.

She probably has a bit more power as an athlete, but her looks, her ears, everything is Agnes Stewart.

“When Agnes was in her stable at Branton Court, I’d go down to the barn after I’d finished work on an evening, and

Indian Run: classy Bronte flagbearer

if I went to any other mare first, she’d try to bite me. I had to walk into the barn, she was four stables up on the right hand side, and I had to go to her first and she’d put her head over her door and snuggle up to me, then I could go stroke the rest.

“I used to shout her name when I was on the terrace and she was in the field and her head would go up. I saw her getting colic so it was me who rang the stud manager. I called him and said there’s something wrong with Agnes.

She was pawing and up and down.

They sent her in [to the vets] but when they brought her back home I said she still doesn’t look right to me. The rest is history as they couldn’t save her.”

The episode proved so painful that Parkin questioned whether he could continue. “It broke my heart,” he says. “It was like losing one of my family. In that split second I actually thought to myself ‘I don’t need the upset, do I really want to be doing this?’ I questioned whether I could cope with the sadness.”

But having dealt with the inevitable

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lows that come when you make an emotional investment in thoroughbreds, Parkin now has a growing number of experiences from the other end of the spectrum.

As well as Fallen Angel, Branton Court also produced homebred Royal Ascot scorer Dramatised, who added this year’s Temple Stakes to her Queen Mary success. The owner-breeder says his homebred triumphs have eclipsed anything he has felt following his beloved Leeds United, a club he has twice come close to buying.

“The beauty with horses like Fallen Angel and Dramatised is, I actually saw them being born, taking their first steps after half an hour and running around a nursery paddock three days later,” he says. “I didn’t expect this to become as big a part of my world as it is now.

The love is for the animal, though. The fascination of putting that mare with that stallion to create this foal. Fallen Angel

have horses with me.

“So we had this idea that I’d create a club for my mates who wanted to have a horse with me. I’d buy or supply the horse, so they don’t pay for that, but they’re their horses and they keep their share of the profit. They can’t lose because they’ve spent zero capital. All they’re paying is for the training.”

The 15 syndicate members, which include England cricket star Jonny Bairstow, pay £40,000 a head for their share in Bronte’s 50-strong string. They have enjoyed some big results this season, most notably with Indian Run, winner of the Group 3 Acomb Stakes, and Golden Trick, who landed a hugely lucrative pot in the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes.

“Of all the fun I have in racing, the most I have is with Bronte,” says Parkin.

“The pressure is off a bit but the other thing is the chat we have on Whatsapp.

It’s hilarious. We’ve become one big family now. We go racing together, we’re doing business with each other, we’re all having a laugh. It’s off the scale.”

Parkin adds: “I can’t say who but three of the members were racehorse owners and had come out of the industry. They’ve jumped back in with me with Bronte and now three of them have bought their own yearlings this year. We’ve basically reignited their belief in the industry. It’s a great concept and I think more people should do it.”

is bigger than Leeds United winning the Champions League three times, because we’ve made that. It’s unbelievable.”

Risk, be it emotional or financial, is inherent in racing and breeding. Almost every decision is followed by a binary set of outcomes: success or failure. Parkin proved he had the Midas touch in the world of business, and all known form points to him having the commitment, passion and wherewithal to prove just as successful in the bloodstock industry.

“This doesn’t feel like a risk,” he says of the development of Dullingham Park.

“Spending £15 million on a stud farm isn’t wastage, that’s investment in the future.

This feels like I’m creating something for my family. I have four children, all into horses and racing. I see this as something that will be around for a long time and can be handed down through the generations of my family. When I look at this as an investment, it’s an investment in my legacy.”

The Niarchos family

Rare JEWELS A decision to restructure by the Niarchos family means that a number of their broodmare band will be offered at this month’s Goffs November Sale Words: Nancy Sexton

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Kingmambo or Machiavellian.

But before anyone tries to consign this powerful operation to the history books, it must be stressed that the draft heading to Goffs is merely reflective of a restructuring and that when all is done and dusted, around 120-head will remain in the fold, including the exciting older horses Piz Badile and Passenger as well as multiple Group 1 producer Alpha Lupi.

“The family have decided to have a restructuring of the broodmares and fillies, and the sale at Goffs is the first stage and a major part of that,” says Alan Cooper, Racing Manager to the Niarchos family. “After Goffs, there are a couple catalogued at Tattersalls and then seven fillies and one mare going to the Arqana December Sale.

GEORGE SELWYN

he racing world took a collective sharp intake of breath when it was announced that a number of the highly prized Niarchos broodmare band would come under the hammer at the Goffs November Sale. Under the direction of Stavros Niarchos and latterly his daughter Maria NiarchosGouaze, the Niarchos silks have been part of racing’s fabric in Europe and North America for the best part of six decades, accumulating 67 Group or Grade 1 winners along the way.

A Niarchos family is instantly recognisable, often stretching back over multiple generations, and invariably complemented in parts by a Niarchos-bred stallion, some of them breed-shapers such as Nureyev,

Stavros Niarchos, flanked by Freddy Head and Alan Cooper, built an outstanding dynasty

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“It’s very much a restructuring and of course, it will look different going forward.

But a core group of horses will remain and the bloodlines will be very much ongoing.”

A group of 30 Niarchos horses went through last year’s Goffs November Sale, among them Group 2 winner Bocca Baciata, who commanded €530,000 in foal to Mehmas, and Albula, a Group 3-placed Galileo daughter of high-class Australian performer Dawn Wall who sold for €500,000. Both headed the way of the BBA Ireland on behalf of Zhang Yuesheng’s Lucky Vega Syndicate.

“We had a partial reduction last year at Goffs and this is a follow on,” says Cooper.

“Numerically speaking, it’s not much bigger than last year. But there are Group 1 winners in the draft this year, so on racecourse performance it is bigger, and that’s what attracts the attention.”

The Group 1 winners that Cooper alludes to are the kind of gems that rarely, if ever, come on to the market.

Alpha Centauri carried all before her for Jessica Harrington in 2018 when rattling off wide-margin victories in the Irish 1,000 Guineas, Coronation Stakes, Falmouth Stakes and the Prix Jacques le Marois, appropriately sponsored by the family’s Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard.

Although best at three, the daughter of Mastercraftsman was also a fast and precocious two-year-old who won a Listed race prior to falling only a neck short of victory in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Alpha Centauri is catalogued in foal to Sea The Stars as part of the Niarchos draft from Norelands Stud while her talented half-sister Alpine Star, winner of the 2020 Coronation Stakes, will be offered from Kiltinan Castle Stud in foal to Frankel.

Both these mares would naturally be highly desirable commodities on their racing records alone, but the fact is they also belong to one of the most powerful Niarchos dynasties – that of Miesque.

Widely regarded as one of the best – if not the greatest – to carry the Niarchos silks, Miesque won ten Group 1 races including the 1,000 Guineas, Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and two renewals of both the Prix Jacques le Marois and Breeders’ Cup Mile. The daughter of Nureyev then proceeded to become just as successful at stud, notably as the dam of Classic winners Kingmambo, later an influential sire, and East Of The Moon. Today, almost 40 stakes winners descend directly from her.

Further opportunities to buy into the Miesque line arise with Flutter, a Galileo daughter of Prix Marcel Boussac winner Rumplestiltskin in foal to Wootton

BILL SELWYN

Alpha Centauri, pictured with Maria Niarchos (third from left) and connections, stars in the Niarchos draft at the Goffs November Sale

Bassett, while that belonging to Miesque’s dam Pasadoble is represented by Raja Ampat (by Galileo; in foal to Baaeed) and La Fiamma (by War Front; in foal to Mehmas), both of whom descend from the mare via champion miler Six Perfections.

Prix Marcel Boussac heroine Albigna, meanwhile, sells as part of the Baroda Stud draft in foal to St Mark’s Basilica.

Proven stakes producer That Which Is Not, whose first foal Piz Badile is due to run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf, is consigned in foal to Frankel by Norelands Stud. She is the latest high-flying member of the Northern Trick dynasty via the Shirley Heights mare Lingerie, whose presence within the draft is bolstered by the stakesplaced Light Of Joy, in foal to Night Of Thunder, and the More Than Ready filly Perseids.

The stakes-placed Malicieuse, in foal to Wootton Bassett, and her daughters Provocateuse, in foal to Kingman, and Bold As Love offer the chance to tap into the Coup De Genie family, while that belonging to Hernando’s dam Whakilyric is represented by the Listed-winning, stakes producer Nature Spirits (in foal to New Bay) alongside her daughters Spell

On You (in foal to Study Of Man) and Forever Be (in foal to Wootton Bassett).

Top-class North American performer Martini Glass (in foal to Starspangledbanner), a Grade 1-performing daughter of Miesque’s accomplished sire son Kitalpha, and the

“The Miesque line has become such an influential family” Group 3 winners Dawn Wall (in foal to Saxon Warrior), Liquid Amber (in foal to No Nay Never), Mississippi Delta (in foal to Camelot) and Only Mine (in foal to Siyouni) add further lustre to a draft that understandably has the bloodstock world chattering.

“All the major families are represented,” says Cooper. “The Miesque line in particular has become such an influential

family through both its stallions and broodmares. It’s phenomenal, really.

Miesque was very tough herself and so was her daughter East Of The Moon. She won three Group 1s at three, the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and the Prix Jacques le Marois. She just lasted home in the Prix de Diane, it was a desperate finish and she was very game, and after that she went straight back to a mile. Then you come down to her granddaughters Alpha Centauri, Alpine Star and Discoveries, all Group 1 winners who were tough racemares too. It’s a family with great miling pace.

“We have also have Martini Glass in there. We bought her at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale, one of the attractions being that she’s by Kitalpha, who was out of Miesque. But she was also such a tough racemare herself – she won ten races including the Azeri Stakes and was multiple Grade 1-placed. And we have some nice progeny out of her currently in training with Joseph O’Brien.

“Then you have the Coup De Genie family and Northern Trick line, which comes through That Which Is Not. All these were acquired in the 1980s and are still very much alive.”

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The Niarchos family ›› Bold ambition

GEORGE SELWYN

The operation as it is today represents decades of cultivation under the direction of Maria Niarchos, with its foundations based upon the work of Stavros Niarchos and his advisors of the time, in particular trainer Francois Boutin and the BBA’s Sir Philip Payne-Gallwey.

One of the most skilful businessmen of his era, Niarchos built his fortune in the shipping industry, accumulating as many as 80 ships by the mid-1960s.

As his business grew during the 1950s, Niarchos dipped his toe into the world of horseracing and there was early success in 1956 when Pipe Of Peace, trained by Sir Gordon Richards, won the Middle Park Stakes and returned the following year to run placed in the 2,000 Guineas and Derby.

There was an early intent of his ambition around the same time when Niarchos made a play for the champion American runner Nashua. In the autumn of 1955, Nashua was at his peak having beaten fellow champion Swaps in a match race, an event that had captured the imagination of the American public.

He had gone on to win the Jockey Club Cup but two weeks later was suddenly facing an uncertain future when his

Francois Boutin, pictured greeting champion two-year-old Hector Protector, was a key cog in the Niarchos family’s early success

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GEORGE SELWYN

Miesque swoops past Warning to land her second Prix Jacques le Marois. The brilliant miler later became hugely influential at stud

owner, William Woodward Jr., was fatally shot. With the estate keen to wind up the bloodstock assets, interested parties were invited to put forward sealed bids for the stock including Nashua, then regarded as the most valuable horse in the world.

Niarchos, working with Fasig-Tipton’s Humphrey S. Finney and Brigadier R. S. Scott, then head of the BBA, placed a bid of $900,000 on the horse. It wasn’t enough to match the $1,251,200 put forward by the winning bidder Leslie Combs (Nashua went on become an important sire at Combs’ Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky) but Niarchos did land several of the Woodward mares at Keeneland the following January, including Nashua’s dam Segula at $126,000.

For reasons unknown, Niarchos subsequently walked away from racing but when he returned in the 1970s, he employed the same ambitious foresight and determination that had made him so successful in business.

Chief among them was the purchase of Nureyev. The Northern Dancer colt was widely expected to be one of the most desirable lots in the 1978 Keeneland July Sale, with the expectation in various

quarters that he was a shoe-in to head the way of Robert Sangster and the Coolmore partners, who had forged such an affinity with the sire. But they came up against a determined opponent in Niarchos, who outbid them through the BBA at $1.3m, the second highest priced figure paid for a yearling at that time.

“Francois Boutin had a great understanding of the horse” In later years, Niarchos and the Sangster - Coolmore team would join forces, notably in the case of Seattle Dancer, a $13.1 million yearling who won the Gallinule Stakes, and Law Society, the 1985 Irish Derby winner. Phoenix Stakes winner Aviance, who was to become the backbone to a line that provided the Niarchos family with Chimes Of Freedom,

Aldebaran and Spinning World, was another raced by the partnership.

As we know, the purchase of Nureyev turned out to be money well spent. He was initially sent to Peter Walwyn in Lambourn but as an unraced summer two-year-old shifted to Francois Boutin, for whom he won Prix Thomas Bryon as a two-year-old and Prix Djebel on his return at three.

Yet it is for his demotion in the 1980 2,000 Guineas, ‘won’ by a neck over Known Fact, for which Nureyev is arguably best remembered. Any chance at redemption was then denied by a virus, which turned out to be careerending. He went on to become an outstanding sire, firstly at the Niarchos’s Haras du Fresnay-le-Buffard in Normandy and then at Walmac Farm in Kentucky.

Niarchos continued to make numerous high-profile yearling purchases – and as it turned out, many of them with the capabilities to fulfil a long-lasting legacy.

Coup De Folie, a Halo relation to Northern Dancer, was bought for $825,000. She won the Prix d’Aumale and became the dam of champion twoyear-olds Machiavellian and Coup De Genie as well as the ancestress of Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe hero Bago and Prix de Diane winner Senga among many other luminaries.

Northern Trick, a $530,000 yearling who won the Prix de Diane, went on to become the ancestress of Light Shift and Ulysses. Salvora, granddam of the Niarchos’ 2015 Grand Prix de Paris winner Erupt, joined the fold as a $725,000 yearling. Lyrism, whose talented daughter Whakilyric foaled Prix du Jockey Club winner and successful sire Hernando, was bought for $350,000.

By contrast, Pasadoble was sourced for just $45,000 as a yearling at FasigTipton in 1980. It was an inexpensive amount for a relation to French champion Comtesse De Loir, especially one who would go on to breed a true champion in Miesque.

“Stavros Niarchos started back in the 1970s with four mares and one of them, Artists Proof, produced Dactylographer, who won the William Hill Futurity in 1977,” says Cooper. “The breeding operation was being built up at the time so that was an early important success.

“There was a real transatlantic thinking in crossing bloodlines and building families. At that time, there were a lot of French horses standing in Kentucky, stallions like Riverman, Lyphard, Caro, Green Dancer. And in our case later on, Kingmambo.

“Francois Boutin had a great

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The Niarchos family

NORTHERN TRICK

1981 f Northern Dancer - Trick Chick (Prince John) Northern Trick’s ascent to the top during the 1984 season for Francois Boutin was brief yet impressive, taking in a victory in a Longchamp newcomers’ race and second in the Prix Saint-Alary before a crack at the Prix de Diane, which was won by five lengths over her Saint-Alary conqueror Grise Mine. She later defeated the Epsom Oaks heroine Circus Plume to win the Prix Vermeille, a performance that saw her odds for the Arc cut all the way down to 2-1; in the event she ran second of 22 on bad ground to the older colt Sagace.

Described by Timeform as “tall, narrow and sparely made”, Northern Trick wasn’t an expensive yearling at $530,000 by the standards of her sire Northern Dancer. She became a highly influential broodmare, notably as the dam of Lingerie, whose legacy covers Shiva, Light Shift, Ulysses, Main Sequence, Cloth Of Stars and Piz Badile.

MIESQUE

1984 f Nureyev - Pasadoble (Prove Out) Bred by Stavros Niarchos from the third crop of Nureyev, Miesque was one of those rare fillies whose illustrious racing career was matched by her achievements at stud.

In a 16-race career, she won the Prix de la Salamandre and Prix Marcel Boussac at two, swept the 1,000 Guineas, Poule d’Essai des Pouliches, Prix Jacques le Marois, Prix du Moulin and Breeders’ Cup Mile at three, and returned at four to capture the Prix d’Ispahan and a second renewal of both the Prix Jacques le Marois and Breeders’ Cup Mile. Quite often she was aided in her races by stablemate Whakilyric, a very capable lead horse who lated found fame as the dam of Group 1 winners Hernando and Johann Quatz.

Known at Francois Boutin’s yard as ‘The Concierge’ in recognition of her curiosity for everything going on around her, Miesque possessed a mighty finishing kick and it’s that attribute that has gone on to set many of her descendants apart during their own careers. Her first two foals, Kingmambo

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and East Of The Moon, between them won the French 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas before becoming influential in their own right at stud. More recently the family has shone through Karakontie, Alpha Centauri, Study Of Man and Loves Only You among many others.

KINGMAMBO

1990 c Mr Prospector - Miesque (Nureyev) The first foal out of Miesque, Kingmambo justified the weight of expectation by developing into the one of the best milers of his year.

Although Zafonic had the measure of him on the occasions they met at two, Kingmambo was the more consistent three-year-old and having lowered the colours of his old foe in the Prix Djebel, went on to rattle off victories in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains, St James’s Palace Stakes and Prix du Moulin.

Kingmambo later retired to Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky where he carved out a reputation as a leading sire, his reach ranging from British Classic winners Henrythenavigator, King’s Best, Russian Rhythm and Rule Of Law to Belmont Stakes winner Lemon Drop Kid and top Japanese runners El Condor Pasa and King Kamehameha.

He was naturally well utilised by the Niarchos family, for whom he sired Oaks heroine Light Shift and Divine Proportions, whose sequence of nine wins from 2004 to 2005 took in the Prix Morny, Prix Marcel Boussac, Poule d’Essai

des Pouliches, Prix de Diane and Prix d’Astarte.

EAST OF THE MOON

1991 f Private Account - Miesque (Nureyev) Miesque’s second foal was brilliant over a mile, easily winning the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches on only her third start for Francois Boutin. It was bravery which got her through the Prix de Diane, won by a head over Her Ladyship, which in turn prompted an immediate switch back to a mile; she rewarded that decision by capturing the Prix Jacques le Marois on her next start.

Held in particularly high regard by connections, she emulated her dam by becoming an extremely successful broodmare, for it is her branch which is today responsible for Alpha Centauri and Alpine Star.

SIX PERFECTIONS

2000 f Celtic Swing - Yogya (Riverman) The first foal out of a half-sister to Miesque, Six Perfections competed at the top for each of her three seasons with Pascal Bary. Winner of the Prix Marcel Boussac on her final outing at two, she was a hostage to fortune in both the Newmarket and Irish 1,000 Guineas, on both occasions finishing a fast-closing second following trouble in running. However, the tide turned in

GEORGE SELWYN

SIX OF THE BEST

Kingmambo, Miesque’s first foal, pictured winning the 1993 St James’s Palace Stakes

GEORGE SELWYN

Bago: winner of the 2004 Arc

BAGO

2001 Nashwan - Moonlight’s Box (Nureyev) By the early 2000s, the Coup De Folie family had already distinguished itself as one of the most powerful within the Flaxman fold via the exploits of champion two-year-olds Machiavellian, subsequently an extremely influential sire, and then Coup De Genie. And in 2003, the Coup De Genie branch threw not one but two top-class two-year-olds in Denebola, her daughter who won the Prix Marcel Boussac, and grandson Bago, winner of the Criterium International.

Denebola again acquitted herself well at the top level as a three-yearold but it was Bago who developed into the real star, with a victory in the Arc over the likes of Ouija Board and North Light crowning a season also highlighted by wins in the Prix Jean Prat and Grand Prix de Paris.

Bago went on to add the Prix Ganay to his record as a four-year-old before retiring to the JBBA Stallion Station in Japan. Still going strong at the age of 22, his accomplished stud record is headed by champion Chrono Genesis.

›› understanding of the horse as well as

pedigrees. He knew about breeding, training and in particular about raising horses. And then training them and placing them to best effect. He liked that mixture of European and North American bloodlines. Pasadoble might not have been an obvious one to buy. She was a Prove Out filly who cost $45,000. But she was from a good family that had done well in France and she was related to a Grade 1 winner, Silver Supreme, who was a decent sire in Canada.

“I remember when Coup De Folie was sold as a yearling, I think my father [Tom Cooper of the BBA Ireland] thought he had a chance to be able to buy her. But Philip had more for her [for Niarchos].

I think she was named Coup De Folie because it was rather a crazy price at the time [her name translates as ‘stroke of folly’]. But what an amazing legacy she left. There’s lot of stallion power running through her family.”

However, not every one of the family’s good broodmares excelled themselves on the track.

“Northern Trick had a daughter by Shirley Heights, Lingerie, who raced numerous times but could not win,” he says. “Francois became very frustrated.

He just couldn’t get her to win. But she had enough ability to merit joining the broodmare band and what a legacy she ended up leaving.”

In what was an interesting move for the era, given the logistics and expense involved, Lingerie was sent to Japan for the 1992 season, where Niarchos’s French champion two-year-old Hector Protector had retired to stud. The Woodman colt swept through a demanding juvenile campaign unbeaten in six starts, three of them at Group 1 level, before landing the Poule d’Essai des Poulains the following year. He found the mile and a half of the Derby beyond him when fourth to Generous but bounced back to win the Prix Jacques le Marois.

“Hector Protector was unbeaten until the Derby, he was an exceptional two-year-old and a very tough, genuine horse,” says Cooper. “He went to stand at the Shadai Stallion Station and was our key to becoming involved with the Yoshida family and the Japanese industry.

“We sent mares out to Japan to breed to him and switched then to using Sunday Silence and then Deep Impact.

Maria is very good at thinking outside the box and those Sunday Silence mares that we bred out of that time turned out to be very fruitful.”

Lingerie’s visits to Hector Protector

GEORGE SELWYN

the Prix Jacques le Marois, in which she denied fellow Niarchos runner Domedriver by a neck. Even so, it is for her win in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, in which she stormed from the back of the field to win going away, for which she is likely best remembered.

Six Perfections added three more Group 1 placings to her record as a four-year-old before retiring to stud, where she foaled the Group winners Yucatan, Planet Five and Faufiler.

Nureyev: top miler and important sire

yielded Prix Foy winner Limnos ahead of the popular Sir Henry Cecil-trained mare Shiva, winner of the 1999 Tattersalls Gold Cup. In later years, the well-travelled Lingerie also foaled the family’s Oaks heroine Light Shift to Kingmambo.

Early usage of Sunday Silence, meanwhile, provided Sun Is Up, a granddaughter of Miesque who later produced Classic-winning miler Karakontie. The same family also later clicked with Sunday Silence’s champion son Deep Impact to produce the Prix du Jockey Club winner Study Of Man. A key element to the breeding operation has long been the support of various in-house stallions. Nureyev obviously returned the favour as the sire of Miesque in addition to fellow Classicwinning miler Spinning World, whose win in the 1996 Irish 2,000 Guineas came poignantly just weeks after the death of Stavros Niarchos.

In later years, Kingmambo also gifted the family with their outstanding miler Divine Proportions as well as Light Shift.

Kingmambo was a brilliant sire but the same cannot be said of the family’s Grade 1-winning miler Aldebaran; the Niarchos-bred Main Sequence, the 2012 Derby runner-up who became a champion turf runner in the US, remains by far the best runner to emerge out of his low-key stud career.

Another top-notcher, the 2002 Prix du Jockey Club winner Sulamani, was also one of the most accomplished sired by Hernando. In turn, Sulamani was one of two Jockey Club winners produced for the family out of the Alleged mare Soul Dream alongside Dream Well.

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The Niarchos family More recently, the family has bred two of the best by Ulysses, Light Shift’s multiple Group 1-winning son who stands at Cheveley Park Stud, in Piz Badile and Passenger. The Poule d’Essai des Poulains and Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Karakontie continues to hold his own at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky, notably as the sire of recent Canadian Group 1 winner She Feels Pretty, while his relation Study Of Man has made an extremely bright start at Lanwades Stud as the sire of Beresford Stakes winner Deepone from his first crop of two-year-olds.

“We have involvement in Ulysses, Study Of Man, Magna Grecia, Circus Maximus and Karakontie,” explains Cooper. “It’s exciting to see Study Of Man do so well. Kirsten [Rausing] has done a wonderful job supporting him. We also have a couple by him in training with Pascal Bary, who trained him.

“It’s that Miesque family again, like Karakontie. He’s also been good to us.

He’s knocking on the door – he produces plenty of good winners and it looks like he has a Breeders’ Cup candidate in She Feels Pretty.

“We will also have a couple of twoyear-olds by Circus Maximus in training next year. We’re particularly looking forward to the daughter of Alpha Centauri. She’s just arrived with Jessie Harrington. We have another laterdeveloping filly by Circus Maximus out of Freedonia [dam of Albigna] and also a nice, strong colt in partnership with Coolmore who is out of a daughter of Coup De Genie. If they’re good enough, they’ll be able to fly the flag for him.”

The scale of the draft heading to Goffs means that as those Niarchos mares make their way to the ring on November 24, one chapter will come to an end. But as ever, another door will open. A core group of horses will remain split between Europe and the Oak Tree division in Kentucky.

Some of those in training will also enter 2024 with Group 1 aspirations.

“Passenger is a horse to look forward to, as is Piz Badile,” says Cooper. “We’re taking a punt and going to Santa Anita with him for the Breeders’ Cup Turf where he should like the track and ground.

“There’s no getting away from the fact that it is going to be a sad parting.

But there will still be over 120 horses on the books afterwards. We’ll have about 20 two-year-olds to run next year, the majority fillies, and there are some nice two-year-olds turning three as well. We also have the foals and yearlings to keep the bloodlines going. Hopefully we can produce some more Group 1 winners.”

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FIVE OF THE BEST AT GOFFS ALPINE STAR

2017 m Sea The Moon - Alpha Lupi (Rahy) In foal to Frankel

BILL SELWYN

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Albigna: Group 1 winner catalogued

ALBIGNA

2017 m Zoffany - Freedonia (Selkirk) In foal to St Mark’s Basilica Out of Group 2 winner Freedonia and therefore a member of the family’s Napoli line also responsible for Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Domedriver, Albigna crowned her two-year-old season with Jessica Harrington by taking the Prix Marcel Boussac.

The daughter of Zoffany has a yearling by Wootton Bassett who realised €460,000 to Qatar Racing and the China Horse Club at the Goffs Orby Sale and a filly foal by Dubawi.

ALPHA CENTAURI

2015 m Mastercraftsman - Alpha Lupi (Rahy) In foal to Sea The Stars Alpha Centauri descends directly from Miesque via French Classic heroine East Of The Moon and emulated those illustrious relatives by becoming an outstanding force over a mile herself. She won the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot by six lengths, the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket by nearly five, the Irish 1,000 Guineas by nearly two and the family-sponsored Prix Jacques le Marois in similarly authoritative fashion over a field of colts and older horses.

Alpha Centauri has a two-yearold Frankel filly named Earth and a yearling filly by Circus Maximus named Proxima Centauri. Both are with Jessica Harrington.

Alpha Centauri’s younger half-sister Alpine Star emulated her sibling by capturing the 2020 renewal of the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot having won the Debutante Stakes as a two-year-old. She later ran several high-class races in defeat, notably when falling less than a length short of victory in the Prix de Diane, Prix Jacques le Marois and Prix de l’Opera.

Also a half-sister to Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Discoveries, Alpine Star’s first produce is a colt foal by Frankel and she is back in foal to that sire, a mating that produces inbreeding to blue hen Urban Sea.

FONISKA

2020 f Galileo - Bocca Baciata (Big Bad Bob) Sold in training Foniska served notice that she could be a force to be reckoned with next season when running out the three-length winner of the Listed Navigation Stakes at Cork in September.

Also a winner at two, Foniska is out of Group 2 winner Bocca Baciata and hails from a very productive family originally cultivated by Gerry Oldham.

THAT WHICH IS NOT

2013 m Elusive Quality - Shiva (Hector Protector) In foal to Frankel A member of the Lingerie family, That Which Is Not was a Listed winner and Group 2-placed in France. Her first foal, Piz Badille, won the Ballysax Stakes en route to running second in the Irish Derby and recently bounced back to winning ways in the Diamond Stakes at Dundalk. Meanwhile, the mare’s second foal, Yosemite Valley, was second to Little Big Bear in last year’s Anglesey Stakes.

That Which Is Not, whose dam Shiva won the 1999 Tattersalls Gold Cup for Sir Henry Cecil, also has a yearling colt by Frankel and foaled a filly by Dubawi this year.

SEA THE MOON Sire of 4 Group 1 winners • Champion Sire in Germany

A DUAL CLASSIC SIRE IN 2023 Sire of 7 individual Group winners of 11 Group races in 2023

FANTASTIC MOON – Gr.1 German Derby, Gr.2 Prix Niel, Gr.3 Derby Trial in 2023, and Gr.3 Preis des Winterfavoriten at 2.

MUSKOKA – Gr.1 German Oaks, Gr.3 Brümmerhofer Stuten-Meile and Listed Henkel Stutenpreis in 2023.

SEA THE MOON's 2023 yearlings sold have made up to 575,000gns info@lanwades.com

LANWADES

•

w w w. l a n w a d e s . c o m •

Te l : + 4 4 ( 0 ) 1 6 3 8 7 5 0 2 2 2 The independent option TM

Breeders’ Digest

Nancy Sexton Bloodstock Editor

Warning signs as market undergoes readjustment

TATTERSALLS

A

re we in the opening act of a market readjustment? To even the most optimistic, the idea that the 2023 edition of the Tattersalls October Sale could match last year’s recordbreaking levels may have been fanciful.

But what quickly became apparent as the two weeks wore on was that the market wasn’t even going to come close. Instead it fell well short of 2022, in the case of Book 1 by 25 per cent.

To recap, the figures for the four October books read 158,567,500gns turned over for 1,531 lots sold for an average of 103,571gns and median of 52,000gns. The total value of yearlings sold dropped by 20 per cent against last year, while the average and median fell by 18 per cent and ten per cent respectively.

Last year was so strong that it is tempting to regard it as an anomaly.

After all, an additional 10,455,000gns was pumped into the market by Richard Knight on behalf of Saleh Al Homaizi, who later defaulted on the payments.

John Dance, who is the subject of a probe from the Financial Conduct Authority and has had his horses prevented from running as a result, also came away with 2,675,000gns worth of yearlings.

As it was, this year’s figures sit in front of those recorded in 2021, as was highlighted in the closing statement released by Tattersalls Chairman Edmond Mahony. Having said that, it is worth remembering that the 2021 edition was staged while Covid hovered in the background. And for all that this year’s average again broke six figures, a far cry from ten years ago, it still falls behind that achieved from 2017 to 2019.

The number of private sales recorded this year, and their importance, should also be taken into account. As an example, there was a period during the final afternoon session of Book 1 during which only one of eight yearlings offered changed hands in the ring.

Another three of those later sold in a private transaction; at least there was a desire to keep trading outside the ring, even if the outcome wasn’t at the level originally anticipated by the vendor in question.

As ever, the top end of the market

The total value of yearlings sold during the Tattersalls October Sale dropped by 20 per cent

looks after itself. But the lack of buzz around the ring as Book 1 drew to a close during that final Thursday afternoon is something that might not be forgotten for a while. As such, it was with some trepidation that participants approached Book 2. Yet traditionally this is the book that is particularly hard for vendors to get their horses into and once again its ability to draw in all sectors of the buying market stood it in good stead.

Granted, Book 2 was topped by a 725,000gns Dubawi filly who had been rerouted from Book 1, and beyond that, there was a ceiling of between 300,000gns to 425,000gns for the better lots, as opposed to 600,000gns to 700,000gns in 2022. But the figures painted a much healthier view of the market, one in which the turnover and average fell by up to ‘just’ 11 per cent. A number of almighty pinhook touches were also recorded.

Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock, who signed for a 425,000gns son of Sea The Stars to top the third day, summed it up well. “I think Book 2 has been strong, really good,” he said. “It’s been well documented that Book 1 was tricky. But this week it has been hard to buy. I haven’t bought as many this week as I did last week, and I’ve tried on plenty.

“There’s definitely cracks there. I think it would be foolish for anyone involved to be saying that everything is completely smooth sailing. But overall you’d have to have a positive takeaway out of this book. There’s a lot of people here and a lot of people who are bidding

200,000gns plus on horses.”

The ‘cracks’ unfortunately came to the fore in Book 3, not an entirely unsurprising development given the lesser horses involved. This is the bread-and-butter level of the market, underpinned in many cases by smaller breeders, and one that will always be most susceptible to any weaknesses.

An average of 19,100gns recorded over the two days suggests that a sizeable number of vendors didn’t clear costs, let alone turn a profit. Sadly, market forces dictate that demand will always likely be muted for those lesser individuals, especially those by ‘cold’ sires. Yet as current graduates such as Azure Blue and Tribalist illustrate, that’s not to say that good horses won’t come out of it.

“You have to have a valuation and not live in dreamland,” said Tally-Ho Stud’s Tony O’Callaghan, someone who has seen it all over the past couple of decades. “Maybe the mad days have gone for a couple of years but if you got it right, then it’s been very good. If you have a nice horse then you’ll get well paid, but if you have a bad horse then you take a thumping and put up with it.”

The next question is how the foal market will hold up. It’s tempting to think it will be affected by how the yearling season panned out, but a number of pinhookers did after all enjoy some big results. For many, stocking up is key regardless of what the future might hold; it’s just about finding the right horse and to do that, buyers often land on the same individuals. Could it be that the market will become even more selective this winter?

THE OWNER BREEDER

37

Sales Circuit • By Carl Evans

A chilly breeze as market undergoes ‘recalibration’

This Frankel colt headed Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Sale, selling for 2,000,000gns

because we’re not seeing some of the figures seen in previous years. But I think that’s understandable given the outside economic climate.”

It must be remembered that last year’s Book 1 was an absolute belter, with double-figure percentage

TATTERSALLS

Europe’s highest-grossing yearling sale held over three days in Newmarket is the place to be if it’s blue-blooded yearlings you want.

With siblings to Classic winners and stakes horses, plus pedigrees to satisfy the most jaded palate, Book 1 is top of a competitive pile. It also offers a bonus prize-money scheme which has paid out more than £7,500,000 over the years and is set to hand over increased sums in 2024. The latest edition also contained one of the final yearlings by stallion god Galileo, a filly who Jayne McGivern of Dash Grange Stud purchased privately outside the ring for 325,000gns – it would take a lot of fingers and thumbs to work out how much the mighty sire’s offspring have contributed to sales rings down the years, but he has been responsible for 55 seven-figure yearlings alone.

However, when Book 1’s figures were tallied, an unexpected and chilly breeze had been felt after front-line buyers looked twice at the market and appeared to reassess valuations. The result was a 31,270,000gns fall in turnover and declines in all the key indicators. Sara Cumani of Fittocks Stud provided a succinct description of trade as “an up and down week – tricky”. Speaking at the conclusion of Book 2, but with a comment that could be applied across the October Yearling Sales, agent Anthony Stroud said: “There seems to be more of a ceiling

TATTERSALLS

Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1

A good sale for Anthony Oppenheimer, pictured with wife Antoinette and daughter Emily

38

THE OWNER BREEDER

increases across the board and a near 40,000,000gns rise in turnover which had been inflated by the 10.5 million guineas ‘spent’ on behalf of Saleh Al Homaizi, who failed to honour the debt.

One year later some adjustment was likely, yet despite that some lovely horses made substantial profits for breeders, while a series of six-figure pinhook gains rewarded bold foal investments.

The first day was solid enough and gave little indication of the dip that was to come. During that opening session, a son of Ghaiyyath consigned by James Hanly’s Ballyhimikin Stud headed trade when selling for 1,050,000gns to Godolphin, a notable mark for a first-crop sire, even if the buyer owns the stallion.

Yet the back story relating to first dam Tickled Pink was even more appealing. Tickled Pink is a daughter of Cassandra Go, a top-class sprinter whose foals and daughters keep

TATTERSALLS

making seven-figure sums for breeder Trevor Stewart. He said: “I’m so lucky.

That is the fourth million guineas yearling we’ve had from the family.”

Cassandra Go – whose foals and in many cases their offspring are awash with black-type and Classic success – was not the only legendary mare to feature at this opening session, for the final foal out of Newsells Park Stud’s late mare Shastye became her sixth million-guineas-plus yearling to be traded at Tattersalls. The latest, a son of Dubawi, was also sold to Godolphin, on this occasion for 1,000,000gns. That took the sum that Shastye’s Book 1 yearlings have turned over to more than 15 million guineas, a terrific return on the 625,000gns she cost when knocked down to bloodstock agent John Warren as a four-year-old at the December Sale in 2005.

Day two of the sale saw the overall top lot take his turn. A colt by Frankel

Shadwell’s Sheikha Hissa attended the sale in person and came away with six yearlings

offered by breeder Anthony Oppenheimer of Hascombe & Valiant Studs, he was sold to Coolmore’s MV Magnier and White Birch Farm’s Peter Brant for 2,000,000gns – which seems set to be the highest sum paid for a yearling in Europe in 2023 – after they headed off interest from Godolphin. The transaction added to a lucrative session for Oppenheimer who had chosen to sell all his yearling colts as part of an exercise in “refuelling the stud’s finances”.

The top lot, a son of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Bizzaria, was one of four seven-figure horses at this second session. Godolphin headed a posse of leading players, notably by signing at 1,500,000gns for a colt by Darley’s leading first-season sire Blue Point – this

››

TATTERSALLS

TATTERSALLS

A Frankel daughter of Group 1 winner Millisle was the top filly at 1,600,000gns

one, a half-brother to top-class sprinter Battaash, was another money spinner out of Paul and Marie McCartan’s phenomenal and cheaply-bought mare Anna Law. She is currently in foal to Frankel, and deservedly so.

The Pivotal mare Entreat was, like Anna Law, bought for 14,000gns at one of the Tattersalls horses-in-training sales. She too has bred a top-notcher in Golden Horde, and her latest yearling, a son of Wootton Bassett, fell to Magnier and Brant for 1,250,000gns, a fine result for breeder James Cloney whose colt was consigned by his father-in-law, Michael Nolan of Clara Stud.

The second day’s seven-figure lots were completed by a Lope De Vega full-brother to this year’s Group 2 Champagne Stakes winner Iberian.

Anthony Stroud: signed for 12,030,000gns worth of stock on behalf of Godolphin

TALKING POINTS

• Despite horses at Books 1 and 2 of the October Yearling Sales entering the ring in the alphabetical order of their dam’s names – with the aim of creating even sessions – trade held steady on the first day at each auction and then felt the squeeze. It is fascinating how a market can change during the course of a sale as vendors take stock of early trade and become bullish or twitchy with a knock-on effect on reserves and prices. Similarly, seasoned buyers assess figures and adjust spending plans accordingly. A few influential buyers spending with bravado can drag a market up, but if proving reticent they can take it down. At Book 1 it was noticeable that while the leviathans Godolphin and Coolmore were not shy buyers, their ceiling was lower and overall spend down.

• A new buyer with an interesting association made their debut at Book 1 when purchasing ten yearlings for 2,555,000gns. Saudi-based Al-Salhia Stud, which is owned by Mohammed Saleh Binladen, has until now focussed on purebred Arabian horses, a passion generated by the gift of a single horse by Binladen’s uncle Sheikh Bakr. He provides the twist in the tale being a half-brother to Osama Bin Laden, the infamous head of Al Qaeda. Osama’s family had by that time disowned him and they continue to carry out business around the world.

Mohammed Saleh Binladen’s British business interests led to his decision to take a first stake in the country’s thoroughbred racing, hence the purchases at Book 1 where he was advised by bloodstock agent Richard Knight.

THE OWNER BREEDER

39

Sales Circuit ›› Nurlan Bizakov’s Sumbe gained this

Ballylinch Stud-bred colt for 1,100,000gns.

Sadler’s Wells’ exit from the stallion pantheon was seamlessly filled by his son Galileo and then by grandson Frankel, whose presence in a catalogue is every sales company’s dream. He was at the forefront once again on the final day when one of his daughters became

Book 1’s seventh seven-figure horse after transferring from Watership Down Stud’s consignment to Shadwell Estates for 1,600,000gns. Angus Gold signed for the filly, who was bred by Ireland’s Francis Jennings of Stonethorn Stud Sheikh Mohammed’s Godolphin operation led buyers when gaining 20 yearlings for just over 12,000,000gns, albeit that sum was less than half the

amount he invested 12 months earlier.

Graham and Marcela Smith-Bernal’s Hertfordshire-based Newsells Park Stud led consignors through sales of 25 horses for 10,500,000gns, while Juddmonte’s Frankel was the leading sire. His 18 lots sold for an average of 617,778gns, a fabulous return for breeders with mares good enough to grace his company.

Tattersalls October Sale Book 1 Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (gns)

Buyer

C Frankel – Bizzarria

Hascombe & Valiant Stud

2,000,000

M V Magnier & White Birch Farm

F Frankel – Millisle

Watership Down Stud

1,600,000

Shadwell Estate Company

C Blue Point - Anna Law

Ballyphilip Stud

1,500,000

Godolphin

C Wootton Bassett – Entreat

Clara Stud

1,250,000

M V Magnier & White Birch Farm

C Lope De Vega - Bella Estrella

Ballylinch Stud

1,100,000

Sumbe

C Ghaiyyath - Tickled Pink

Ballyhimikin Stud

1,050,000

Godolphin

C Dubawi – Shastye

Newsells Park Stud

1,000,000

Godolphin

C Frankel – Materialistic

Fittocks Stud

950,000

M V Magnier & White Birch Farm

C Frankel – Poplin

Oakgrove Stud

900,000

Godolphin

C Kingman - Without You Babe

Newsells Park Stud

900,000

Oliver St Lawrence Bloodstock

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (gns)

Average (gns)

Median (gns)

Top price (gns)

2023

391

95,395,000

243,977

180,000

2,000,000

2022

424

126,671,000

298,752

200,000

2,800,000

2021

452

86,369,000

230,317

160,000

1,500,000

2020

369

82,385,000

223,266

130,000

3,400,000

2019

397

102,429,000

258,008

150,000

3,600,000

Trade at this sale has a habit of following patterns established the previous week at Book 1.

While Book 1 trade leapt ahead in 2022 and was rolled back 12 months later, Book 2 – which was once again held over three days – experienced the same surge followed by a reining back.

Book 2’s catalogue size was almost identical in each year and the clearance rate barely flickered – 86 per cent last year, 85 per cent in 2023 – but there were double-digit falls in the key figures.

Turnover of nearly 54,000,000gns was down 11 per cent, the average lost 10 per cent at 86,228gns while the median figure of 62,000gns was another 11 per cent drop.

In 2022, five horses reached or breached the 500,000gns mark. Twelve

40

THE OWNER BREEDER

TATTERSALLS

Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 2

Rerouted from Book 1, this Dubawi filly went on to top Book 2 at 725,000gns

TALKING POINT

TATTERSALLS

• Blue Point headed the sires’ table at Book 2, his 22 lots selling for an average of 133,000gns and turning over nearly 3,000,000gns. His yearlings were bred off a fee of €40,000, but with a raft of first-season winners and good sales ring results, breeders must give him a big tick.

None bigger though, than that for Havana Grey, who goes on attracting superlatives, but whose days as a cheap stallion are surely over. His Book 2 average for sales of 12 yearlings was 160,583gns, an awesome payback for breeders who used him in 2021 at £6,000. That fee rose to £18,500 this year, and is surely only going up again in the New Year.

A brother to Elite Status, this Havana Grey colt blossomed into a 425,000gns yearling

the form of a 350,000gns Too Darn Hot colt from Hascombe & Valiant Studs, while on day two they snaffled the session-topper, a 425,000gns son of Havana Grey offered by Michael Fitzpatrick of Kilminfoyle House Stud.

It would be inadvisable to play Fitzpatrick at poker if his sales ring persona is a guide, for he studies horses and the market with unflickering emotions and bids accordingly. He would, however, be a very good man in which to share a pinhook as the Havana Grey testifies.

TATTERSALLS

months on and just one horse crossed that line, while the number of 300,000gns horses was halved from 34 to 17.

Trade also matched Book 1 in holding steady at the opening session, and then being squeezed over the next two days.

It was a case of adjustment at an event which has such an important role in providing the raw material for owners and trainers.

A filly by Dubawi who headed trade when knocked down to Godolphin for 725,000gns would have been a welcome recruit for any trainer, even Charlie Appleby who is no stranger to top-class horses. Her page had more bold type than you would find in a printing works, and while she was booked for a slot at Book 1, her presence in Book 2 was the result of an accident while on a lorry which resulted in a cut to her jaw requiring stitches.

Offered by Lodge Park Stud, she derived from the family of Derby winner New Approach, the Darley stallion who was bred by the Burns family and trained by Jim Bolger. New Approach appeared under the yearling’s third dam, the first dam being the winning Galileo mare Park Bloom, a full-sister to four stakes winners headed by Oaks heroine Was. Damian Burns of Lodge Park Stud thanked Tattersalls for finding her a place in Book 2 as a wildcard, while buyer Anthony Stroud paid a compliment to the filly when saying: “She behaved incredibly well, especially considering she’s been through a lot.”

This proved to be the sole purchase in the name of Godolphin, but Stroud went on to become leading buyer in the guise of his and Matt Coleman’s Stroud Coleman Bloodstock. Their purchases included another day one highlight in

TATTERSALLS

Richard Brown: agent landed a 425,000gns Sea The Stars colt on the third day

Michael Fitzpatrick: struck pinhooking gold with the above colt by Havana Grey

In November 2021, he bought that colt’s Whitsbury Manor Stud-bred full-brother for 56,000gns and resold him for 325,000gns to Karl Burke. The clever part was recognising the youngster’s potential as a racehorse, and sure enough – having been named Elite Status – he won Listed and Group 3 races in May and July. Fitzpatrick had already secured the next family member for 82,000gns, which 11 months later led to Stroud’s bid and another jackpot.

Blandford Bloodstock’s usual sizeable haul of Book 2 yearlings numbered 17, headed by a 425,000gns Sea The Stars colt who took pole position at the final session. Buyer Richard Brown, who gave Book 2 a general thumbs up while acknowledging the “cracks” in trade, could not name the new owner of the Sea The Stars, who was consigned by Norelands Stud, but said he would stay in Britain. So will a 350,000gns, WH Bloodstock-consigned Wootton Bassett colt. This one will race for owner Paul Hickman said agent Will Douglass, adding that the trainer will be Charlie Fellowes.

Stroud Coleman’s 28 purchases for 5,127,000gns saw that agency finish well clear as leading buyer, while the O’Callaghan family’s Tally-Ho Stud took top consignor honours through 28 sales valued at 2,628,000gns.

THE OWNER BREEDER

41

››

Sales Circuit Tattersalls October Sale Book 2 Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

F Dubawi - Park Bloom

Lodge Park Stud

Price (gns) 725,000

Godolphin

Buyer

C Havana Grey - Dotted Swiss

Kilminfoyle House Stud

425,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

C Sea The Stars - Miss Aiglonne

Norelands Stud

425,000

Blandford Bloodstock

C Too Darn Hot - Precious Ramotswe

Hascombe & Valiant Stud Ltd

350,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

C Wootton Bassett – Beluga

WH Bloodstock

350,000

C Gordon Watson Bloodstock

F Showcasing - So Brave

Carmel Stud

325,000

Ben McElroy/Stonestreet Stables

F Pinatubo – Toquette

Corduff Stud

325,000

Justin Casse, agent

C Pinatubo - Boston Rocker

Ballyhimikin Stud

325,000

Ben McElroy/Hamish Macauley/Robson Aguiar

C Earthlight – Dettoria

Redpender Stud

325,000

Ben McElroy/Amo Racing

C Gleneagles – Ledena

Whatton Manor Stud

325,000

Dermot Farrington/SackvilleDonald

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (gns)

Average (gns)

Median (gns)

Top price (gns)

2023

626

53,978,500

86,228

62,000

725,000

2022

633

60,780,500

96,020

70,000

800,000

2021

650

54,512,000

83,865

62,000

525,000

2020

637

48,362,500

75,922

50,000

675,000

2019

620

48,499,000

78,224

55,500

1,050,000

Books 3 and 4 of the October Sales brought a key fortnight at Tattersalls’ Newmarket sales grounds to a conclusion and provided an opportunity to reflect upon Europe’s most influential yearling market.

Chairman Edmond Mahony accepted that turnover had fallen “some way below last year’s record-breaking returns”, but at 165,000,000gns across Books 1 to 4, the sum involved was the second highest. He spoke of “a recalibration from the dizzy heights of last year” adding “we should pay heed to this”.

Books 3 and 4 were hardly likely to prosper given the falls in trade at Books 1 and 2, although Mahony felt the distraction of top-class racing at the Future Champions meeting just up the road on the Rowley Mile had not helped the two smaller events. Turnover at Book 3, a fertile hunting ground for buyers looking to gain a breeze-up horse to sell on next spring, was down 22 per cent at just under 9,000,000gns, the average price was down by the same percentage at 19,100gns, while the median took a 25 per cent fall at 15,000gns.

42

THE OWNER BREEDER

Two horses sold for a six-figure sum, four fewer than in the previous year, headed by a Too Darn Hot colt consigned by Adrian and Philippa O’Brien’s Hazelwood Bloodstock. Ted Durcan signed for this 130,000gns colt on behalf of trainer Richard Hughes, while an Invincible Spirit filly joined Joseph O’Brien’s string after being sold

to US agent Justin Casse – via Olivia Mackey – for 115,000gns. The filly was a grand example of a profitable pinhook, having been bought for €23,000 at the Goffs November Sale by consignor Luke Coen of Q-Cross Stables. Since then Coen, who rode for Ireland in eventing at junior and young rider level, has become a representative for

TATTERSALLS

Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Books 3 and 4

A well-related Too Darn Hot colt headed a selective Book 3 at 130,000gns

Tattersalls Ireland.

If buyer fatigue was creeping in by the time Book 3’s finish line came into view, consignors had to remain chirpy and upbeat. Tom Blain of Barton Stud admitted: “It’s been a long two weeks, a bit up and down, but we’ve had a good sale overall.” His comment was made

TATTERSALLS

TATTERSALLS

A 115,000gns Invincible Spirit filly headed the way of Olivia Mackey for Justin Casse

after he had consigned a Rabbah Bloodstock-bred Pinatubo colt who was sold to Saudi’s Najd Stud for 90,000gns.

Among breeze-up candidates the most highly-valued proved to be a 95,000gns Earthlight colt from Con Harrington’s Manor Ridge Stud and knocked down to Tally-Ho Stud’s Tony O’Callaghan, while Michael Fitzpatrick’s 72,000gns bid gained him a son of Hello Youmzain from Mount Coote Stud.

Saturday’s session of trade saw Book 3 complete its run, while a 33,000gns top lot – a colt by Golden Horde – conveyed a subdued trade during which 64 of 81 horses found a buyer.

Presumably buyers soon shot off to the Rowley Mile for the mouth-watering reappearance of City Of Troy in the Dewhurst Stakes, for at the following Book 4 just 44 of 84 lots found a new owner. Trade was headed by an Expert

Tony O’Callaghan: was on the hunt for breeze-up prospects during Book 3

Eye colt that made 16,500gns to a bid from Adam Kirby. That might be a paltry sum given the costs of keeping horses, but since the yearling in question had been bought as a foal for just 3,500gns by Fiona Marner and Richard Sumpter, a small profit had been achieved.

Tattersalls October Sale Book 3 Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (gns)

Buyer

C Too Darn Hot - Moohareeba

Hazelwood Bloodstock

130,000

Durcan Bloodstock/R Hughes

F Invincible Spirit - Mardie

Gras Q-Cross Stables

115,000

Joseph O’Brien/Olivia Mackey

C Earthlight - Crafty Madam

Ballyshannon Stud

95,000

Tally-Ho Stud

C Pinatubo - Royal Debt

Barton Stud

90,000

Najd Stud

F Elzaam - Approaching Autumn

Hegarty Bloodstock

80,000

JP Bloodstock

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (gns)

Average (gns)

Median (gns)

Top price (gns)

2023

470

8,977,000

19,100

15,000

130,000

2022

473

11,554,600

24,428

20,000

140,000

2021

471

10,593,150

22,491

18,000

150,000

Tattersalls October Sale Book 4 Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (gns)

Buyer

C Expert Eye - Electric Feel

Windmill Farm

16,500

Adam Kirby

F Massaat - Piranha

Mickley Stud

12,000

David Evans

C Portamento - Cthulhu

Hedgeholme Stud

11,000

David Evans

Figures Year

Sold

Aggregate (gns)

Average (gns)

Median (gns)

Top price (gns)

2023

44

217,000

4,932

3,500

16,500

2022

53

319,000

6,019

5,000

23,000

2021

46

184,200

4,004

3,000

18,000

THE OWNER BREEDER

43

››

Sales Circuit Goffs Orby Sale

MV Magnier: came away with the top lot, who was bred by Ben Sangster

price at that Newmarket auction are well ahead of the Orby.

Of the 497 yearlings who entered the ring at the Orby – that is 29 more than the previous year – 433, or 87 per cent, left with a new owner. The median price took a two per cent dip at €85,000, but Goffs CEO Henry Beeby was quick to point out that it had only been beaten once before. He also liked the ”increased numbers of six-figure, two hundred and fifty thousand, half-million and seven-figure lots”.

Beeby’s company had introduced the

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

A Frankel filly related to Kingman headed the Goffs Orby trade at €1,850,000

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs joined the yearling sales party with a 24 per cent rise in turnover at this two-day auction where more than €50 million went through the till.

Maintaining an upward curve, this two-day sale of the best of available Irish yearlings managed to improve figures that had jumped markedly 12 months ago.

A 24 per cent rise in turnover last year gained another seven per cent when reaching €53.6m, while there was a two per cent improvement in the average price to €123,893. Those figures looked good at the time, and no less so after the year-on-year figures at Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1 dipped, albeit turnover and the average

Goffs Two Million Series ahead of the sale – which includes Europe’s richest two-year-old race worth a crisp €1m – and while most buyers or agents would have been looking for stakes winners, Classic hopefuls, potential breeding stock or a horse to breeze next spring, the bonus or safety net of valuable sales races cannot be dismissed. Every significant sales company seems to agree on that point, and the winner of the latest Goffs Million race, €65,000 purchase One Look from Paddy Twomey’s stable, was exceedingly

Goffs Orby Sale Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

F Frankel – Multilingual

Camas Park Stud

1,850,000

MV Magnier

F New Bay - Falling Petals

Ballylinch Stud

1,650,000

Amanda Skiffington

F Sea The Stars – Repose

Tinnakill House

750,000

Joseph O’Brien

C Kingman - Dane Street

Stauffenberg Bloodstock

650,000

Godolphin

C Frankel - Promised Money

Yeomanstown Stud

625,000

Godolphin

C Wootton Bassett - First Flower

Glenvale Stud

500,000

Kim Valerio/CMNWLTH

C Mehmas - Heavenly River

Kellsgrange Stud

500,000

HKJC

F New Bay - Coco Rouge

Moortown House Stud

480,000

De Burgh Equine/Glen Hill Farm

C Wootton Bassett – Albigna

Camas Park Stud

460,000

Qatar Racing/China Horse Club

F Dark Angel - Layla Jamil

Grangemore Stud

425,000

Form B’stock

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2023

435

53,640,500

123,312

85,000

1,850,000

2022

415

50,354,500

121,336

87,000

2,600,000

2021

372

40,581,500

109,090

75,000

1,500,000

2020*

311

21,142,000

67,981

47,000

450,000

2019

364

42,927,500

117,933

65,000

3,000,000

*held in Doncaster and in £

44

THE OWNER BREEDER

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Fiona Carmichael, bidding through Amanda Skiffington, landed this sister to Saffron Beach

combined spend of €3,475,000, while Godolphin’s Anthony Stroud signed for six yearlings totalling €2,505,000, the pick on price being a €650,000 Kingman half-brother to the Moyglare Stud Stakes victress Skitter Scatter.

Goffs did well to attract a healthy number of US buyers and agents and they made their presence felt,

noticeably taking particular interest in yearlings by Coolmore Stud stallions.

Tim Hyde’s Camas Park Stud emerged as leading consignor after trading 22 lots for just under €5m, while Wootton Bassett and Frankel took leading sire honours, the former by aggregate (€3,637,000), the latter by average (€776,250).

TALKING POINT • The Frankel filly who headed trade at the Orby brought together two families who shaped the breed – in this instance we’re talking human, not equine.

In October 1971, John Magnier was introduced to Robert Sangster, setting in motion the expansion of a racing and breeding project that has become the leviathan Coolmore. Magnier’s vision, Sangster’s wealth and the training genius of Vincent O’Brien led to a well-documented revolution via the purchase of US-bred colts with a view to racing them in Europe, selling them on, but later, and crucially, establishing a top-quality line-up of stallions. Five decades later, the names Magnier and Sangster were again doing business at the highest level, although it was their sons, MV the buyer and Ben the breeder, who were operating the levers as Sangster’s Frankel filly headed trade when selling to the man from Coolmore.

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

impressive, not least because she was making her racing debut.

Buying expensive yearlings carries financial risk, but a blue-blooded filly gives her buyer two courses on which they can hope to feast – on the track and later as a broodmare. Fillies filled the first three places at this sale, headed by a daughter of Frankel who was sold to Coolmore’s MV Magnier for €1,850,000. Kieran Lawlor of Al Shira’aa Farms finished as underbidder for this choice lot who was bred by Ben Sangster and consigned by Camas Park Stud.

Being a daughter of the champion sire-elect was only part of the top lot’s appeal, for her dam, Multilingual, was a half-sister to another Juddmonte stallion ace in Kingman and from the family of high-ranking sire Oasis Dream.

Sangster had bought Multilingual for $525,000 at Keeneland in 2019, one year before her son Tilsit emerged and went on to become a Group 1 performer.

Lawlor had fared no better earlier in the session when foiled by bloodstock agent Amanda Skiffington for a New Bay-sired full-sister to top-class racemare Saffron Beach. Skiffington, acting for long-time client Fiona Carmichael, posted an offer of €1,650,000 which gained her a horse she described as “a collector’s item”.

A similar comment could apply to the opening session’s top lot, this one a daughter of Sea The Stars from Dermot and Meta Cantillon’s Tinnakill House.

Joseph O’Brien, who trained the yearling’s multiple Group 1-winning brother State Of Rest, made a bid of €750,000 which secured this prize on behalf of an undisclosed client of his yard.

Breeding good horses takes time, but the Cantillons’ patience paid dividends on this occasion. Sixteen years ago they bought the filly’s granddam, Monaassabaat, for €42,000, but it’s been winners all the way, helped in part by her daughter, the yearling’s dam, Repose.

O’Brien’s brother Donnacha also gained at least one choice horse in the shape of a Wootton Bassett colt offered

by Flash Conroy’s Glenvale Stud and sold to US agent Kim Valerio and Commonwealth for €500,000, while David Redvers gained a son of the same sire for €460,000. This one will race for a partnership involving Qatar Racing, David Howden and China Horse Club.

Coolmore Stud’s MV Magnier was the leading buyer, picking up nine lots for a

The Tinnakill House stud team enjoyed a memorable result with their Sea The Stars filly

THE OWNER BREEDER

›› 45

Sales Circuit

At €160,000, Johnny Hassett landed this Sea The Stars colt with an eye on breezing

definitely fits into that bracket, and one of his sons – bred by the stallion’s owners the Tsui family – headed trade when knocked down to County Clare’s Johnny Hassett of JCH Bloodstock.

Hassett, who plans to breeze the colt but as part of a streamlined new approach to that art, liked the fact that his purchase was a full-brother to German Group 3 winner Alpen Rose.

Racing in Poland gained a session-

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Rebranded as Orby Book 2, but following the same two-day format as recent stagings of Goffs’ Sportsman’s Sale, this new-look event had difficult acts to follow.

Not only was it following hot on the heels of a solid Orby Sale, but the 2022 and final edition of the Sportsman’s had produced buoyant trade, well up on the previous year and very difficult to match, let alone surpass. One horse does not a sale make, but last year’s top lot realised a record €300,000, while this year’s best made €160,000. That gives but one insight to the overall figures.

Turnover at Book 2 reached just over €8m, which was a 22 per cent decline – although 18 fewer yearlings were offered – the average lost eight per cent at €23,136 while the median was down 14 per cent at €18,000. To the credit of Goffs CEO Henry Beeby, these falls were not brushed under the stable door and in his close-of-sale statement he said: “We would be bordering on deluded not to acknowledge the selective nature of the trade,” and he acknowledged the “less than pleasing clearance rate of 75 per cent”. Of 464 offered lots, 114 had been led from the ring unsold.

While not all Orby buyers were ever likely to stay on for Book 2, Beeby added that he would have liked to see “a deeper buying bench from the UK and across Europe”. Consideration would be given to making the event a one-day select sale, he said, adding that his company’s Autumn Yearling Sale in early November could take up the slack and offer the more commercial type of horse.

While Goffs ponders its options, some vendors would have departed with a very satisfactory result or two as the market once again honed in on quality lots by popular sires. Sea The Stars

GOFFS/SARAH FARNSWORTH

Goffs Orby Book 2

This €140,000 daughter of Night Of Thunder is set to race in Poland

topper when on the second day bloodstock agent Kishore Mirpuri signed for a daughter of Night Of Thunder following a bid of €140,000. Mirpuri was standing with Polish trainer Macie Jodlowski, who will handle the filly’s career, and she has residual value, being a granddaughter of top racemare Taghrooda out of a Kingman half-sister to Group 2 winner Israr.

The sale’s other six-figure lot was a colt by Teofilo consigned by Clare Manning of Boherguy Stud and knocked down to SSF for €100,000. Manning’s grandfather, Jim Bolger, bred the yearling.

American buyers who stayed on after the Orby did their bit to aid turnover, but a colt and filly who sold for €95,000 were set to stay in Ireland. Con Marnane parted with that sum for the filly, a daughter of Bungleinthejungle from Pat Burns’ Newlands Park Stud, while Peter and Ross Doyle gained the colt, a son of Galiway consigned by Brendan Holland’s Grove Stud.

Goffs Orby Book 2 Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

C Sea The Stars - Valais Girl

The Castlebridge Consignment

160,000

Buyer JCH Bloodstock

F Night Of Thunder – Jahafil

Shadwell/Derrinstown Stud

140,000

Macie & Kishore Mirpuri

C Teofilo - Ard Fheis

Boherguy Stud

100,000

SSF

C Galiway - Extreme Green

Grove Stud

95,000

Peter & Ross Doyle Bloodstock

F Bungle Inthejungle - Jackie Sparrow

Newlands House Stud

95,000

Con Marnane

Figures Year

Sold

2023 2022 2021

46

THE OWNER BREEDER

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

346

8,043,500

23,248

18,000

160,000

415

10,382,000

25,017

21,000

300,000

337

6,967,300

20,674

16,000

140,000

››

STUDY OF MAN Sire of a Group 2 winning 2yo in 2023

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Sales Circuit

Sold for €190,000, this Lope De Vega filly is due to carry the ‘Big Evs’ colours of RP Racing

December Sale when buying a colt for 11,000gns from the first crop of Tweenhills Stud resident Kameko. Little more than nine months later the same horse was resold for €115,000 to Edgar Byrne who was working alongside Norwegian trainer Niels Petersen. This sale was another example of the yearling being helped by a year-older sibling, for the Kameko colt was a half-brother to Zoulu Chief, a three-time winner for Heather Main at the time of the sale.

Anthony Bromley’s forays into Flat racing often have a link to jump racing, but not exclusively. The Highflyer Bloodstock agent signed for a €100,000 Glenvale Stud-offered daughter of Ten Sovereigns on behalf of ‘The Megsons’ – aka Andrew and Jane – well-known owners of jumpers, but Bromley also parted with the same sum for a Rochestown Lodge Studconsigned Mehmas colt who he said would join an Irish breeze-up consignor.

Ed Dunlop, whose brother Harry is assisting The Megsons, will train the Ten Sovereigns filly.

Some handsome pinhook profits, often generated by relatively lowlypriced foals, included one involving a son of Wooded who headed day two when selling for €88,000. John Foley of Ballyvolane Stud had bought the youngster for €15,000 at the Goffs February Sale. The buyer second time around was Robson Aguiar, an advisor to Amo Racing and trader in his own right of two-year-old breeze horses.

David and Tamso Cox’s Baroda Stud had the biggest draft and it duly headed consignors when selling 24 horses for an aggregate of €760,000, while Highflyer Bloodstock led purchasers by picking up eight lots for €444,000. Second on that list, with 11 purchases for €334,000, was Italy’s Cristiana Brivio of Razza Latina, whose buys included an €80,000 Earthlight colt.

››

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

By the time this auction opened for business, 13 of its graduates had won stakes races in 2023.

Add in the number of current two-year-olds who scored after passing through its doors, plus such incentives as a €250,000 sales race at the Curragh and €10,000 sales vouchers for qualifying races in Britain and Ireland, and there was plenty of reason for yearling buyers to head to Fairyhouse for this two-day event.

Those who attended came from far and wide and generated some worthy figures, including a one per cent rise in turnover to just over €12.5m, a three per cent average price gain to just under €31,000 and an eight per cent increase in the median to a new high of €28,000.

A clearance rate of 85 per cent was five points down.

Strength in the middle market, a welcome result at any bloodstock auction, was evident with a record number of horses making €40,000-plus, and while the number of six-figure horses dropped from six to four, that did not stop the rise in average.

The quartet of note were all sold on the first day and headed by a €190,000 Lope De Vega filly who will carry the ‘Big Evs’ colours of RP Racing. Agent Conor Quirke signed for the filly and then said she would join Breeders’ Cup-bound Big Evs at the stables of Mick Appleby. Consigned by The Castlebridge Consignment on behalf of breeders Stonethorn Stud Farm, her value had been boosted a week before the sale when half-sister Bluedrum won a Naas maiden impressively on debut.

Adrian Costello of Clenagh Castle Stud made a shrewd investment at the

TATTERSALLS IRELAND

Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale

Bought for 11,000gns as a foal, this Kameko colt turned a fine profit at €115,000

48

THE OWNER BREEDER

Anthony Bromley of Highflyer Bloodstock spent €444,000 as leading buyer

GRADUATES OF

2023

OVER 20 STAKES HORSES in 2023 include:

CARL SPACKLER Gr.2 Hall Of Fame Stakes Gr.3 Saranac Stakes

ROSE BLOOM

€200,000 Arqana Series de Pouliches 2nd Gr.1 Prix Marcel Boussac

PLACE DU CARROUSEL Gr.2 Prix Foy Gr.3 Prix Gontaut-Biron

JUMBY

Gr.3 John of Gaunt Stakes

SELF BELIEF

KING'S GAMBLE

Gr.3 Meld Stakes

2yo Newmarket Novice 3rd Gr.2 Gimcrack Stakes

IBERIAN

Gr.2 Champagne Stakes

SAVVY VICTORY

LR Gala Stakes

SHUWARI LR Star Stakes 2nd Gr.1 Fillies' Mile

DON’T MISS our consignments for the upcoming foal sales at &

BALLYLINCH STUD T h o m a s t o w n , C o . K i l k e n n y , I r e l a n d Te l : + 3 5 3 ( 0 ) 5 6 7 7 2 4 2 1 7 • i n f o @ b a l l y l i n c h s t u d . i e • w w w. b a l l y l i n c h s t u d . i e

Sales Circuit ring. Not surprisingly turnover shot up, gaining 60 per cent at €1,546,100, the clearance rate held its own despite the additional lots, although the average and median figures were down 21 per cent and 25 per cent respectively.

Joe Foley of Ballyhane Stud bought

One day later the single-session Part II of Tattersalls Ireland’s September Sale took place. In the past two years it involved catalogues of 101 and 131 horses, but at the latest edition, and in a return to pre-Covid numbers, 256 lots were catalogued and 232 walked the

the top lot for the second year running, on this occasion parting with €45,000 for a Ballyknock Stud-consigned daughter of his resident sire Soldier’s Call, whose first-crop team of two-yearolds have been knocking in winners all season.

Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

F Lope De Vega - Drumfad Bay

Castlebridge Consignment

190,000

Quirke Bloodstock/RP Racing

C Kameko - Courteous Crown

Clenagh Castle Stud

115,000

Edgar Byrne

F Ten Sovereigns - All Time High

Glenvale Stud

100,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

C Mehmas - Empress Ella

Rochestown Lodge Stud

100,000

Highflyer Bloodstock

C Wooded – Orayda

Ballyvolane Stud

88,000

Robson Aguiar

Part I figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2023

404

12,522,000

30,995

28,000

190,000

2022

413

12,421,000

30,075

26,000

115,000

2021*

402

12,779,580

31,790

23,496

233,251

2020*

333

8,009,140

24,051

17,582

358,290

2019

388

9,415,500

24,267

20,000

165,000

* held in Newmarket and in £ Part 2 figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2023

188

1,546,100

8,224

6,000

45,000

2022

92

963,500

10,473

8,000

52,000

2021

70

676,571

9,665

7,166

36,000

Arqana Arc Sale

Amidst the height of the yearling sales season, this horses-in-training auction popped its head up and took off at a very fast gallop.

German Classic winner Muskoka was the pin-up of prowess on which Arqana could market the event, but she was not the only jewel on offer. She headed trade at €1.3m, yet had she been absent the sale would still have achieved record turnover. It came in at €9.8m, up 25 per cent on last year, the average rose five per cent to a new high of €306,954, while the median picked up by 14 per cent when reaching €245,000. Of the 42 horses on offer 32, or 76 per cent, changed hands.

Nastasja Volz-Degel and her husband Timo Degel gained another feather in the cap of their OH Consignment business when offering three-year-old filly Muskoka, the winner of this year’s Preis Der Diana, on behalf of Stall Golden Goal. The daughter of Sea The Moon had been bought for €80,000 at

›› Preis der Diana heroine Muskoka headed trade at the Arqana Arc Sale at €1,300,000

50

THE OWNER BREEDER

ARQANA

››

FOALED, RAISED & GRAZED Over 100 years of experience 1000 acres of rich limestone land Over 250 foalings per year Highly qualified and dedicated team Services we provide: • Seasonal and Permanent Boarding • Foaling • Sales Preparation • Stallions • Bloodstock Consultation • Education • Spelling

Contact: Cathal Beale, Gary Swift +353 (0)86 6031979 or Conor Hyland +353 (0)85 1299236 Tel: +353 (0)45 521251 www.irishnationalstud.ie

Owner-Breeder-Full-Page.indd 1

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Sales Circuit consigned by Gestut Ohlerweiherhof, which is owned by Volz-Degel’s parents.

Michael Donohoe of BBA Ireland brought the hammer down for Muskoka, who the following day finished unplaced in the Prix de l’Opera on the Longchamp card. That reverse does not dent her value and whether she races on or retires to stud, she is an exciting acquisition for Zhang Yuesheng, who Donohoe could not name on the day, but who was later revealed as the registered owner.

The two-year-old, Group 3-winning Gleneagles filly Freville was offered by owner-breeder Gerard AugustinNormand, and while she failed to sell in the ring, she later became the subject of a €1m deal put together by Pierre Talvard of Haras du Cadran. He bought a quarter share, as did Ecurie Melanie, while Augustin-Normand retained 50

ARQANA

›› BBAG’s September Sale when

Laulne: talented two-year-old was snapped up by Mandore International for €750,000

per cent. Freville also ran the following day but was ninth of ten, not beaten far, in the Prix Marcel Boussac behind Opera Singer.

The same owner-breeder also offered two-year-old Starspangledbanner filly Laulne, who had been stakes-placed just ahead of

the sale. Nicolas de Watrigant’s €750,000 bid on behalf of US clients sealed her future, while the three-yearold colt and dual Listed winner Zarakem was sold to Nicky Bertran de Balanda for €500,000. That was a sweet sum for owner-breeder Jean-Claude Seroul, and a good result for trainer Jerome Reynier, who will retain possession of the horse but for new owner Haras d’Etreham.

Other buyers from outside France included Qatar’s Wathnan Racing, which picked up Listed-placed Kovanof for €420,000, Japan’s Northern Farm, which gained the three-year-old, Group 3-placed filly Shalromy for €400,000, and Oliver St Lawrence, whose €400,000 telephone bid secured Group 2-winning four-year-old Calif.

Ireland’s Willie Mullins also got in on the act when his representative, Harold Kirk, signed for the AQPS gelding Kiss Will at €280,000.

Arqana Arc Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Vendor

Muskoka 3 f Sea The Moon - Morning Mist

OH Consignment

1,300,000

Price (€)

BBA Ireland

Buyer

Freville 2 f Gleneagles - Freauville

Christopher Head

1,000,000

SCEA Ecurie Haras du Cadran P/S

Laulne 2 f Starspangledbanner - Lady Francesca

Yann Barberot

750,000

Mandore International Agency

Zarakem 3 c Zarak - Harem Mistress

Jerome Reynier

500,000

Nbb Racing/Haras d’Etreham

Winning Spirit 3 c Soldier Hollow – Wamika

OH Consignment

430,000

Nicolas Clement/EDC Agency

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2023

32

9,811,000

305,594

245,000

1,300,000

2022

28

8,155,000

291,852

215,000

1,000,000

2021

21

5,690,000

261,842

160,000

1,200,000

Arqana October Yearling Sale

This sale leapt ahead three years ago, but pleasingly has consolidated those gains in the following two years.

Arqana retained the five-day format it introduced last year – but started one day later in the week on a Tuesday – and once again divided the catalogue into three books. Over the entire sale, 48 fewer yearlings walked the ring, helping the clearance rate inch up to 86 per cent through sales of 585 of the 671 lots on offer. Turnover was pinched one per cent at just over €26m, the average gained one per cent at €44,252 while the median price was clipped four per cent at €25,000.

As witnessed at similar sales held in Ireland and Britain, the demand for quality was evident during the opening

52

THE OWNER BREEDER

day offering Part 1 of the catalogue. In this session the clearance rate was 82 per cent although there were doublefigure gains in all the key figures, helped by the €420,000 sales of colts by Siyouni and Zarak.

One of the poster boys of this sale is Paddington, who was bought at this event in 2021, and it was the team behind that top-class colt who gained his Siyouni paternal half-brother. Laurent Benoit of Broadhurst Agency successfully bid for the Haras d’Etreham-consigned colt on behalf of MV Magnier, who said Aidan O’Brien would be taking delivery.

Fairway Consignment’s son of Zarak fell to Ross Doyle, acting for Scandinavian racehorse owners Bente and Magne Jordanger of Stall Perlen. In

2005, Doyle’s father, Peter, bought the Jordangers Appel Au Maitre, who became a Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed in Germany, and the two families have become long-time friends and business sharers. Wido Neuroth will have the job of trying to win a Scandinavian Classic race with the Zarak.

Godolphin buyer Anthony Stroud secured another high-profile Siyouni colt – this one consigned by Haras du Mont dit Mont – for €350,000 on his way to a box at Andre Fabre’s yard, while the same agent picked up a Sea The Moon filly and a Lope De Vega colt for €260,000 apiece, although they were not thought to be joining Godolphin.

Two further horses sold for €260,000. A Sea The Stars filly was

››

Sales Circuit

A Zarak colt will race for Bente and Magne Jordanger after selling for €420,000

ARQANA

Sumbe, while a daughter of Wootton Bassett carried poise and poignancy when she entered the ring and was sold to Jerome Glandais of Ecurie de Launay.

Glandais spoke of an “emotional moment” in buying the filly with Sofiane Benaroussi for she was bred by Lady Chryss O’Reilly who died in August at the age of 73. The filly was offered by her Haras de la Louviere.

The last-named stud also sold a Without Parole filly, who headed trade during two sessions of Part 2 of the sale.

Nicolas de Watrigant of Mandore International signed for this filly on behalf of US-based Madaket Stables, which will take their purchase across the Atlantic to begin her racing career. De Watrigant also gained a €120,000 filly

by Zarak, consigned from Haras de l’Hotellerie and bound for the ownership of Jean-Claude Seroul, while Amanda Skiffington’s bid of the same sum secured a New Bay filly from Haras de Castillon. Skiffington was acting for New Bay’s owners at Ballylinch Stud.

L’Hotellerie also gained €130,000 for a Toronado colt out of Classic-placed mare Diyakalanie, who was trained by Joel Boisnard and who bought her yearling son.

Part 3 of the catalogue was divided into two sessions involving 92 lots and 82 lots, a relative stroll in terms of numbers for buyers and sellers. Happily at this lower end, where the average was about €15,000, the clearance rate was close to 89 per cent. John Bourke of Hyde Park Stud bought the highestvalued horse in this section, a Persian King colt costing €95,000 who he planned breezing in France next year.

ARQANA

›› knocked down to Nurlan Bizakov’s

Sharing top billing was a Siyouni colt knocked down to Broadhurst Agency and MV Magnier

Arqana October Yearling Sale Top lots Sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

C Zarak – Ashaaqah

Fairway Consignment

420,000

Peter & Ross Doyle

C Siyouni – Decorating

Etreham

420,000

Broadhurst Agency/MV Magnier

C Siyouni – Shamtee

Mont dit Mont

350,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

F Wootton Bassett – Sablonniere

Louviere

260,000

SAS Ecurie De Launay

F Sea The Moon – Swertia

Perelle

260,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

F Sea The Stars – Debutante

Monceaux

260,000

SAS Sumbe

C Lope De Vega – Merimbula

Channel Consignment

260,000

Stroud Coleman Bloodstock

Part I figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

Top price (€)

2023

585

26,040,500

44,252

25,000

420,000

2022

611

26,389,500

43,820

26,000

340,000

2021

600

27,033,000

45,616

27,500

440,000

54

THE OWNER BREEDER

››

BOBBY’S KITTEN Sire of multiple Group winner SANDRINE

Sire of: SANDRINE – Winner of 4 Group races, including Gr.2 Park Stakes (in 2023), Gr.2 Lennox Stakes, Gr.2 Duchess of Cambridge Stakes and Gr.3 Albany Stakes (also Gr.1-placed x2). Now a Group winner at 2, 3 and 4; MONAASIB – Gr.2 placed, KITTY KITANA – Gr.3 placed x 2, FIGHTING KING (Listed-placed), etc.

Lanwades bred/owned and Andrew Balding trained SANDRINE, now a Group winner at 2, 3 & 4 following her thrilling success in the Group 2 Park Stakes at Doncaster in 2023.

2yo ALMOTAHED (GB) unbeaten winner of 2 races (by a total of over 30 lengths) in Saudi Arabia in 2023. Also sire of top 2yo filly in Hungary DARK BLUE SKY (IRE) winner of 3 races in 2023.

Outstanding lifetime winners to runners ratio info@lanwades.com

LANWADES

•

w w w. l a n w a d e s . c o m •

Te l : + 4 4 ( 0 ) 1 6 3 8 7 5 0 2 2 2 The independent option TM

Sales Circuit Goffs’ activities in Britain were hardly out of the news during the third week of October.

First it was revealed the company had lost possession of Sandown’s Tingle Creek Sale of point-to-pointers to rivals Tattersalls, then it staged its October Horses-in-Training & Yearling Sale, next came an announcement that it would be holding a sale of point-to-pointers at Newbury, and finally it took the stage at Ascot as auctioneers at the QIPCO British Champions Sale, which was held ahead of Frankie’s farewell.

The loss of the Sandown Sale was a bitter blow for Henry Beeby, Tim Kent and their teams for Goffs had successfully inaugurated the event last year when 16 horses were offered, all sold and nearly £2m was turned over.

Tattersalls was clearly unhappy at such an auction taking place one week before its Cheltenham December Sale, and struck a new arrangement with Jockey Club Racecourses which runs Sandown and Cheltenham.

Goffs’ barely-concealed response came swiftly in the form of the planned Newbury sale – to be held after racing on

GOFFS UK

Goffs October HIT & Yearling Sale

Caughtinyourtrance was bought to race on with syndicate Mills Racing

Coral Gold Cup Chase day – one week before Sandown. Three sales of point-topointers in consecutive weeks is at least one too many, but some traders voiced their opinion that competition among sales companies is good for the industry and gave their backing to Goffs.

Its UK division, which is based in the Scottish town of Hawick, had by then decamped to Doncaster for its singlesession October Sale which proved to be a low-key affair, with a smaller catalogue and a top lot valued at £40,000.

Turnover of just under £600,000 was down 26 per cent, a fall in line with the reduced field which saw 76 lots go under

the hammer, 18 fewer than last year.

Trade was headed by the Matty Flynn O’Connor-trained four-year-old Irish pointer Caughtinyourtrance, a son of Ocovango who at the time was firing in winners and placed horses on both sides of the Irish Sea. Caughtinyourtrance was knocked down to Darren Mills, who has a recruitment background and runs a record label, and who created Mills Racing as an affordable syndicate operation based with trainer Jimmy Moffatt near Cartmel.

Another syndicate specialist, Value Racing Club, secured the Nicky Henderson-trained five-year-old hurdler Hands Off with a bid of £36,000, the same sum which secured Edward James a two-year-old Walk In The Park filly offered as part of a dispersal of stock from West Country breeder John Lightfoot.

The sale’s section of yearlings had been cut from 61 last year – when only 30 found a buyer – to 28, which helped the clearance rate. The pick on price of the 17 who found buyers was a £16,500 Golden Horn colt who left Flaxton Stables when knocked down to trainer David Easterby.

Goffs October HIT & Yearling Sale Top lots Name/age/sex/breeding

Vendor

Price (€)

Buyer

Caughtinyourtrance 4 g Ocovango – Loyalty Card

Ballycrystal Stables (Matty Flynn O’Connor)

40,000

Mills Racing

Hands Off 5 g Getaway - Gaye Lady

Seven Barrows

36,000

Valueracingclub.co.uk

2 F Walk In The Park - Shanon Du Berlais

John Lightfoot/Molland Ridge Stud

36,000

Edward James

Figures Year

Sold

Agg (€)

Average (€)

Median (€)

2023

76

2022

94

2021

113

Top price (€)

598,800

7,879

5,000

40,000

811,800

8,637

4,500

100,000

1,014,800

8,981

5,000

90,000

GOFFS QIPCO BRITISH CHAMPIONS DAY SALE And so to Ascot for QIPCO British Champions Day and a sale which attracted just five entries, one of which was withdrawn a few hours in advance.

The auction itself was to prove a very mixed dish for while three of the remaining four horses failed to find a buyer, the one that did, Rogue Lightning, made a magnificent million.

That seven-figure sum was a tremendous result for Rogues Gallery, a syndicate headed by Tony Elliott and which had bought the son of Kodiac for 42,000gns at last year’s Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale.

56

THE OWNER BREEDER

He duly won his two-year-old debut, but this year hit full stride in midsummer after trainer Tom Clover gelded him and dropped him in trip to five furlongs.

Three straight wins, including at Listed level, were followed by a fast-finishing fifth in the Prix de l’Abbaye from a less-than-helpful draw.

Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock had the horse on his radar and duly made the £1m bid on behalf of Wathnan Racing, which owns this year’s Gold Cup hero Courage Mon Ami. The new owners will leave Rogue Lightning with Clover in Newmarket.

As for the sale’s future, Beeby is adamant it has one, although if this particular arrow in Goffs’ quiver is to fly, it will probably need to attract at least eight quality horses, preferably ten or a dozen, and have a higher clearance rate.

That ambition will not be easy given the proximity in the calendar to Arqana’s Arc Sale and Tattersalls’ goliath Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale, not to mention the plethora of online auctions. However, with a millionaire on its CV, it can at least go out to owners and trainers with a useful calling card.

Dr Statz

BILL SELWYN

Justify a sire for all surfaces as juveniles shine

Dewhurst Stakes winner City Of Troy, flanked by Ryan Moore and MV Magnier, leads the way among Justify’s second crop

F

uture Champions weekend at Newmarket, as we suspected it would, brought major changes to the European two-year-old hierarchy.

Coolmore’s City Of Troy made it back to the top of the Timeform log after a hugely impressive win in the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes. He had been temporarily deposed after his stable companion Henry Longfellow had successfully deputised for him in the Group 1 National Stakes at the Curragh.

His earlier success in the Group 2 Superlative Stakes at Newmarket had already everyone thinking about how to categorise his sire, the undefeated US Triple Crown winner Justify. Are his runners much better suited to the turf courses of Europe or the dirt circuits of America? And how will that impact on American demand for nominations – advertised at $200,000 – next spring?

Then Justify provided an answer himself when his juvenile daughter, the Bill Mott-trained Just FYI, became a leading fancy for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies by registering a wide-

58

THE OWNER BREEDER

margin victory in the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes. Earlier this summer, he’d also sired Arabian Lion to win the Grade 1 Woody Stephens over seven furlongs posting a Beyer of 109, which equates to a Timeform mark of 125. So, he is clearly a sire for all surfaces, much in the same way War Front was for Coolmore.

As things stand, Justify can count both the Timeform top-rated juvenile colt and filly among his second-crop offspring. Moreover, both City Of Troy (125p) and the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac winner Opera Singer (114p) share that same final-furlong power running that sets them apart from their opponents. And whereas neither’s Timeform rating is anything extraordinary – 11 top-rated colts this century have a better rating and none of the top-rated fillies have a lower rating than Opera Singer – it is the future promise of the pair that has got everyone excited.

Perhaps the biggest change to the complexion of Timeform top ten two-

year-olds comes courtesy of Dubawi, whose sons Ancient Wisdom and Arabian Crown were impressive recent winners of the Group 3 Autumn Stakes and Zetland Stakes. Both were found at the Arqana yearling sale last August, Ancient Wisdom costing €2 million and Arabian Crown €600,000. With a rating of 118, Ancient Wisdom showed the better form of the pair, running out a three-and-threequarter-length winner, whereas Arabian Crown defeated a less exposed field by five-and-a-half lengths in the ten-furlong Zetland Stakes.

Of course, this means that Dubawi has three colts among the top ten European two-year-olds, headed by the Coolmore homebred Henry Longfellow.

It shows that the top-class Darley sire is not slowing down, and he is still well capable of siring Group winners at the same high rate as he always has.

For the record, Dubawi now has sired 159 Group winners from his northern hemisphere crops at a top-class rate of 11.2% from runners, second only to Frankel’s current score of 12% among

John Boyce cracks the code Debutante Stakes scorer Vespertilio (106p). Given that next spring we will be seeing the first three-year-olds from Too Darn Hot and from Night Of Thunder’s best bred crop, plus the first two-yearolds from the best ever crop of Dubawi’s other excellent stallion New Bay, Dubawi’s reputation as a sire of sires ought to flourish.

The Coolmore pair Wootton Bassett and Justify are the only other sires represented by as many as three

active stallions. And his tally of 2023 juvenile Group winners is up to five, equalling his previous best 2019 crop, which featured Coroebus and Darley’s new recruit for 2024, Modern Games.

Incidentally, Ancient Wisdom is his sire’s fourth winner of the Autumn Stakes, following Ghaiyyath, One Ruler and Coroebus.

It must be very pleasing for connections that Dubawi’s son Too Darn Hot also has two representatives among the top 20 juveniles. His 112-rated Dewhurst Stakes runner-up Alyanaabi looks progressive while his Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes winner Fallen Angel (110p) could quite possibly have given Opera Singer all sorts of trouble in the Marcel Boussac had she not been retired for the season. Then there’s his Group 2 May Hill and Group 3 Prestige Stakes winner Darnation, whose Timeform mark of 105 places her just outside the top 20. All in all, a very pleasing start for Too Darn Hot with more to come next season no doubt.

Another Dubawi son who possibly ought to have had a runner among this elite group is Night Of Thunder. His current group of youngsters are the first to represent him since breeders had full understanding of his capabilities, but there are plenty of very promising types among his 28 winners, including Listed scorer Al Musmak (107) and the Group 2

“Too Darn Hot also has two representatives among the top 20 juveniles” juveniles rated 109 or higher in Europe, the Wootton Bassett-sired Bucanero Fuerte, Unquestionable and River Tiber being very much summer two-year-olds when compared to Justify’s three which also include Europe’s second highestrated filly in Ramatuelle – a filly with the form to land the Group 1 Cheveley Park Stakes had she contested it.

What is fascinating about Wootton Bassett’s stud career is his obvious bias toward two-year-olds, something we do not given him credit for perhaps because he came up with a truly top-class mile-and-a-quarter horse in Almanzor in his first crop. As many as 20 of his 38 stakes winners have won black-type races at two, so it will be interesting to see if his Coolmore crops change that relationship.

Given that he’s sired three excellent youngsters from his last Haras d’Etreham-bred crop, the mind boggles as to what he might achieve from his next three crops, each of which contain at least double the number of well-bred horses than he’s ever had before.

Moreover, there are plenty out of mares by that stallion-making broodmare sire Galileo, who is already responsible for the dam of Wootton Basset’s Group 1 National Stakes hero Al Riffa.

Finally, a word of praise for Darley’s other first-season sire Blue Point, whose two representatives might just make us alter our opinion of his future prospects, given that he not only has a speed ball in the 114-rated Big Evs, but a top-class miler in the making in the shape of Rosallion. The latter colt was very impressive when coming back from defeat in the Champagne Stakes to land the Group 1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere with a fine turn of foot.

TIMEFORM TOP-RATED TWO-YEAR-OLDS IN EUROPE 2023 Rk

TFR

Name

Sex

Sire

Dam

Broodmare Sire

Best Run (to October 20)

1

125p

CITY OF TROY

C

Justify

Together Forever

Galileo

1st Dewhurst S. - G1, Superlative S. - G2

2

120p

HENRY LONGFELLOW

C

Dubawi

Minding

Galileo

1st National S. - G1, Futurity S. - G2

3

119p

VANDEEK

C

Havana Grey

Mosa Mine

Exceed And Excel

1st Middle Park S. - G1, Prix Morny - G1

4

118

ANCIENT WISDOM

C

Dubawi

Golden Valentine

Dalakhani

1st Autumn S. - G3

5

117

BUCANERO FUERTE

C

Wootton Bassett

Frida La Blonde

Elusive City

1st Phoenix S. - G1, Railway S. - G2

6

116p

ROSALLION

C

Blue Point

Rosaline

New Approach

1st Prix Jean Luc Lagardere - G1, Champagne S. - G2

7

114p

ARABIAN CROWN

C

Dubawi

Dubai Rose

Dubai Destination

1st Zetland S. - G3

114p

OPERA SINGER

F

Justify

Liscanna

Sadler’s Wells

1st Prix Marcel Boussac - G1, Newtownanner Stud S. - G3

114

BIG EVS

C

Blue Point

Hana Lina

Oasis Dream

1st Flying Childers S. - G2, Molecomb S. - G3

114

DANCING GEMINI

C

Camelot

Lady Adelaide

Australia

1st Flying Scotsman S. - Listed 2nd Prix Jean Luc Lagardere - G1

9 11

113

UNQUESTIONABLE

C

Wootton Bassett

Strawberry Lace

Sea The Stars

12

112p

BEAUVATIER

C

Lope De Vega

Enchanting Skies

Sea The Stars

1st Prix La Rochette - G3

112

ALYANAABI

C

Too Darn Hot

Alyamaama

Kitten’s Joy

1st Tattersalls S. - G3

111p

TASK FORCE

C

Frankel

Special Duty

Hennessy

2nd Middle Park S. - G1

111

RAMATUELLE

F

Justify

Raven’s Lady

Raven’s Pass

1st Prix Robert Papin - G2, Prix du Bois - G3

14 16

19

110p

FALLEN ANGEL

F

Too Darn Hot

Agnes Stewart

Lawman

1st Moyglare S. - G1, Sweet Solera S. -G3

110p

GHOSTWRITER

C

Invincible Spirit

Moorside

Champs Elysees

1st Royal Lodge S. - G2

110

RIVER TIBER

C

Wootton Bassett

Transcendence

Arcano

1st Coventry S. - G2

109p

ARMY ETHOS

C

Shalaa

Dream Dana

Dream Ahead

2nd Coventry S. - G2

109p

EBEN SHADDAD

C

Calyx

Galileo’s Lady

Galileo

3rd Dewhurst S. - G1

109p

INQUISITIVELY

C

Ten Sovereigns

Ballyalla

Mind Games

1st Cornwallis S. - G3

109

IBERIAN

C

Lope De Vega

Bella Estrella

High Chaparral

1st Champagne S. - G2

THE OWNER BREEDER

59

Caulfield Files

The alchemist’s touch – the rise of Havana Grey

60

THE OWNER BREEDER

BILL SELWYN

O

ne of the breeding industry’s most fascinating attractions is its constant ability to surprise. Just when you think you know the rules, along comes a break-out stallion whose success is far from predictable.

In fairly recent decades, breeders operating on a limited budget have had plenty of chances to access stallions destined to soar out of their price bracket.

Ahonoora, Alzao, Fairy King, Night Shift and Indian Ridge all did so well at modest fees that they were ultimately snapped up by major stallion farms. Since then we have witnessed rags-to-riches stories by the likes of Danehill Dancer, Pivotal, Invincible Spirit, Kodiac, Dark Angel, Siyouni and Wootton Bassett.

To illustrate the point, Danehill Dancer’s highest published fee was €115,000, after he had started out at IR4,000gns; Pivotal’s high point was £85,000, many times his original £6,000; and the evergreen Invincible Spirit did so well that his fee rose to €120,000, 12 times his opening price. Invincible Spirit’s threeparts brother Kodiac peaked at €65,000 after beginning at a bargain-basement €5,000, while Dark Angel merited a rise to €85,000, even though his original fee of €10,000 quickly fell to €7,000. Siyouni and Wootton Bassett both stood the 2023 season at €150,000, and may yet rise higher, though they were respectively priced at €7,000 and €6,000 on their retirement.

There’s a good chance that the next name to be added to the list will be that of Havana Grey, Whitsbury Manor Stud’s rising star. His achievements have been far better than might have been predicted for a stallion whose fee in his early years dropped from £8,000 to £6,500 and then to £6,000 in his third and fourth seasons.

At the time of writing, the son of Prix Jean Prat winner Havana Gold has been represented by seven winners at Group level and eight at Listed level, while seven others have Group placings to their credit.

With four Listed-placed animals, that’s 26 stakes performers from two crops.

As many as 18 of them come from a first crop of 115, with eight from a second crop of 109. That second-crop total is surely set to rise further, as the Havana Greys are not just two-year-olds – six of the ten first-crop black-type winners won

Havana Grey: star Whitsbury Manor Stud sire is proving capable of upgrading his mares

black-type events at three, including Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Mammas Girl and the smart Shouldvebeenaring, who was beaten only a neck in the Betfair Sprint Cup. Havana Grey himself was fast and precocious, to the extent that he was winning for the fourth time when he led throughout to defeat Invincible Army in the Molecomb Stakes at the beginning of August. He was no specialist two-year-old, though. He trained on so well that he added two Group victories at the Curragh, taking the Sapphire Stakes and the first running of the Flying Five Stakes, in which he again led most of the way.

Critics were quite harsh about the standard of the Flying Five, with Timeform saying it fell some way short of Group 1 standard – a view no doubt based partly on Havana Grey’s efforts in three other Group 1 events, in which he finished fifth, eighth and 12th.

While there may be some dissent over whether Havana Grey was a worthy Group 1 winner, no such criticism can be levelled at his excellent son Vandeek. This 625,000gns breeze-up buy followed in Havana Grey’s footsteps in taking the Molecomb Stakes but then fared better than his sire when sent to Deauville for the Prix Morny. Whereas Havana Grey had been caught in the final furlong when second in a non-vintage edition in 2017, Vandeek faced a serious rival in the form of Ramatuelle, a filly who had won Group races on her two most recent starts by margins of five lengths and four lengths.

Vandeek managed to catch Ramatuelle close home, before going on to land a

second Group 1 with his impressive display in the Middle Park Stakes.

All this success meant that many of the breeders who were brave enough to use Havana Grey in his third season received terrific value for their £6,000 investment.

As many as 20 of Havana Grey’s 2023 sales yearlings achieved six-figure sums, including colts which sold for 600,000gns, 425,000gns and 320,000gns. The average price for the 64 sold fell little short of 100,000gns. Havana Grey’s sales statistics paint an interesting picture of the way his career is going. The average for his first three crops has been roughly 28,000gns, 58,000gns and 98,000gns, with the median standing at 30,000gns, 42,000gns and 62,000gns.

Those 2023 yearlings come from a crop numbering more than 90 and Havana Grey was again very popular in his fourth season, when he’s credited with covering 166 mares. The Whitsbury Manor team are to be congratulated in maintaining so much interest in the young stallion in those often very difficult third and fourth years. No doubt it helped that Havana Grey’s first foals had included colts that sold for 130,000gns and €135,000.

In assessing any stallion it is essential to look at the material with which he’s been working. It is very much in Havana Grey’s favour that he seems to have an alchemist’s touch – appropriately, in a son of Havana Gold. While I hesitate to describe any mare as base metal, the mares responsible for producing Havana Grey’s 15 black-type winners were not especially gifted. Eleven of them had

Bloodstock world views official ratings in the 50s, 60s or 70s and only one was out of a black-type winner.

So Whitsbury Manor can truthfully claim that here is a stallion who upgrades his mares – something he shares with those rags-to-riches stallions mentioned earlier.

The Whitsbury influence shows in the list of stallions responsible for the dams of Havana Grey’s black-type horses. Swiss Spirit, Cadeaux Genereux, Sakhee’s Secret, Foxwedge, Compton Place and Showcasing all represented the Whitsbury brand, with Showcasing representing another example of the farm’s ability to “make” a stallion. After spending three of his first four seasons at £4,500, Showcasing’s fee was to peak at £55,000.

The success of Havana Grey’s first crop in 2022 sent his fee up to £18,500 and a breeding right to him sold for 115,000gns in November last year. That breeding right already looks a bargain and will no doubt look even more so when his 2024 fee is announced.

Different partners

Of course, a substantial rise in a stallion’s fee can change the nature of the mares sent to him, with the emphasis often moving away from the speedy mares responsible for the stallion’s early success.

Even though Havana Grey is himself inbred 4 x 3 to Danzig’s fast son Green Desert and has a line of Danehill, much of his success as a stallion has been based on mares with more Danzig blood, often from the Danehill line. His five runners out of Exceed And Excel mares are all winners, including Vandeek and the Listed winners Holguin and Royal Grey.

Danehill’s sons Holy Roman Emperor and Dansili and grandson Foxwedge are also among the broodmare sires of Havana Grey’s black-type winners. Also on the list are Danzig’s son Elnadim (damsire of Group 3 winner Mammas Girl). Several of the good winners have three or more lines to Green Desert, the most notable being the Group 3 two-year-old winner Elite Status, with four lines (4x5x4x4).

During his 16-race career, Havana Grey only once tackled a distance as long as six furlongs, so he was very much a specialist sprinter. This raises the question of how he will fare with a more Classic type of mare which goes hand in hand with a substantially higher fee. His connections will have nothing to fear if his career follows a similar trajectory to those of Indian Ridge and Pivotal, two other major five-furlong winners that made their name with their early English crops.

Indian Ridge was the most versatile of the three, as his first Group success came over seven furlongs in the Jersey Stakes.

However, his last and most important success came over five furlongs in the King’s Stand Stakes, a race which also ranked among Pivotal’s best wins.

There is another common thread between the three stallions: the pedigrees of all three contained some stamina elements. Perhaps these will prove as useful to Havana Grey as they were for Indian Ridge and Pivotal when stamina became more of a feature in their mares.

Indian Ridge’s sire Ahonoora was brilliantly fast at his best, as he first displayed when blitzing the opposition in the Stewards’ Cup. Ahonoora’s speed later brought him victories in the King George Stakes and York’s Sprint Championship.

Although Ahonoora came from a very fast female line, his sire Lorenzaccio will always

“I suspect his main talent will remain his ability to pass on his own speed” be best remembered for beating a below-par Nijinsky in the Champion Stakes.

Lorenzaccio’s stamina helped Ahonoora sire a wide range of winners, including several very smart middledistance Group winners, headed by Derby winner Dr Devious. Indian Ridge followed suit. While he shone primarily as a sire of sprinters and milers, such as Ridgewood Pearl (Irish 1,000 Guineas and Breeders’ Cup Mile), Domedriver (Breeders’ Cup Mile), Namid (Prix de l’Abbaye), Compton Place (July Cup), Cassandra Go (King’s Stand Stakes) and Indian Haven (Irish 2,000 Guineas), there was also a sizeable number of smart middle-distance performers out of daughters of such as Sadler’s Wells, Kahyasi, Unfuwain, Alleged and Bering. There were also fast performers out of mares by Secreto and Darshaan, so sometimes his speed proved dominant.

One of the most notable middledistance winners was his son Definite Article, who went very close to winning the Irish Derby, despite having another top sprinter, Moorestyle, as his broodmare sire. Indian Ridge even sired the occasional stayer, such as Patkai, winner of the Queen’s Vase and Sagaro Stakes.

It was a similar story with Pivotal, even though he gained both of his important

victories over five furlongs. He went on to sire numerous Group 1 middle-distance winners, such as Sariska (Oaks and Irish Oaks), Addeybb and Farhh (winners of the Champion Stakes), African Story (Dubai World Cup), Avilius (Tancred Stakes), Siyarafina and Queen’s Jewel (both winners of the Prix Saint-Alary), Izzi Top and Chorist (winners of the Pretty Polly Stakes), Buzzword (Deutsches Derby) and Halfway To Heaven (Nassau Stakes). In addition, the brothers Wings Of Desire and Eagle Top both finished second in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

The explanation was that all four of Pivotal’s grandparents – Nureyev, Marie d’Argonne, Cozzene and Stufida – had stayed at least a mile. Indeed, Marie d’Argonne and Stufida had both won over a mile and a quarter, with Marie d’Argonne being tried at up to 13.5 furlongs. This stamina resurfaced when Pivotal was mated to daughters of such as Lando, In The Wings, Muhtarram, Azamour and Sunday Silence, but also occasionally with mares by speedier stallions.

The main potential source of stamina in Havana Grey’s pedigree is his grandsire, the champion two-year-old Teofilo. The fact that Teofilo never raced after the age of two means that we never learned the extent of his stamina, but he represents the same Galileo-Danehill cross as Frankel, as well as the important mile-and-a-half winners Japan, Mogul and Highland Reel and the stayers Kyprios and Search For A Song.

Plenty of Teofilo’s progeny have displayed a good measure of stamina. For example, his very productive partnership with daughters of the terrifically speedy Oasis Dream has yielded such as Twilight Payment, winner of the two-mile Melbourne Cup. Another of his sons, Cross Counter, was also successful in the Melbourne Cup, even though his dam Waitress did her winning at around seven furlongs. Other examples of Teofilo’s latent stamina include Subjectivist, winner of the Prix Royal-Oak and Gold Cup despite being inbred 3 x 3 to the Group 1 six-furlong winner Danehill. Then there’s Scope, another winner of the Prix Royal-Oak. His dam Look So was typical of her sire Efisio in that she did her winning over seven furlongs and a mile.

The chances are, then, that Havana Grey will sire the occasional smart performer over a mile and a quarter or more as his career progression brings him more mares with middle-distance pedigrees. I suspect, though, that his main talent will remain his ability to pass on his own speed and toughness.

THE OWNER BREEDER

61

Breeding Forum

Laura Steley

A lightbulb moment: the importance of artificial lighting and the circadian clock

T

he business of breeding thoroughbreds is nothing short of a fine art. There are so many variables and external factors to consider – every mare and stallion will have individualities and preferences and it is unrealistic to expect that our mares will stick to the ‘physiological textbook’ when it comes to cycling and fertility.

There have been and are many ongoing studies into what breeders, studs, owners and vets can do in order to optimise mare health and fertility which is conducive to an easy conception and the delivery of a healthy foal. Due to the restraints of the way we age and race our thoroughbreds, an early birthdate is an advantage and therefore this is what breeders will aim for each year. This is not always an easy task – we are essentially asking our mares to conceive at a time of the year that is often unnatural to them.

Anything we can do to help facilitate this will be an advantage for all involved.

Mares are polyoestrous, meaning that they have more than one period of oestrus per year/breeding season. Under natural conditions, mares enter oestrus (begin their heat cycles/become fertile) in mid-April to early May and transition back to anoestrus (become infertile) around the end of September to early October. The transition from anoestrus to oestrus is in response to the lengthening daylight hours rather than warmer weather conditions, which is a common misconception. This timing is perfect for undomesticated horses as it facilitates foals being born when the weather is warmer, and forage is at its optimum.

There will be some mares that cycle outside of these time periods, but they will be few and far between.

Mares have an oestrous cycle of approximately 21 days with two distinct phases. The oestrous phase (in heat) usually lasts for six days, but can be four and ten days, depending on the mare. The dioestrus phase (out of heat) is normally 15 days but may vary from 12-18 days.

Ovulation, the release of the egg from the ovary, can occur at any time during the oestrus phase. However, it normally transpires 24-48 hours before the end of the heat period.

The first heat period of the season is often ‘discounted’ as an opportunity to cover due to associated low conception

The body clock is controlled by the daily 24-hour rhythms in light and dark exposure

rates, even if the mare is showing sexual receptivity. The follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) is one of the first hormones to rise during the transition from anoestrus to oestrus. FSH triggers the ovaries to produce egg-filled follicles that ovulate after stimulation by the luteinizing hormone (LH). However, during this first heat cycle LH is often much slower to rise. This can frequently lead to mares sitting on large follicles which don’t ovulate – often vets will inject LH to force ovulation and allow the cycle to complete Some studs may choose to short cycle all maiden/barren mares on their first cycle, in order to hopefully speed up the process of getting to the second more fertile one. Foaling mares will usually enter ‘foal heat’ around seven to ten days post foaling, and normal cycling should resume from that cycle onwards.

As mentioned previously, mares will enter oestrus naturally each year as the hours of daylight begin to lengthen in spring – this is due to their circannual clock. As seasonal breeders, horses use the changing daylight hours to time important annual events such as reproductive activity, foaling, growth and lactation. The daily light signal is interpreted by the horse’s circadian system, or ‘body clock’. The circadian

clock is present in almost every cell of all mammals and is responsible for regulating most aspects of physiology and behaviour. The body clock is controlled by the daily 24-hour rhythms in light and dark exposure and functions in almost every tissue and organ – the ‘master clock’ is housed in the brain. The duration, quality and consistency of light and dark regulate an important hormone called melatonin, which has far-reaching effects on the mare throughout the year.

By altering the daily signal to the circadian clock, it helps us to regulate mares’ seasonal reproductive cycle so that they cycle earlier in the year and are ready for cover when the NH covering season begins on February 15. We can essentially trick a mare’s reproductive system into thinking it is time to transition from anoestrus to oestrus earlier, and have been doing this in the thoroughbred industry for many decades. It is common practice for maiden and barren mares to be brought in from paddocks and put under standard lights from November/ December time. This regime has been known to decease gestation periods by up to two weeks in foaling mares.

Following many in-depth studies, we now understand blue light to be preferable over standard lighting, yielding

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Breeding Forum ›› significant results. Ali Howe, Sales &

Marketing Manager at HorseLight, comments: “Our unique HorseLight system delivers a specific spectrum of light which replicates natural summer daylight. HorseLight has been designed to deliver >200 lux of blue light that when installed at eye level is scientifically proven to control melatonin release.

“Working together with our HorseLight controller and a light sensor, stabled horses will benefit from natural daylight conditions and the seasonal lengthening and shortening of the daylight periods, optimising their health, wellbeing, performance, and breeding capabilities.”

The ideal programme is to provide 15-16 hours of light per day. On average, mares will ovulate after exposure to 70 days of this lighting regime. Lighting can also be fitted with equal affect in barns that are commonly used at studs that may have to restrict grazing due to adverse weather and/or have limited turnout. A blue light mask, which provides timed lighting to just one eye each day after dusk, is useful where mares remain outdoors with natural shelter. The masks are proven to be successful in stimulating mares’ reproductive systems for early ovulations.

The University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna has published research recently which supports the benefits of using a blue light mask in pregnant mares. The results displayed that the time between foaling and first postpartum ovulation was decreased in mares wearing the blue light mask for 15 hours a day, beginning in mid-December and ceasing 20 days post foaling. The mares wearing the masks ovulated on foal heat five days earlier than the mares receiving no artificial light.

Gestation length was also decreased, with foals being smaller in height and length (carpus to elbow distance) but of same body weight and chest circumference.

Higher white blood cell birth ratios and decreased hair length suggested increased foal maturity and thus evidence of blue light stimulatory effects on foetal maturation. Foals were also seen to get to their feet 15 minutes quicker if the mare had been wearing a blue light mask.

Colostrum IgG concentration and foal heat conception rates were not seen to differ significantly. This research could be particularly beneficial for mares prone to being late foalers, which can compromise the health of both the mare and foal, and mares that are known to produce very large foals, which can be a worry for all involved and cause potentially serious consequences if the foal is too large for the mare to birth unassisted.

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Red light has been seen to promote rest and deeper sleep

Associate Professor Barbara Murphy, University College Dublin and Founder & CSO of Equilume, says: “The quality of the light the mare receives in an artificial lighting programme has a powerful effect on her health and reproductive physiology. While there is no question that blue light masks advance early season ovulations as effectively as stable lighting, research findings and breeders agree that the benefits of blue light for pregnant mares is just as significant.

“By exposing pregnant mares to extended daily artificial light via masks during the last trimester, mares foal sooner, foals are born more mature, and post-foaling fertility is improved.”

LED lighting study

A recent study undertaken by University College Dublin looked into the impact of blue-enriched white (daytime) and red (night-time) LED lighting compared to standard incandescent stable lighting on the horse’s body clock – and the results were fascinating. In the study, follicle cells from plucked mane hairs, which contain their own body clock, were evaluated at the start and end of the 20-week study to determine if there was a difference in the daily rhythm of genes that were turned on and off. Both groups were set to matching timed light routines, and all were of good health with no significant management differences throughout the study – the only circadian cue that varied was the quality and consistency of the environmental lighting.

Following analysis, the clock gene rhythms within the hair follicles of the horses stabled under the LED lighting system were significantly stronger. This provides initial evidence that timed LED lighting can improve circadian clock timings within the peripheral tissue of horses. As the body clock controls almost all aspects of physiology, improved circadian timing will help maintain the health of stabled horses. An important

conclusion was that white light pollution in stables at night-time, such as occurs when horses are checked at night, is detrimental to the body clock and can be avoided by using low intensity red light.

Howe continues: “Red light has no effect on melatonin release but has been seen to promote rest and deeper sleep, while giving sufficient light to check, feed, foal down and arrive home late etc without having to switch on main lights and disturb the resting horses. Exposure to a diurnal pattern of blue light during the day and red light overnight using products such as HorseLight in stabled horses may help to improve performance and welfare, particularly in performance horses and those that are travelling and competing around the world.”

The use of specialised artificial lighting for mares is something that all breeders and stud managers should consider, particularly if they are encountering conception problems. The circadian clock is so fundamental for equine (and human) health and behaviour that it can be of benefit for horses in many different situations. Murphy adds: “Better understanding and application of lighting regimes for breeding stock is a win/win for the breeder and the animals.”

As the research grows, new and innovative ways of exposing horses to artificial light are being developed, making it much more accessible and cost effective. As equine professionals, one of the most important parts of daily management is adhering to a timely routine in which horses thrive.

Interestingly, horses’ circadian rhythms are synchronised by other external factors, such as meal-time, exercise regimes and turnout practices. This is something we already do well as an industry and by paying more attention to the effects of light exposure, it is another very important part of the ever-changing jigsaw puzzle of caring for thoroughbreds in the exceptional way they deserve.

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+ Equine Health Update The importance of nutrition when preparing broodmares for the breeding season Words: Laura Steley

GEORGE SELWYN

A

s the Flat racing season draws to a close, there will be many filles leaving training to start their new careers as broodmares. Studs will be looking towards preparing their established broodmares alongside any maidens or additional boarding mares for the 2024 breeding season. Managing the nutritional requirements of the broodmare is a vital component for health and breeding success. Insufficient or incorrect feeding can affect fertility, milk production/quality, and the skeletal development and growth of the foal.

Understanding the nutritional needs of the barren and in-foal mare can be complex.

There are many factors to consider, such as age, climate, forage quality, pre-existing health conditions, breeding history, due date and body condition.

The most important nutritional component for any mare, regardless of status, is the availability of good quality ad-lib forage. A study conducted at the Tunisian national breeding facility in Sidi Thabet looked into the connection between forage availability and conception rates. One hundred mature mares (aged four to 21) were divided into two groups. The first group were on limited feeding and provided with 10kg of hay overnight in their stables. The second group were on a continuous feeding regime, receiving the same 10kg of hay per day but it was split in half – 5kg in the day and 5kg overnight.

All mares were on an identical management regime for all other aspects, stabled for 17 hours and turned out for seven hours per day. They were all fed the exact same amount of barley as concentrated feed, and readiness for covering was assessed via teasing, rectal palpation and ultrasound scanning.

The conception rate for the mares in the continuous feeding group was 81% with two oestrus irregularities. The conception rate for the mares in the limited feeding group was 55% with 16 oestrus irregularities.

The results suggest that ensuring forage is available throughout the day/ night, and therefore mimicking horses’ natural way of feeding, can help to maximise the chance and efficiency of conception. This may be largely related to the long-proven nutrition-related

Good quality ad-lib forage is an essential nutritional component for mares

stress which horses can suffer due to inappropriate feeding regimes, incorrect nutritional content and restricted forage.

It has been proven that horses can experience gastro-intestinal discomfort if deprived of food for only one or two hours and this stress often manifests itself in stereotypical behaviours and gastric ulcers. This can become more of a risk when mares are brought into stables prior to the covering season to be put under lights. Careful consideration should be given to ensure adequate forage is available during this period of stabling.

A good quality forage, most commonly hay for breeding stock, will have adequate levels of protein, fibre and minerals – calcium, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, copper and zinc. Chemical analysis is an integral part of assessing hay quality, alongside the checks we can carry out ourselves, such as the smell and assessing dust levels. It is important that the quality of protein within the diet is evaluated as well as the crude protein. The amino acids lysine and methionine are of the utmost importance; a deficiency can cause abortion or poor milk quality.

Fibre is essential to support gut motility and a minimum of 1.5% of bodyweight per day in dry matter should be consumed. Insufficient fibre intake can lead to a lack of stomach acid buffering and instability of the hindgut microbiome, causing an increased

risk of digestive disturbances. A costeffective way to ensure fibre intake in stabled mares is to feed a fast-soaking sugar beet. Maintaining a healthy gut microflora population is essential in ensuring optimal health, fibre digestion and subsequent energy conversion.

Copper and zinc are often low in UK soils.

Copper is required for healthy coats and hooves, alongside maintaining red blood cell function. It is also well known as a contributing factor to foals developing developmental orthopaedic diseases (DODs) if the mare is deficient. Zinc is thought to be involved with oocyte development and follicle growth.

Most reputable feed companies will add copper and zinc to their balancers and hard feeds as standard. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been proven to be beneficial to mare fertility. They are known to aid ovulation, assist maintenance of early pregnancy and quicken uterine involution post foaling.

This essential fatty acid is readily available during the spring and summer months via pasture, but supplementation in the form of linseed or flax oil during autumn and winter may be required.

Maiden mares will often need more thought and preparation for cover than an older more established broodmare.

Firstly, the filly/mare will go through a significant lifestyle change after leaving training. The process of letting them

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+ Equine Health Update generally they will be put out to pasture with a friend or in a herd of other maidens fairly swiftly upon arrival. Full attention must be paid to their body condition.

Using the Henneke 9-point system, fit racehorses will usually be around a 3-4, ideally broodmares should maintain a score of 5-7. Mares with body condition scores of 4 and below at covering have been shown to be more likely to suffer from irregular ovulation, reduced conception rates and an increased chance of early embryonic loss or absorption.

Louise Jones, a nutritionist at Connolly’s RED MILLS, comments: “The amount of feed required by a maiden mare will be dependent upon her condition and how long you have prior to covering.

Body condition can have an impact on fertility and it should be monitored closely, whether too lean or obese, it can potentially have a negative impact.”

Some mares will gain weight naturally through the increased forage intake and now non-existent exercise regime.

For fillies requiring a little extra, a specifically targeted breeding stock balancer or stud mix may be necessary, especially once the colder weather sets in. By selecting a high-quality feed from a reputable company, you can ensure the correct balance of nutrients in a highly digestible form.

“Mares in poor body condition may require more cycles per conception” Another point to consider is hoof condition following the removal of shoes.

Biotin is a great supplement to help improve hoof growth – this may well be included in the concentrate or balancer (if fed). The time of year in which the filly/mare leaves training will also affect management practices. Ideally a couple of months or more is needed to allow them to fully let down, however, if they have continued to race over the winter this may not be possible. In this case it might be beneficial to choose a higher calorie, low starch feed until the filly/ mare is settled and wean off gradually.

Consideration should also be given to ensuring maidens are kept warm

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GEORGE SELWYN

›› down will differ between studs, but

Copper is required for healthy coats and also hooves

enough. Again, this is dependant on when they arrive at stud, if they have had a while to settle into living out then their coats should have adjusted and they will thermoregulate accordingly. Usually, good quality ad-lib forage will provide enough calories to sustain their body temperature – we need to avoid the filly/ mare using excess calories to keep warm rather than gaining body condition.

Also, the age of the maiden mare should be taken into consideration; if she is particularly young, a bone supplement may be beneficial to support skeletal development and health. A high-quality protein source, such as soya, will also be advantageous. Soya is also important for hoof condition; this became more apparent when the price of soya increased in 2020 and therefore the levels within commercial feeds were decreased. Many studs noticed a marked decline in hoof quality, with associated quarter cracks.

The main objective for barren and rested mares is to ensure early cycling, thus increasing the chance of early conception. Barren and rested mares’ body condition will need to be monitored in the lead up to the covering season, particularly if they are older. If they are looking a little too well, an effort should be made to support weight loss before cover. An obese mare is more likely to suffer fertility issues. Mares in poor body condition may require more cycles per conception, have lower conception rates, and are later in their transition from dioestrus to oestrus. If a lack of condition is observed following the climatic changes and dip in grass nutrient content, a targeted balancer or hard feed can be implemented. This will usually coincide with the mare being put under

lights in November/December time and it mimics what would naturally occur later in the spring when lush grass would result in increased body fat stores. This is also very useful as you can ensure the individual is receiving the offered feed, which is much trickier when feeding outside in a herd environment.

Any change in environment or lifestyle can have a negative impact on weight gain. If the mare is moving to a boarding stud until safely in foal, it is in her best interests to make sure she has gained the appropriate weight prior to departure.

Regarding in foal and subsequently lactating mares, the aim is to maintain optimal body condition throughout the year. This being a score of 5-7, they may show a slight crease on the back and a soft fat pad can be felt at the tailhead. If a broodmare becomes overweight during gestation, it is important that we don’t restrict their calories too quickly, as this could negatively affect the growth and development of the unborn foal. Essential vitamins and minerals must still be provided via a balancer or similar. Jones adds: “The most appropriate feed for the broodmare will depend on her body condition, the quality of forage available and when she is due to foal.

“For example, a mare foaling early in the year (Jan/Feb) is likely to require a higher concentrate intake than a mare foaling in May, when the availability and nutritional content of the pasture improves.”

Obesity can be a serious problem and may reduce fertility, increase the risk of problems such as insulin resistance and laminitis and potentially predispose the foal to DODs after birth. As discussed at the Thoroughbred Growth Forum

››

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SAFFRON BEACH

Winning the 2022 Royal Ascot Duke of Cambridge Stakes

+ Equine Health Update ›› last year, in conjunction with Kentucky

late gestation and lactation; most stud feeds are adequately supplemented Equine Research and Saracen, weighing for this demand. Jones says: “In the broodmares regularly can be a useful last few months of pregnancy, the foal tool, especially for long standing mares occupies much of the abdominal cavity, where data can be collected from so it’s common for the mare’s appetite season to season. In-foal mares from and total feed intake to be reduced. seven months of pregnancy will require At this point it is beneficial to add a additional nutrients to sustain themselves small amount of Connolly’s RED MILLS and their rapidly growing foetus.

PerformaCare Balancer to the ration, Jones continues: “During the last which provides a highly concentrated trimester there is an increased rate of source of essential micronutrients. nutrient transfer across the placenta “Our Care range of feeds contain and the mare’s requirements for most several ingredients to support colostrum nutrients increases substantially. quality; several clinical trials have shown Dietary deficiencies during this stage that supplementing mares with a live can result in the mare utilising her own yeast probiotic during late pregnancy body reserves, resulting in weight loss, has multiple benefits, including improved reduced birth weights and potentially an colostrum quality. Equally, feeding increased risk of DODs in the foal.” mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) and Broodmares require increased energy, good levels of vitamin E, an important calcium, phosphorus, and high-quality antioxidant, have also been shown to protein. Trace mineral supplementation impact colostrum IgG levels.” must be adequate to allow the foetus to Broodmares are commonly staying in store iron, zinc, copper, and magnesium production a lot longer these days and are to sustain growth during the first few often having more foals over the course months when the mare’s milk does not of their lifetime, assisted by advances in provide these nutrients. Also, a mare’s science along with better veterinary care, vitamin A requirement is doubled during naf-racing-fertility-180x128mm-22-haworth-V2.qxp_Layout 1 15/11/2022 09:42 Page 1

meaning horses are staying healthier for longer. The older broodmare needs will be very similar to that of their younger counterparts, however more attention should be paid to their body condition and ensuring the utilisation of nutrients.

Age can often have a detrimental effect on gastro-intestinal efficiency, so it is important to make sure that the nutrition we provide is easily digestible.

Pre and pro biotics are particularly useful in supporting the gastro-intestinal tract.

All broodmares should have regular dental checks, but aged mares are more likely to encounter dental issues. This can make it harder to meet fibre and calorie requirements via forage alone. Softer, more digestible feeds may prove useful, such as dried grasses and mashes. Older mares may also be more sensitive to extreme weather conditions.

Finally, a well thought out and structured worm egg count and worming schedule is crucial to the health and wellbeing of all thoroughbreds, particularly broodmares who predominantly live out in herds most of the year.

IMPROVE MOTILITY • SPERM PRODUCTION • LIBIDO NAF HAS IT COVERED “Last season we fed all our stallions NAF Five Star Fertility as a matter of course. We found Fertility maximised conception rates throughout the season.

It has become part of our routine to keep each stallion performing at his best and we will be keeping them on it next year for sure!”

Phil Haworth, Whitsbury Manor Stud

Feed Five Star Fertility prior to the stud season and throughout to maintain and develop fertility in hard working stallions. Five Star Fertility is especially beneficial when fertility limiting behaviour is seen or when previous seasons have resulted in poor performance.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Sammy Martin, Racing Manager, NAF. Call 07980 922041 or email smartin@naf-uk.com

R A C I N G F I V E S TA R T R E AT M E N T FOR THE GOOD OF THE RACEHORSE

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SUPPORTING OWNERS EVERY STEP OF THE WAY ROA MEMBERSHIP PROVIDES: Third party liability insurance* Access to Tote Ownership Sponsorship Scheme VAT reclaim help and advice from ROA VAT Solution 20% discount on BHA registration fees Complimentary badge scheme

Scan QR code to view membership benefits www.roa.co.uk/benefits 01183 385 680

* Terms and Conditions apply.

See roa.co.uk/insurance for more details.

FEEDING FOR SUCCESS

PREPARING YOUR FOAL FOR THE SALES RING THE AIM OF FOAL SALES PREPARATION IS TO PRODUCE AN ATHLETIC YOUNGSTER WITH A CORRECT WALK THAT LOOKS HEALTHY AND IN GOOD BODY CONDITION TO CATCH THE BUYER’S EYE. recommend Connolly’s RED MILLS Foal & Yearling Mix. This highly palatable muesli has been specifically formulated to ensure optimum skeletal growth while also developing muscle and topline and maintaining a healthy coat to shine in the sales ring. Foal & Yearling Mix contains high quality protein sources, plus elevated levels of RED MILLS Pro Balance Vitamin and mineral package to support growth, development, and overall health.

Appropriate nutrition during sales preparation helps to ensure your foals achieve their maximum potential in the ring.

One of the most important aspects when preparing the foal for sale is to support correct bone and limb development during this critical growth period.

Overfeeding calories or under-feeding micronutrients may put them at increased risk of developmental orthopaedic diseases which will not only affect sales price but may also influence future potential on the track. The introduction of exercise during prep should be gradual and adjusted to suit each foal’s physical ability as excessively overloading the joints, especially the knees, can result in physitis.

Nutrition plays an essential role in bone and cartilage development. Correct intake of calcium and phosphorus is essential and should be provided in the ratio of 2:1 to optimise bone mineralisation and promote good bone formation.

Similarly, optimal intake of trace minerals such as copper, zinc, and manganese are necessary to promote a healthy environment within tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Quality protein intake is

Foal Prep Advertorial 2023 v1.indd 1

also key for ensuring appropriate skeletal and soft tissue development. Historically excessive protein was blamed as a cause of bone problems in youngsters, but this connection has long since been disproven and a protein deficient diet is likely to have a greater detrimental impact on bone health.

For foals that are ‘overtopped’ or showing signs of developmental problems it may be necessary to restrict energy intake by reducing the amount of feed they receive. Bear in mind that a decrease in feed quantity will also result in a reduced micronutrient intake. Similarly, later born foals can often experience periods of ‘compensatory’ growth during

The most appropriate diet for your foals during prep will depend on the individual.

It is important that diet allows a gradual increase in body condition for foals that are not already well covered. However, it is imperative that this is not overdone as it can lead to orthopaedic problems or obesity; for example, overfeeding a foal with straight limbs may cause them to go ‘upright’. For most individuals we

25/10/2023 16:42

“

“

Supplements can be incredibly useful during foal prep; allowing you to tailor the dietary support to the individual foal’s need or address any areas of concern.

prep and their growth plates are clearly positive effects on the immune and going to be more open than those of a respiratory systems, as well as providing foal born early in the year. Consequently, a healthy, shiny coat for the sales ring. it’s essential that calorie intake in not Another exceptionally useful supplement excessive, but that the diet remains during the prep period is Foran Equine’s fully balanced. Both these situations can Coppervit. Coppervit combines chelated be easily addressed by adding a small copper and manganese to support are bred, grazing is often limited and amount of our nutrient-dense GroCare skeletal and cartilage development, it’s nutritional value lowered.

Likewise, Balancer to the individual’s ration. vitamin E to support immune function and many soils are low in selenium, which On the other hand, some foals find the vitamin B12 to help maintain appetite. obviously has in impact on the selenium added workload taxing and begin to lose Generally, we recommend feeding value of grass or conserved forage grown weight during sales prep.

Coppervit for the first and last 2 weeks of on them. Lorraine Fradl, a nutritionist at RED MILLS Define & Shine can be sales prep.

Foran Equine, recommends giving mares added in small quantities to an already Finally, do consider using a calming extra vitamin E and selenium a month balanced diet to increase the calorie supplement. Sales complexes are busy before and a month after foaling; ”as well density of each meal. This high fat pellet as supporting fertilitytopline, antioxidants have places and foals can find travelling to will support condition, and coat and settling into this new environment Omega 3 Fatty Acids been shown to aid colostrum quality and skin health. It should be introducedand overwhelming.

This in turn can negatively Research has highlighted the benefits immune resistance in newborn foals.” slowly to allow the foal to adapt to the affect their behaviour, something of feeding omega 3 fatty acids to Likewise, for busy stallions, first season taste and the increased oil content. wepromote obviouslyfertility; want to they avoidhelp as apromote foal sires or those known to be sub-fertile, Supplements can be incredibly useful that is ‘playing up’ is to show sperm motility, aidunlikely ovulation, and Lorraine recommends supplementation during foal prep; allowing you to tailor maintenance of early pregnancy. prior to and during the covering season. the dietary support to the individual foal’s Horses diets are plentiful in omega Foran Equine produce need or address any areas of concern.

3 when they are eating green and V.S.L, a vitamin Oil is undoubtedly the most widely used growing grass in spring and summer.

E, selenium, supplement during sales prep and as it However, to replicate this for the and Lysine provides another useful source of extra Thoroughbred mare and stallion supplement, calories. However, not all oils are equal! supplementation with an oil rich in which is Foran Equine’s Kentucky Karron Oil is omega 3 fatty acids will be necessary. available in an emulsified linseed oil rich in omega 3 Louise Jones warns “not all oils are bothacids. a liquid fatty The benefits of omega 3 fatty equal – soya oil contains around 6 and powder. acids are widely reported and include

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Foal Prep Advertorial 2023 v1.indd 2 CRM Advertorial DPS A4.indd 3

themselves in the best light to potential vendors. Foran Equine Nutri-Calm Gel is ideal. These handy syringes contain L-tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin, to inhibit fear and stress, magnesium a key mineral for nerve function and B-vitamins to support the nervous system are also included.

Nutri-Calm is also available in a liquid, which can be fed daily throughout prep to any individual that’s struggling to cope with the stress of sales prep. times less omega 3 fatty acids While there is no magic formula to compared to linseed/ flax oil.” producing the ideal foal for the sales Consequently, she recommends ring, the key to a successful preparation breeders to choose oils such as is to produce a foal that buyers want.

Foran Equine Kentucky Karron Oil. The use of appropriate nutrition to meet requirements and support Breeding isadaptation, not an inexpensive physiological alongsidegame, the investing in providing optimal use of supplements to benefit immune nutrition helpthe to stress maximise the function andwill reduce of sales chances ofcan a successful pregnancy preparation, help produce that foal and inthe thebuyer’s long-term pay benefit dividends. to catch eye and your sales success.

To speak to a member of our To team speakabout to a member of ourrange team about our product or ournutritional product range or nutritional services contact:services contact: Louise Jones Louise Jones (UK)(UK) Head of Equine UKUK Head of Equine T: +44 7843 349054 T: +44 7843 349054 E: louise.jones@redmills.co.uk E: louise.jones@redmills.co.uk

Erin Campbell (IRE)(Ireland) Lorraine Fradl Equine Sales & Technical Specialist Senior Nutritionist T: +353 86 177 0688 T: +353 87 257 5398 E: erin.campbell@redmills.ie E: lorraine.fradl@redmills.ie

www.foranequine.com

25/10/2023 16:42 19/10/2022 20:57

ROA Forum

The special section for ROA members

BILL SELWYN

ROA Horseracing Awards – secure your early bird ticket rate

Awards contenders: Hukum (nearside) and Westover served up one of the finishes of the season in the King George at Ascot

T

he ROA Horseracing Awards returns for its 41st year, celebrating the stand-out performers of the 2022/23 National Hunt season and the current Flat campaign. Taking place on Thursday, December 7, the star-studded event will once again be held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London.

The glittering evening starts with a drinks reception, followed by a threecourse dinner with wine, before the Awards ceremony itself. The event will finish with dancing to the ever-popular Chance Band. It promises to be another

wonderful evening celebrating the best of British racing.

In 2022, Baaeed scooped the Horse of the Year award after a fine season which included victories in the Juddmonte International and Qatar Sussex Stakes, whilst Alpinista’s emotional Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe victory secured the Owner of the Year title for Kirsten Rausing.

With some fantastic performances at Cheltenham and Aintree from the likes of Constitution Hill and Galopin Des Champs, and standout triumphs on

the Flat from Hukum and Paddington, it is sure to be a close contest for the top awards again this year. Voting will commence at the beginning of November for all members of the ROA. Book early to take advantage of our early bird ticket rate of £235 (inc. VAT) or £2,250 (inc. VAT) for a table of ten.

This price ends on November 10 and the ticket price will increase to £260 (inc.

VAT) or £2,500 (inc. VAT) for a table of ten from November 11.

Tickets are now available at www.roa.co.uk/awards23.

Annual General Meeting to be held at Kempton Park The Racecourse Owners Association will hold its 79th Annual General Meeting at Kempton Park on Wednesday, November 15 at 11am.

The meeting will also be broadcast online for those members who are unable to attend in person.

This is the opportunity for ROA members to hear from their Board and management team about the progress made over the past year, plans for the next 12 months and beyond, and to hear the results of

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THE OWNER BREEDER

the election of new Board directors.

The meeting is followed by an eightrace card. Members can reserve their place, and book lunch if required, by visiting www.roa.co.uk/bookagm23.

Both options include a Grandstand ticket for the afternoon’s racing.

If you cannot attend the AGM but wish to submit a question to the Board, please email your question to agm@roa.co.uk.

The ROA is proud to be a diverse and inclusive organisation and aims to

ensure all our events are welcoming and enjoyable for everyone. If you require the assistance of a carer to attend our event, your carer will be warmly invited to join us as a guest of the President of the ROA. We are committed to making our events accessible to all attendees. If you have any additional requirements or questions about attending any of our events, please contact Ruth Diver at ruth@roa.co.uk or call 01183 385680.

Our contact details:

www.roa.co.uk • 01183 385680 • info@roa.co.uk @racehorseowners

RacehorseOwnersUK

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Reclaim your VAT costs

The ability to place a bet is an important part of the ownership experience

ROA: no affordability checks for racehorse owners The ROA has called for racehorse owners to be exempt from affordability checks proposed in the government’s white paper on gambling reform.

It is well known that many owners enter the sport because they enjoy having a bet, including on their own horse(s). A large number have already been subjected to financial checks and had their activity restricted, causing some to state that they will walk away from the sport altogether.

The ROA has formally responded to the govenment and proposed that any owner with the equivalent of at least one horse in training – including part shares – should not be subjected to affordability checks.

Charlie Liverton, ROA Chief Executive, said: “The role of the ROA is to represent and defend the interests of owners and to promote racehorse ownership.

“It is clearly bizarre that an

owner can spend tens of thousands of pounds or more purchasing a racehorse and further tens of thousands of pounds on training fees, both without any affordability checks, and then face potentially intrusive financial checks if they lose more than £2,000 over 90 days betting on them.

“It is hard to imagine that racehorse owners are the people that the government and the Gambling Commission have in mind with these affordability checks. We have therefore proposed a common-sense exemption.

“Stuart Andrew, the Minister, has always made it clear that he does not want to do anything to damage horseracing and that this is a genuine consultation where sensible proposals will be taken on board. He can prove that to be the case by agreeing to our proposal, which would certainly provide a welcome boost to the sport and to owners.”

Membership fees

was crucial for the business to be able to deliver on its aims and objectives.

The benefits of membership are increasingly significant and at a cost of 77p per day, they include: a 20% discount on BHA fees, which have increased over the last two years; an improved Racecourse Badge Scheme, which now covers over 1,300 fixtures; access to ROA Tote sponsorship at £100 per horse; a 20% discount on the ROA VAT Solution service; third party liability insurance, for which the premium has increased in each of the last three years; the Inside Track email delivered six days per week; the Owner Breeder magazine monthly; plus early access to events and racecourse offers.

ROA membership fees will be increasing from January 1, the first rise for almost four years. The fee for individual membership will now be £280, with joint membership (for two members living at the same address) £470.

The ROA has been representing the voice of owners in all of the industry discussions at a critical time of change.

This has included governance reviews of both the BHA and the ROA, as well as investment across technology and structure in order that the ROA can be as efficient and agile as possible to support the needs of you, our members, and owners. This investment

Are you eligible to reclaim your purchase VAT under the registration scheme for racehorse owners?

Whether you’re a sole owner, partnership, syndicate or racing club, you may be able to reclaim the VAT on your racing related activities if you meet the following criteria: • Own a minimum share of 50% in your racehorse(s).

• The racehorse is sponsored – the ROA provides Tote sponsorship for its members.

• The racehorse is registered with the BHA under the care and control of a UK based trainer.

If you are already VAT registered, did you know that appointing the ROA VAT Solution as your VAT Agent is as easy as 1, 2, 3?

1. Provide your VAT certificate and a copy of your most recent VAT submission.

2. Receive your unique HubDoc email address: HubDoc is a secure and efficient platform that simplifies the process of gathering and managing your financial documents. Your documents will never get lost again.

3. Sit back and wait for your VAT refund: let the ROA VAT Solution team take care of the rest. Your VAT return will be submitted accurately and on time, allowing you to spend more time on the sport that you love.

Why choose ROA VAT Solution?

• Competitive and transparent fees: Say goodbye to hidden fees – our fee structure is designed to be competitive and transparent.

• The personal touch: you will always speak to a real person who can address your VAT enquiries promptly and professionally.

• HMRC compliant accounting: our Xero accounting software is fully compliant with HMRC’s Making Tax Digital legislation, ensuring that your financial records meet all regulatory requirements.

To apply for a new registration or to make the switch with the ROA’s assistance, please contact Davina or Glen at vat@roa.co.uk or call 0118 3385685.

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ROA Forum

The All-Weather Championships is now under way with a series of new initiatives, culminating at Newcastle with the £1,000,000 All-Weather Championships Finals Day, alongside the £395,000 All-Weather Championships Vase Day at Lingfield Park.

Notable changes to the structure of the All-Weather Championships this season include: • The removal of ‘Fast Track Qualifier’ status from races which previously afforded horses free and guaranteed entry to the final in each category.

• The programme for Finals Day at Newcastle will be altered to open handicap races, run within the same categories as previously.

• BetUK will once again partner the sprint, middle distance and marathon categories.

• BetMGM joining this season partnering the three-year-old, fillies & mares and mile categories.

• Prize-money values will remain unchanged with each final continuing to offer £150,000 in prize-money, with the middle-distance final at £200,000.

• Two new All-Weather Championships

ARC

Further initiatives for the all-weather season

The Andrew Balding-trained Berkshire Shadow struck on Finals Day in April

Trials Day fixtures, hosting a series of £45,000 open handicaps, at Newcastle on January 1 and Lingfield Park on March 1, with the winner of each race eligible for free entry to the corresponding Finals Day race, as well as a £30,000 bonus should they go on to also win on Good Friday.

• Any horse that wins at both AllWeather Trials Days in the same

category and goes on to also win at Newcastle will be eligible for a total bonus of £75,000.

ARC announced the return of the £1,000,000 All-Weather Bonus Scheme earlier this year, which will once again offer monthly and end-of-season rewards to the most consistent performers across the group’s four all-weather racecourses.

In brief...

Gain more racing insight If you want to enhance your understanding of horseracing, the Overview of British Racing seminar on November 21 could be a great opportunity to gain valuable insights into the workings of the sport.

The seminar is being delivered by the National Horseracing College on behalf of the BHA, covering various aspects of horseracing and discussions on key issues facing the industry.

It is open to those who are new to

the industry or planning a career in horseracing.

Hosted by Mick Fitzgerald, the seminar takes place at Newbury racecourse, with ticket available for £130 (inc VAT). To book and for more information go to www.thenhc.co.uk/ courses.

Raceday curtailment scheme After two mid-fixture abandonments in August, the Raceday Curtailment Scheme was called upon once again in September with the abandonment of

the last race at Beverley’s final fixture.

The abandonment, due to a false patch of ground in the back straight, triggered the Raceday Curtailment payment to be activated for ROA members with shares over 51% of a horse due to run.

Ten horses qualified for this £100 payment, which was made automatically through the owner’s racing account. For more information on the Curtailment Scheme, provided

by Weatherbys Hamilton, please visit www.roaco.uk/rcs.

Diary dates November 23 – RCA Showcase, Aintree 24 – Horseracing Industry Conference, York 24 and 25 – Shared Ownership Days at Ascot

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December 1 – Racing Welfare Northern Racing Awards, Newcastle 2 – Racing Welfare Epsom Racing Award, Epsom 7 – ROA Awards, London

To view the full range of exclusive gifts visit our website

www.ijf.org.uk

To request a printed catalogue or to order call Freephone 08080 453 453

ROA Forum

MAGICAL MOMENTS

BILL SELWYN

Ed Ware plays a winning hand with classy four-year-old Poker Face

T

he lyrics to Lady Gaga’s smash hit Poker Face would not be suitable for a family publication, but there is a line in it that rather neatly ties together the in-form horse bearing that name and the ROA member who owns him.

‘A little gamblin’ is fun when you’re with me’ she sings, and any punters who have kept Poker Face onside have been well rewarded, most recently with his victory in the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein on Arc weekend, in the silks of Ed Ware, founder and former CEO of sports betting firm 32Red. The talented four-year-old was winning for the sixth time in just ten races at Longchamp when comfortably beating Isaac Shelby by two lengths under Maxime Guyon.

His owner’s interest in racing is longstanding, and his white, black and scarlet silks will be familiar to fans of both codes.

Explaining the background, Ware says: “My father Ken was very keen on

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Ed Ware (centre) enjoyed Poker Face’s victory in the Prix Daniel Wildenstein

racing. He bought himself a slow but safe-jumping staying chaser in the mid1960s in order for him to ride in points in the south of England. I’m sure my parents had a great deal of fun at the time with Southern Comfort and my father’s exploits, they also raced over in places like Jersey too; I was too young to remember but I know some of the stories!

“Latterly we were always racing at the weekends during my childhood;

Royal Ascot was a big thing, and Monday evenings at Windsor during the summer were a standing dish.

“Sadly, my father passed away when I was still a teenager, but we managed to transfer his colours to my name.

I vividly remember for the first time getting the annual reminder about my-now colours of black and white (quartered), scarlet sleeves and cap “please inform your trainer”.

“I thought to myself, ‘One of these

days I will’. That turned out to be nearly 20 years later.”

It may have taken two decades to get in motion, but as an owner Ware has enjoyed consistent success.

“I count myself as incredibly fortunate to be able to indulge in owning horses in this amazing sport,” he says. “My love of the sport – including understanding the betting side of it – helped in my professional life, both when at Ladbrokes and later on when founding and running 32Red. “What other sport can a mere enthusiast experience the game itself from inside the ropes, almost as a participant? This USP, along with ramping up the charm and complexities of racing – rather than dumbing them down – are important for the survival of the industry in the UK as we know it.”

He continues: “Rawdon was my first winner in 2005 at Haydock, trained by Michael Bell. The day was memorable for his performance but also because we floated 32Red on the London Stock Exchange the same day – I was at Haydock! Additionally, it was Hayley Turner’s first winner without a claim and also an old friend came racing that day, Nick Rust.

“Since Rawdon, I have owned around 30 horses and about the same again in various partnerships. Allied Powers was a special horse – also brilliantly trained by Michael – who I shared with another old mate in David Fish KC. Allied Powers was a specialist at winning Group races in France, which we very much enjoyed and gave us memories my children will cherish forever.

“More recently, I have had the privilege of owning Saint Sam, who is a serious horse with Willie Mullins, and only recently Poker Face was very impressive in Paris, winning the Group 2 Prix Daniel Wildenstein. He is expertly trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, as is Croupier, who will hopefully be back next year.

“My father would have loved to have seen Saint Sam flying around Galway the other week with his colours on board, and also Poker Face’s recent wins in France.”

On his trainers, Ware says: “Willie Mullins needs no introduction and has three horses for me, with one to come in the spring next year. The overall ownership experience and being able to regularly see and chat with the great man is something very dear to me.

“Simon and Ed Crisford train a similar number for me and run a very special operation in Newmarket. I feel very lucky to be an owner at Gainsborough where, again, the ownership experience is both highly professional and very friendly.”

He adds: “In recent years I’ve been very lucky to have David Loder helping me out and he, along with Richard Frisby, have been instrumental in guiding me in the right direction and

“I count myself as incredibly lucky to be able to indulge in owning horses” coming by some nice horses.

“I’ve known Michael Bell since 2005 and he has trained many winners for me over the years. Richard Phillips is another friend and is great fun, as many people know. Other trainers putting up with me include George Scott, George Boughey and David Simcock in Newmarket, plus Grant Tuer in Northallerton and Jerome Reynier in Marseille.

“In America, Ed Vaughan has trained winners for me and has a yearling for me this year. Ed is not only an expert trainer but also great fun and generally hilarious. Harry Derham has just taken in Republican, along with his previous trainer, the lovely Oliver Sherwood!

Claire and Chris Bonner do a fabulous job with the young horses, and revitalising some of the older ones.”

Asked about magical moments, Ware is not short of options and replies:

“I can still remember the feeling when Rawdon won. We watched the replay on Racing TV that night over and over again. Allied Powers winning the Grand Prix de Chantilly was pretty special too.

“Ed Vaughan won a nice race for us in the US on the evening of our 31st wedding anniversary last year, which was brilliant.

“Saint Sam has given us lots of memories already, having attended just about all the big dances, but his victory at Killarney was something special as it was my first Graded win over jumps.

“It may be a recency bias but Poker Face probably tops it all so far with his superb performance at Longchamp.”

On ownership more generally, he says: “There are so many great things about owning racehorses. For me it is a multiple dead-heat between mixing with great people at the yard, connecting with the extraordinary animals themselves and thinking of them as part of your family, plus of course the whole raceday experience, consisting of nerves, some socialising and occasionally elation.

“We’ve been lucky to enjoy racing in Ireland and France on lots of occasions.

It’s a combination of factors, but, as an owner, with or without runners, sometimes the UK experience can fall short. I believe there’s recognition that things need to improve, but UK racecourses are in racing parlance three lengths behind and getting scrubbed along, compared to the experience in some other jurisdictions.”

32Red is based in Gibraltar, which Ware and his family continue to call ‘home’.

He says: “We’re full-time in Gibraltar and very much enjoy life there. We love coming to Newmarket to see the horses and go racing but are always happy to be back home. Gibraltar is not the most convenient if you’re trying to get to Listowel of a Sunday afternoon but, ultimately, it’s worth it.

“The horses keep me occupied but I do have a connection to a business in Gibraltar which is in the same field as 32Red. I quite enjoy property too and keep myself busy with that sporadically.”

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ROA Forum OUR PARTNERS SECTION

Racing Welfare case study: David’s story David is Head Person at a stud in Berkshire and has been working with thoroughbreds since leaving school at the age of 16.

David first approached Racing Welfare for support with his return to work following a serious accident which had left him with a broken back and pelvis.

He said: “I had a really bad accident – a horse reared over on top of me and I was out of work for a year with a broken back and pelvis. I was in a bad way. At the time I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to walk, or at least walk normally, again.”

Racing Welfare arranged for David to attend Oaksey House and funded a series of intense physiotherapy sessions, which

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Disney on Ice: fun for all the family

a family room for two adults and two children, with a full English breakfast provided the next morning.

eventually helped him get back on his feet.

He said: “It was amazing. [The physiotherapy] got me walking probably three months sooner than I’d have managed it by myself.”

Following his treatment, David wanted to explore alternative career options that meant he did not need to rely on being able to work on his feet with horses.

Racing Welfare supported him to study for and achieve his HGV Level Two qualification, which opened up a new career pathway should he need it.

Since initiating that first contact with the charity several years ago, David has received further support through racing’s Occupational Health Scheme when struggling with an ongoing frozen shoulder.

He summarised: “Whenever I have a problem, I always approach Racing Welfare first, because they are always really helpful.

“I regularly encourage other people to get in contact with them

To bid on this magical family experience head to bidtogive.co.uk before Sunday, November 19.

RACING WELFARE

Our latest Bid to Give auction lot, sourced by and raising money for charity partner Racing Welfare, is an exclusive day out in London for all the family.

On Friday, December 29 the winning bidder and their family will be invited to begin their day at none other than Buckingham Palace where they’ll be escorted by a coachman on a private tour of the Royal Mews. During the tour, the winning bidder will view the collection of Royal Carriages, including the exquisite Gold State Coach, as well as get up close to some of the horses that form part of Royal Processions.

This is a truly unique behind-the-scenes experience, with the option even to try on some of the livery that is worn on state occasions!

From Buckingham Palace, the winning bidder will head to the O2 Arena for a matinee performance of the magical ‘Disney on Ice’. The prize includes four tickets to the show, which will be viewed from a box with food and drink included.

Rounding off this unique family day out is a stay at the Novotel London Excel in

RACING WELFARE

Bid now: Buckingham Palace and Disney on Ice family outing

David relied on the charity’s support

if they need help.

“There’s no doubt about it, Racing Welfare have helped me immensely.”

To find out more about how Racing Welfare supports racing’s people visit racingwelfare.co.uk.

British and Irish racing has enjoyed 19 World Pool days in 2023, up from 17 days last year.

Commencing on QIPCO 2,000 Guineas Day at Newmarket in May and concluding on QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot in October, in total £475 million has been bet into the World Pool.

The biggest raceday took place on Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes Day at Royal Ascot with the biggest gross turnover being recorded on the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes itself with £6.6m bet – record turnover in a World Pool race.

For racing participants, including owners, this means you have seen your horses running for record levels of prize-money across the feature Flat racedays, with 2023 World Pool racedays having a total prize fund of £32 million, up 12% on 2022.

World Pool helps generate vital new betting revenue and increased media rights for racecourses.

At the same time, World Pool ensures huge pools on the Tote, offering exceptional betting value for racing fans. If you had placed a £1 bet with the Tote on each winner on the 19 World Pool days on British and Irish racing in 2023, you would have been £263 better off than placing those bets at the industry starting price. On World Pool days the Tote operates with an overround of 109% compared to an industry overround of 122%.

Racing staff are also benefiting from World Pool, with more than £100,000 being given away in prizes for the World Pool Moment of the Day. Each winning member of racing staff from this season’s World Pool days has won £4,000 and will now have the chance to be named World Pool Moment of the Year and win a VIP trip for four to Hong Kong for either the 2024 Hong Kong Derby or 2024 FWD Champions Day. Thank you to every owner who has run a horse on a World Pool day this year. The Hong Kong Jockey Club and partners are planning an even bigger season for 2024 to ensure World Pool can continue to grow and increase the role it will play in the future financial success of racing around the globe.

RACING WELFARE

World Pool season concludes at Ascot

Messing about on the river: the boat race proved very popular

Dragon boat racing sees 16 teams make a splash September’s inaugural Great Racing Welfare Boat Race was, quite literally, a step into unchartered waters for Racing Welfare, as 16 teams from across the racing industry donned their life jackets ready for an afternoon of dragon boat racing on the Thames.

The event took place at Windsor racecourse on September 6 and saw a day of thrilling competition, with 13 heats and two semi-finals taking place before Tweenhills Stud, a team of jockeys and The Oarsome Crew (comprising staff members from Ralph Beckett’s, Andrew Balding’s and Richard Hannon’s) went through to contest the final.

Despite capsizing once past the post, the team of jockeys cinched first place to win the overall competition.

Also in the prizes were Fergal O’Brien’s team for being the top fundraisers on the day, and Dan Skelton’s team who earned the best turned out award, with the trainer dressed as Willy Wonka alongside his crew of Oompa Loompas!

The event, which was sponsored

by Qatar Racing, raised in the region of £10,000 for Racing Welfare and is expected to return on a larger scale next year. Watch this space!

As if dragon boat racing wasn’t already enough, Racing Welfare’s calendar was packed with exciting fundraising events during September.

The annual ARC Malton Open Day took place during the opening weekend of National Racehorse

Week, this year linking up with York racecourse for an afternoon of fun at their family raceday. Over 1,000 racing fans flocked to the historic racing town to visit the 11 open yards, meeting stable stars that included Julie Camacho’s sprinting sensation, Shaquille. The event raised over £11,000 for the charity.

One person that couldn’t attend the Malton Open Day this year was Racing Welfare Chief Executive, Dawn Goodfellow, as she and her husband Mike spearheaded a team of runners in this year’s Great North Run. The determined group of nine, which included racehorse owners Gary and Lesley Middlebrook and Haydock Park General Manager Molly Dingwall, all completed the gruelling 13-mile route, raising £11,500 between them.

September also wouldn’t have been complete without the annual Haydock Park raceday and lunch, this year sponsored by Betfair, which raised in the region of £50,000. Plus, the everpopular Bedmax Newmarket Heath Ride, which saw 190 horse and riders turn out to complete a sponsored ride over Newmarket’s hallowed training grounds. The riders raised just shy of £8,000 for racing’s people.

Racing Welfare needs to raise approximately £3 million every year to continue providing services to all of racing’s people and relies heavily on the generosity of its supporters and the success of fundraising events. To find out more visit racingwelfare.co.uk.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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TBA Forum

The special section for TBA members

ADAM SMYTH

Richmond-Watson calls for bold action in farewell address

Julian Richmond-Watson (above) has been succeeded as Chairman by Philip Newton (top right) with Kate Sigsworth as Deputy Chair

A

t the TBA’s 106th Annual General Meeting, held in the Jockey Club Rooms in Newmarket on October 6, Julian Richmond-Watson stepped down following an eight-year tenure as Chairman of the association. It was formally confirmed that Philip Newton would take over the position and that Kate Sigsworth would become Deputy Chair.

In his final address, RichmondWatson said: “Bold decision making intended to arrest the decline in racing’s fortunes is essential if we are to move forward.

“The TBA is a member of the Thoroughbred Group and will work wherever possible to advance the position of those involved with horses, their ownership and welfare.

“Of course, prize-money is the key to unlocking so many of these issues.

Prize-money is not high enough in this country, and the obvious discrepancy between what the betting industry pays to the sport and how much the participants receive must be addressed, so that the income coming into racing is shared fairly.“ In a more specific focus to breeders, he stated: “There is very little

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understanding of breeding within racing and the supply of racehorses is taken far too much for granted. It is up to the TBA to make sure our issues and are constantly brought to the fore.”

He also highlighted two specific areas in which progress had been made through contact with important decision makers, saying: “The carry-over from Brexit continues, and while we have had successes with the Treasury on VAT for temporary imports into this country, our trading partners in Ireland and France have still to sort this issue, so that transport and inspection-post issues, as well as increased costs, are still to be resolved.

“We have also seen recent positive steps made with the Migration Advisory Committee adding three stud roles to the Shortage Occupation List in their recent report and we must now continue to lobby government for this to be formally sanctioned.”

Richmond-Watson concluded his address by thanking trustees, executives, and members for their support, saying: “We have been through some interesting times but hopefully I leave you in good order, but of course with plenty to do. And Philip Newton,

thank you for being such a supportive and challenging Deputy Chairman.

“We have worked incredibly well together, and I wish you all the best as you take the TBA forward.”

As part of the formal business on the evening, a change in the membership fee from £155 to £170 was unanimously passed, as was the joining fee for new and expired members increasing to £50 from £45. The new prices will take effect from January 1, 2024. ACCESS subscription fee was agreed to remain at £60 for 2024.

In addition to the formal section of the meeting, the 2022 Annual Report was formally launched, which can be found in the members' section of the TBA website.

There was a presentation from the incumbent Chairman Philip Newton on implications from the Economic Impact Study and the next steps, as well as an introduction to the TBA’s Stud Farm Carbon Calculator, presented by Sarah Wynn from ADAS, which is due to launch next month.

Also passed on the evening was a special resolution, which sees Julian Richmond-Watson become the TBA’s Honorary President.

As part of the formal proceedings at this year’s AGM, two vacant positions on the Board were filled. Tom Blain was re-elected for a second term, whilst Will Kinsey was appointed as a new Trustee, replacing the outgoing Ted Voute, who had stood for two terms.

Blain, who was first elected to the Board four years ago, manages Barton Stud, which is located close to Bury St Edmunds and has grown to be one of Britain’s leading consignors. He also breeds under his own Ickworth Stud banner.

A former trainer and amateur

ADAM SMYTH

New TBA Board members welcomed

Will Kinsey (above) becomes a Trustee with Tom Blain re-elected to the TBA Board

jockey, Kinsey, who has sat on the TBA’s NH Committee since 2019, owns and runs Peel Bloodstock, which is based in Cheshire. An ownerbreeder, as well as noted consignor, graduates of the farm include the likes of Cheltenham Festival winner

Impervious.

It was also confirmed that NEHbased consultant James Crowhurst would continue as a co-opted Trustee for a second term to support the TBA’s vital work on equine health and welfare.

Stud Farming Course – don’t miss out this December Places are available to book on the TBA’s popular three-day Stud Farming Course, taking place at the British Racing School from December 12-14.

The programme, which is CPD accredited by the BHA, is packed with talks from leading industry experts and includes visits to Newmarket Equine Hospital and the National Stud, home of an exciting young roster of stallions including the seventime Group 1 winner Stradivarius.

The course will cover a comprehensive overview of stud management topics from conception to foaling, the neonatal foal through to sales preparation, and additional topics such as paddock management, pedigrees, management of the commercial stallion and biosecurity.

TBA members can enrol on the course for £438 (inc VAT), or £564 (inc VAT) for non-members.

This includes the course dinner on the first evening, plus lunches and refreshments for the duration of the course. Please note accommodation is not included.

To book your place visit the events page on the TBA website.

A group discount is available for employers booking four or more delegates. The TBA also offers

A mix of talks and visits await this year’s course attendees

a bursary scheme to individuals who are self-funding and meet the requirements for support to attend

educational courses or CPD activities.

For more information, please email info@thetba.co.uk

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TBA Forum

Clipper on fire

requirements. Since becoming a legal requirement in 2018 and enforceable

by Trading Standards, legislation also requires a horse’s passport is returned to Weatherbys to be updated with the new ownership details.

Racing ownerships have been granted an exemption; however, when a horse comes out of training, this exemption no longer exists. An owner of a horse in training should have previously registered their ownership with Weatherbys before the horse went

into training unless they are the breeder, in which case the ownership is already correct.

When a horse comes out of training and the racing ownership is terminated, the Weatherbys ownership (i.e. the ownership registered with Weatherbys before the horse entered training and was registered with Weatherbys before the horse entered training and was registered in the BHA database for racing purposes) becomes the valid ownership recognised by DEFRA and the

CAROLINE NORRIS

The third success came courtesy of Flight Plan, whom Parkin owns under his Clipper Logistics banner, in the Dullingham Park Stakes at Leopardstown.

The three-year-old colt was bred by Jane Keir, out of the Pivotal mare Romp.

Winner of the St Leger at Doncaster 12 months ago, the Kirsten Rausingbred Eldar Eldarov captured the Irish equivalent on the Curragh during Irish Champions Festival. The son of Dubawi relished the one mile and six furlong test and won by over three lengths. The

following weekend Sandrine, a daughter of Lanwades Stud resident Bobby’s Kitten, scored a win in the Park Stakes at Doncaster.

This year’s Spring Cup at Haydock was a memorable affair for trainer Ed Bethell as Regional sprinted home for victory. A son of Territories, the gelding was bred by Razza del Sole.

Having won the Prix Morny in soft conditions at Deauville, Vandeek faced a different racing surface at Newmarket in the Middle Park Stakes. However, the son of Havana Grey, bred by Maywood Stud, easily handled conditions and ran out a most impressive winner, running away to a two and a quarter length win.

Earlier on the card and Time Lock, a daughter of Frankel bred by Juddmonte, readily won the Princess Royal Stakes, a performance that oozed with class. The Roger and Harry Charlton trainee was backing up a win in the French provinces earlier in the month, having captured the Grand Prix de Craon.

The day before Time Lock’s maiden Group win, and also at Newmarket, Coppice made the most out of a drop in grade to win the Listed Rosemary Stakes.

Completing the quartet of Juddmonte Stakes wins was Ironclad down in Australia. The son of Dubawi scored in the Balaklava Cup. Also in Australia, the Biddestone Stud Ltd-bred Cepheus gained a second Group 2 of his career when winning the Shannon Stakes at Rosehill. Meanwhile, Chasemore Farm’s Uncle Bryn was a good winner of the Foundation Cup at Caulfield. In Listed company, Soulcombe (Frankel), bred by Pursuit of Success LLC, won the Heatherlite Stakes at Caulfield and the Faisal Meshrf Alqahtani-bred Born A King the R M Ansett Classic at Mornington.

Steve Parkin leads in Fallen Angel after his filly's victory in the Moyglare Stud Stakes

T

he month of September more than produced the goods for Steve Parkin, specifically the second weekend of the month. Homebred Fallen Angel, a daughter of first-crop sire Too Darn Hot, captured the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the Curragh in fine style.

A day earlier and fellow Branton Court Stud-bred Starlust, a son of Zoustar, got up in the closing stages to win the Sirenia Stakes at Kempton Park. The colt had been sold in last year’s Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale.

News in brief Change of ownership reminder

TBA members are reminded that it is a legal requirement that all horse owners register their ownership within 30 days of purchase with their passport issuing organisation. Weatherbys is the body that issues all passports for thoroughbreds registered with the General Stud Book.

This legislation applies to all equines and so TBA members are reminded to ensure that any other horses in their ownership are also up to date with the

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Sumo Sam, a daughter of Nathaniel, followed up her Lillie Langtry Stakes victory at Goodwood with another Group 2 score, this time in the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster. The three-year-old was bred

by Arbib Bloodstock Partnership.

The Andreas Bezzola-bred Deepone won the Beresford Stakes at the Curragh in good fashion, an important victory for his first-crop sire Study Of Man, for whom this was a maiden Group winner.

Shadwell’s homebred Mutasaabeq gained back-to-back wins in the Joel Stakes at Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting.

Juniper Berries, bred and part-owned

by Jon Mitchell, the other owner being Norman Court Stud, was rewarded for her consistency with a Group win when getting up late for victory in the Dick Poole Stakes at Salisbury.

Other juvenile fillies to break through at stakes level included the Janis Macpherson-bred Geologist (Territories) in the Winterkonigen Trial at Cologne, and the Rosyground Stud-bred Beautiful Diamond, a daughter of Twilight Son, in the Harry Rosebery Stakes at Ayr. Godolphin were on the mark as breeders with a couple of stakes victories.

Sapphire Seas (Frankel) brought up a four-timer with an impressive win in the John Musker Stakes at Yarmouth, whilst Al Nayyir (Dubawi) captured the Prix Scaramouche at Saint-Cloud.

St Albans Bloodstock homebred Heredia showed a sharp turn of foot to take the Atalanta Stakes at Sandown Park, whilst the following week Bay Bridge, bred by James Wigan’s London Thoroughbred Services Ltd, made a successful debut over a mile and a half in the September Stakes, prior to running in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

At Longchamp, the Coupe de MaisonsLaffitte was captured by the Spanishtrained, Eric Chen-bred Naranco, a son of Kingman, from the family of High Chaparral.

There were numerous Listed winners, including the Aston Mullins Stud-bred Tregony in the Godolphin Stakes, the Bearstone Stud-bred Washington Heights (Washington DC) in the Bro Park Sprint Championship, the Mickley Stud-bred Shanroe (Multiplex) in the Chester Stakes, Diamond Vega, bred by Montcastle Bloodstock Ltd, in the Wackenhut Mercedez Benz Fillies Cup, and the Redgate Bloodstock and Peter Bottowley Bloodstock-bred Commanche Falls in the Garrowby Stakes.

Stateside and there were Grade 3 wins for Motorious and Ready To Venture. The former, bred by Kirtlington Stud and Mary Taylor, was successful in the Green Flash Handicap at Del Mar. Meanwhile, Ready To Venture, a Lael Stable homebred, took the Seaway Stakes on the Tapeta at Woodbine.

On the west coast at Golden Gate Fields, the Peter Onslow-bred Lammas was victorious in the Sam Spear Memorial Stakes while on the final day of the month, the W & R Barnett Ltd-bred Cracker Factory won the Brown Advisory Timber Stakes at Shawan Downs in Maryland.

Closer to home and there were a pair of stakes wins over obstacles in France.

The West Stow Stud-bred Eximia, a daughter of Nathaniel, took the Prix Jean Bart at Auteuil, whilst at the Listowel Harvest Festival, the Sheikh Mohammed Obaid-bred Samui scored in the Listed Lartigue Hurdle.

Results up to and including September 30. Produced in association with GBRI.

TBA event: buying and selling foals

Central Equine Database.

Even if a racing owner retains ownership of a horse after it finishes racing, they will be required to register their continued ownership with Weatherbys – if they had not already done so prior to the horse going into training (unless they bred the horse).

alongside the NTF and BHA, submitted evidence. The three specific roles related to the thoroughbred breeding industry are stud hand, stud groom and stallion handler.

The industry now awaits government approval of the recommendations and members will be informed of any further information.

to notify Stanstead House of all cases of equine abortion or neonatal foal death.

This allows for monitoring any disease outbreaks for which immediate action is paramount.

Should the result of your postmortem show a positive EHV-1 result, the TBA can help with up-to-date advice and veterinary assistance if required. Preventing the further spread of the disease is vital to our breeding industry and a £200 subsidy is offered towards the cost of a post-mortem to members who meet the criteria.

Full details, including the application form for the subsidy, can be found on the veterinary page of the TBA website.

Migratory Advisory Committee

Last month the TBA received confirmation that the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) report included six vital roles in the racing and breeding industries to be added to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL), following a review to which the TBA,

Post-mortem subsidy

While EHV-1 is not notifiable by law, the TBA recognises the vital importance of screening for the presence of the virus, enabling a rapid response to all positive cases.

The association encourages breeders

The TBA is holding an event during the Tattersalls December Foal Sale on November 30, which will be free to attend for ACCESS subscribers and TBA members, but places must be secured in advance. This panel Q&A format event will take place on the evening of Thursday, November 30 (the non-selling day of the foal catalogue).

Whether the ambition is breeding and selling foals, pinhooking foals to sell on as yearlings, or purchasing foals to race and/or eventually complement a broodmare band/ stallion roster, there is an enormous amount of experience and skill that goes into raising, preparing and showcasing these young athletes, ready for the shrewdest industry participants to make their selections and find their value.

Learn from experts including Philipp Stauffenberg, Robert Dallas MRCVS and Kate Sigsworth.

To secure your place and to keep updated as further details of this event are finalised, visit the events page of the website.

If you’d like to attend, but aren’t an ACCESS subscriber, visit the Join Us page on the website (www. thetba.co.uk) to check out all the benefits which can be accessed by joining the TBA.

THE OWNER BREEDER

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Breeder of the Month Words Howard Wright

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BREEDER OF THE MONTH (September 2023)

From ‘man with a van’ to ‘man with a plan’, Steve Parkin progressed his business career to the point of being able to fund an extensive bloodstock operation, one part of which has brought his nomination as the TBA Breeder of the Month for September.

Parkin’s ascent from his youth on a Leeds council estate is well documented, taking his building the Clipper Group from one van delivering clothing for local fashion stores in 1992 into a mammoth operation that made its founder an even wealthier man when bought out by GXO Logistics in May 2022.

His progress through the thoroughbred bloodstock world has been no less impressive, beginning with watching Saturday racing on television with his father and grandfather to accumulating a portfolio from which any one of four aspects would have qualified him for September’s award.

Fallen Angel’s success in the Moyglare Stud Stakes – “the greatest day of my life,” Parkin says - was the pinnacle, but other events can be taken into consideration, from the narrow win of the Branton Courtbred Starlust in the Sirenia Stakes and that of Clipper’s Flight Plan in a Group 2 at Leopardstown, to a bundle of firsts notched by the two-year-olds Activated, Cover Point and Local Arms for the Bronte Collection, a syndicate-ownership group made up of Parkin’s friends.

Together, and in certain instances collectively, they represent four strands of Parkin’s involvement – five, if his sponsorship of the Leopardstown race is counted – all moulded by the guiding hand of Joe Foley of Ballyhane Stud, with whom

BILL SELWYN

Steve Parkin

Steve Parkin: celebrated his first homebred Group 1 winner with Fallen Angel

the Yorkshireman, who turns 63 next month, has been associated since 2003, when he did a deal with the Irish stud master to stand high-class sprinter Captain Rio, the first horse he owned.

In an interview in the January 2018 edition of this magazine, Parkin described Foley as “a genius,” adding: “Without him I’d have been gone years ago. I was losing fortunes in those days because there was no plan. I was just buying horses, going to the races and having a bit of fun.”

The plan the pair have followed since has worked a treat, with the breeding side blossoming once Parkin bought the 300-acre farm known as Branton Court near Knaresborough in North Yorkshire and transformed it into a stud to stand comparison with any in the county, having set up home there with his wife Joanne and children Fabienne, Delphine, Henri and Severine.

Branton Court, which Parkin runs alongside Rathbride on the Curragh, registered its first Group success when Dramatised, whose Listed-winning dam Katie’s Diamond was purchased through Foley as a four-year-old, took last year’s Queen Mary Stakes. That Group 2 success was trumped by Fallen Angel, whose dam,

the May Hill Stakes winner Agnes Stewart, would have beaten her daughter to the Group 1 achievement for the stud had Together Forever not beaten her by half a length in the Fillies’ Mile.

Starlust and Flight Plan illustrate two other sides of Parkin’s operation. Starlust, the seventh foal of one of his earliest successes, the £55,000 yearling purchase Beyond Desire, whose four sprint wins included the Prix de Saint-Georges, was sold as a yearling for 55,000gns to race for Fitri Hay. On the other hand, Flight Plan represented a purchase to race in the grey colours of Clipper Logistics, which Parkin has retained for advertising purposes, although his close link with the billionpound company was severed on its sale.

Foley signed the chit for Flight Plan after he was knocked down for 150,000gns as a yearling, although his Leopardstown win was not so profitable for his owner as it may seem, since the race he won was sponsored by Parkin’s latest project, Dullingham Park Stud, on the outskirts of Newmarket (see feature, pages 22-26).

Bought from now-retired trainer Mark Tompkins, whose second wife Angie’s family originally founded the stud, Dullingham Park is undergoing extensive renovation aimed at bringing another aspect of Parkin’s bloodstock portfolio closer to home, with facilities for up to six stallions being constructed under the management of Ollie Fowlston, who was transferred from Tattersalls earlier this year, almost in the manner of a deal done by Parkin’s other passion, Leeds United FC. Once Dullingham Park is up and running in its new guise, Parkin’s operation will have completed the circle. And the beauty is that it is British, albeit with an Anglo-Irish flavour.

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The Finish Line with William Jarvis William Jarvis’s retirement this month marks the end of an era both for the family name and for Newmarket, for there have been Jarvises training in the town since the 1880s.

William was following in the footsteps of his father Ryan when he started training at Phantom House Stables in 1985, having broadened his racing education with Australian greats Tommy Smith and George Hanlon before assisting Henry Cecil in a golden era for the stable. Among more than 700 winners in his 38 years holding a licence have been Grand Lodge, who won the Dewhurst and the St James’s Palace Stakes, and Lady Bowthorpe, the popular winner of the 2021 Nassau Stakes. At only 63 he is retiring sooner than planned, but he has cited economic pressures and has said there simply aren’t enough horses’ heads looking over the doors.

Interview: Graham Dench

M

It was a privilege to train my first winner for Sheikh Mohammed, but the delight for me in those early years came in training for some of England’s oldest established ownerbreeders. People like Lord Howard de Walden and Jim Joel never sold a foal or a yearling and they gave every horse a chance, but things have changed enormously and sadly those true ownerbreeders have pretty much died out now. Weld was a very good stayer I trained for Lord Howard, winning five in a row including the Queen’s Vase, the Lonsdale, the Lady Bowthorpe: Nassau Stakes heroine

88

THE OWNER BREEDER

BILL SELWYN

y father didn’t want me to be a trainer as he said it was too hard.

Perhaps I should have listened, but I couldn’t ever see myself doing anything else. I graduated to riding racehorses on the Heath when I was only around 12 or 13 and although I looked like a cross between Brod Munro-Wilson and a mounted policeman, I was lucky enough to be given a couple of steering jobs as an amateur. As I was only 18 when my father retired in 1979, I was too young to take over straight away, so I went to Australia for a year, working initially as a strapper for Tommy Smith and then being given much more responsibility

by George Hanlon, who was a wonderful man. I then assisted Henry Cecil at Warren Place, and that was arguably the best five years of my life. There were so many good horses there at the time, including Ardross, Fairy Footsteps, Le Moss and Light Cavalry, and it was fantastic to be able to learn from a trainer as gifted as Henry.

Doncaster Cup and the Jockey Club Cup in 1989, and Grand Lodge, who was the best I trained, was also one of his.

Grand Lodge was a beautiful looking horse with a great temperament. We identified him as a good horse very early on. He bombed out on one occasion at two, in the Acomb when it turned out his blood was wrong, but after winning the Somerville Tattersall and the Dewhurst, for which we had to be brave and supplement him, he ended the year as Europe’s champion juvenile. Pat Eddery, who rode him in both of those races, looked after him in the Craven as he was a gallop short, but then he wasn’t available for the Guineas and so Frankie Dettori, who had ridden him in his first two races, got back on.

Frankie gave Grand Lodge a fantastic ride to be beaten just a short-head by Mister Baileys, but with such a narrow margin I was slightly disappointed and looking back now I can’t help wondering if Pat might have won on him. He was a tough horse who danced every dance, and thankfully redemption came in the St James’s Palace, where Mick Kinane lifted him home in a thrilling finish. It was Mick at his best – he’d never even sat on him before.

Winning another Group 1 with Lady Bowthorpe after such a long gap was just as good as the first time, and it was made particularly special as this time my children were old enough to appreciate it. It was also special because of my long association with the Banks family.

After Julie Cecil retired, I’d had some great times training for Emma’s uncle, Michael, and I hope I’ve now helped set Emma on the

right path to being a successful ownerbreeder with Lady Bowthorpe.

Racing has become more polarised than when I started out, with the big trainers getting bigger and bigger while those in the middle and lower tiers have a battle on their hands. I was lucky to inherit a yard, and so I had no mortgage or rent to pay, but it’s got harder and harder for all except those at the top. The beauty of it is that every now and then a Shaquille or a Regional comes along – or a Lady Bowthorpe for that matter – and that’s what we all get up for. But if someone came along now and offered me 40 horses to train, I’d be worried about where I’d get the staff from. Prize-money aside, I think securing and retaining good staff is a racehorse trainer’s biggest problem.

There haven’t been that many horses to distribute and they are mainly staying in Newmarket. Dylan Cunha has been renting boxes here for a year or two and the plan is for him to take over the yard, but I’ll be staying in the house. These are tough times, but I hope he does well. He’s got at least one good horse in Silver Sword, who won a good handicap at the Ebor meeting.

Racing politics annoy me more than they interest me, but I’d like to stay in the sport. You have to have the right mindset to train for as long as I have, and I feel I could be of benefit to an organisation looking for someone with my depth of experience – someone who knows all the ins and outs of the sport and is resilient enough to take its ups and downs. A role like the one Chris Wall has found for the owners of Eldar Eldarov and Vandeek would be perfect.

Would I do it all again? Absolutely, without hesitation. I’ve had some fabulous days and I’ve travelled the world, meeting many wonderful people. I’ve enjoyed 98% of it – and the other 2% I’ve forgotten.

Gr.1 winning 2yo Classic winning miler

Colt x Golden Spell

160,000gns

to Blandford Bloodstock

“ Kameko was top-class and from what I’ve seen at the sales he could be even more exciting as a sire. I have already bought a few and am sure I will be booking clients mares to him!”

Richard Brown, Blandford Bloodstock

Outstanding first yearlings averaged over 4 times his fee

Colt x Glories

€140,000 to Yoshito Yahagi

“ The Kameko’s we sold were lovely forward types with a great walk, they have all been extremely well received by agents and trainers.”

Henri Bozo, Ecurie des Monceaux

Colt ex Stacey Sutton

Colt x Lady McKell

to Blandford Bloodstock

to Peter and Ross Doyle/ Richard Hannon

125,000gns

“ Kameko was clearly an exceptional racehorse breaking the race record in the 2000 Guineas.

I really like the colt we bought; he had lots of quality and great presence about him.

I am very excited to train him!”

Ed Bethell, Gr.1 winning trainer

£95,000

“ I’ve been so impressed with the Kameko’s.

Very straightforward, good-looking, solid horses. I’ve bought a couple of very nice ones and would love to have more!”

Richard Hannon, Classic winning trainer

Contact Hannah Wall or Alice Thurtle at Tweenhills E: hannah@tweenhills.com E: alice@tweenhills.com T: +44 (0) 1452 700177

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19/10/2023 12:24

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