It is almost hard to believe that Hazelwood Bloodstock is still relatively new among the consigning ranks. The company, owned and run by Adrian and Philippa O’Brien, was only established in 2016 and, since then, its name has been found annually at the head of a Tattersalls leaderboard.
In 2017, Hazelwood Bloodstock topped the December Yearling Sale with a daughter of Alina (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a Kodiac (GB) half-sister to Barney Roy (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}), who fetched 400,000gns. The following year another Galileo mare, the listed winner Reem (Aus), put them at the top of October Book 2 when her Kingman (GB) colt sold for 750,000gns. But the best was yet to come.
At last year’s October Book 1, it was Alina again who ensured that Hazelwood Bloodstock’s name was firmly in the limelight with her sale-topping Dubawi colt, now named Noble Dynasty (GB), who sold for 3.6 million gns to Godolphin. In fact, the consignor had two of the top five lots at Europe’s most prestigious yearling auction as it also offered a Kingman (GB) colt out of Last Dance (Aus) (Encosta De Lago {Aus}), who was the pick of the Coolmore team at 1.8 million gns.
“We’ve had time to reflect on last year, and previous successes in other years. But the fact of the matter is that we’ve only been consigning for three years as it stands, and to have achieved in the ring what we have achieved, nobody could possibly predict it. It’s kind of pinch-me stuff really,” says Adrian O’Brien from his peaceful garden at Hazelwood Bloodstock’s base of Red House Stud, just outside Newmarket.
He continues, “I find it difficult to comprehend it when it’s actually said out loud. It’s crazy, but it’s a mark of the quality of the client, and the quality of the stock that our clients have. It’s very satisfying for us to know that if we have the ammunition, we have the facility, and we have the knowledge, and the team to produce them at their best in the sale ring. So to be competitive in the Book 1 sale, which is the premier yearling sale in Europe, it’s exactly what we wanted, but we didn’t set out [to do that]. Achieving a sale-topper in Book 1 was not our driving force four or five years ago when we set out. It’s happened that way, and I hope it happens again.”
This year Hazelwood Bloodstock offers 12 yearlings through the first three books of the October Sale, six of which are destined for Book 1, with the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude winner One Last Dance featuring again via her Frankel (GB) colt. The mare, formerly trained by Peter Moody, is a daughter of fellow Group 3 winner One World (Aus) (Danehill) and it is their southern hemisphere origins that give a clue to the nationality of a number of the clients at the farm. The colt, who will be sold as lot 340, was bred by John Camilleri of Fairway Thoroughbreds, best known as the breeder of Australia’s darling, Winx (Aus).
The O’Briens met in Australia when Irish-born Adrian was manager of Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley. His English wife Philippa, as an equine vet, is a crucial member of the team.
“We are extremely fortunate to have a vet on site, and we are just down the road from Rossdales hospital in Exning,” says O’Brien.
The Australian suffix carried by a number of mares on the farm extends not just to the couple’s two daughters, but to the dog who greets you at the gate, who was born in Scone and shipped to England when the family moved four years ago.
“We were very fortunate,” reflects O’Brien. “Timing is everything. I was still working in Australia when we were looking for premises. We had a client base, we had a business plan. We had everything in place, but we simply didn’t have a venue to open. And the rumour mill being what it is, I heard that the previous people that were here were retiring, and we made some inquiries and it was agreed that we would take a long-term lease on Red House Stud.”
He adds, “I’m very glad we did. It’s a beautiful farm [with] fantastic mature tree belts. It was well-rested pasture, which we’re constantly rejuvenating, and working on. And I’d like to think that the past couple of years have shown that we can produce good stock, as has been the case here over the years. They’ve stood horses like Petong (GB) and his sire Mansingh. Pastoral Pursuits (GB) came from the farm. They had that very good broodmare Song (GB), and over the years, again with reduced numbers, it’s been a constant producer of good racehorses.”
Alina, one of the farm’s star residents, was bought by another client, David O’Callaghan of Sun Bloodstock/Eliza Park International for 65,000gns in 2013. The foal she was carrying at the time, Barney Roy, went on to win the G1 St James’s Palace S. for Godolphin and Richard Hannon and, following a stud career curtailed by poor fertility, has joined Charlie Appleby’s string to add another three Group 1 victories to his tally, most recently in the Grosser Preis von Baden. The 10-year-old mare missed two seasons following complications arising from colic but is now back in foal to Dubawi.
Her name may be absent from the list of dams in this year’s consignment, but there is one mare whose presence is particularly pleasing for O’Brien. Ring The Bell (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) ran only once for trainer Aidan O’Brien at two but she is a sister to dual Guineas winner Hermosa (Ire), as well as Group 1 winners Hydrangea (Ire) and The United States (Ire). Her family has its roots in Ireland’s Kilfrush Stud where her Group 2-winning dam Beauty Is Truth (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) was bred. Ring The Bell was bought privately by Camilleri and her first foal, a daughter of Dark Angel (Ire), will be offered as lot 400 on the third day of Book 1.
“Across the board, this year in particular we have a very balanced draft of horses. The Dark Angel filly out of Ring The Bell, not singling her out as particularly special across the board, but she is. And she’s a very rare opportunity for breeders, I’d like to think high-end breeders, to buy into that family because this family does not become available on the public market very often. And I’m very excited to present her,” says O’Brien.
The Kilfrush link continues through the two colts by Frankel and Lope De Vega (Ire) being offered in the draft on behalf of Brendan Hayes of Knocktoran Stud. The former (lot 128) is a son of the G3 Prix du Bois winner Dolled Up (Ire) (Whipper),a family which has been enhanced by the recent G3 Somerville Tattersall S. winner La Barossa (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), who is unbeaten in his two starts for Godolphin. The Lope De Vega yearling (lot 197) is out of Hit The Sky (Ire) (Cozzene), the dam of group winners Royal Bench (Ire) (Whipper), Mayhem (Ire) (Whipper) and Memphis Tennessee (Ire) (Hurricane Run {Ire}).
Three of the six Hazelwood Bloodstock yearlings in Book 1 are by Frankel, and they include the first of the draft to take to the ring (lot 38), a half-sister to this year’s G2 German 2000 Guineas winner Fearless King (GB) (Kingman {GB}), who was himself sold by Hazelwood to Tina Rau for 175,000gns in Book 2 two years ago.
O’Brien says, “We’ve half a dozen catalogued in Book 1, which is kind of where we want to be. We’re not big on numbers here on the farm. Our whole ethos is that numbers are down, and quality is up. We don’t canvas for other horses. We don’t set out to compete against the bigger consignors. We’re very happy dealing with what we have, and in general, producing homebreds in the sale ring.”
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