Big-Name Transfer: Asadna Switched From George Boughey To Alice Haynes

Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), one of the big talking horses this season, has been switched from George Boughey to Alice Haynes by Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah after the colt's ninth-placed effort in the G2 Coventry S. at Royal Ascot. 

Much of the hype surrounding the colt stemmed from a scintillating 12-length victory on debut at Ripon. It was on the strength of that performance that Asadna was sent off just 7-2 for the Coventry but he failed to land a glove on River Tiber (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}) and was beaten six lengths at the winning line. 

Haynes commented, “I'm very fortunate, it's lovely to be sent a horse who looks to have so much potential. It's great to get the call up. Obviously it's not too nice for George and trainers do like to stick together, but he was going to another yard and it's great for the team that he is joining us.”

She added, “It's a bit too early to say what we might do, we'll just let him settle in at the yard and see from there.”

Haynes also confirmed the transfer of Danger Alert (GB) (Ardad {Ire}) from Boughey's yard, with the three-year-old having been withdrawn from the Palace of Holyroodhouse S. on veterinary advice at Ascot on Friday.

The three-times winner may not be in Haynes' care too long though as he is entered at Tattersalls sales next month.

She added, “We also have Danger Alert who is entered in the July sale but will run before.”

 

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‘It’s Been A Hard Time But We’ll Get Through It – The Horses Give Everyone A Lift’

At first there are tears and then the words come tumbling out. 

“We got a bit of bad news before the Curragh,” Con Marnane explains. “Theresa's cancer is back again. That's why the whole thing was so emotional.”

Theresa is Con's wife and it is her yellow and black silks, made famous by Different League (Fr) (Dabirsim {Fr}) winning the Albany, that were carried to that stirring victory in the G3 Marble Hill S. by Givemethebeatboys (Ire) at Irish racing's HQ.

He is one of two Royal Ascot-bound Bungle Inthejungle (GB) colts that the family have in training with Jessica Harrington, the other being the speedy Supersonic Man (GB), and never has there been more significance behind a Marnane runner at the meeting they adore.

“It's still very raw,” Con starts. “Theresa had cancer 10 years ago but unfortunately it's back again. We only got the news the day before the Goresbridge Sale and then we had to go and face into that at Fairyhouse. 

“That's why Givemethebeatboys winning at the Curragh was so amazing because we had only found out that week. It was very emotional, especially with what Jessie is going through as well. “For some of us, it's been a very, very hard time. But I'll tell you something, those animals are amazing, those horses are just so special. They give everyone a lift.”

It's not just the horses that Con can count on to lift spirits. Similarly to when the industry rallied around Harrington after she shared the news of her breast cancer battle, the outpouring of well wishes and support to the Marnanes has been overwhelming. 

“I have so many top-class friends in this business. It's special. There are some great people in this game and it's a massive help. But we'll get through it. Theresa is very tough and she works as hard as anyone else does here in the yard. We'll get through it.”

Con may be the face of Bansha House Stables, and you won't find many better or more enthusiastic about what he does, but make no mistake, this is a family-run operation and daughters Amy and Olivia are no bit-part players. 

“It touches at the heartstrings and it's great to have the family unit involved. Amy does the buying and Olivia does the riding out in Jessie's. It was Amy who picked out Givemethebeatboys at the sales. 

“She absolutely loved him as a yearling and he was actually our pick of the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale at Doncaster. Unfortunately the horse had a foot abscess at the sales and the Brickley brothers [Tom and David of Ard Erin Stud] had to withdraw the horse. 

“We tried to do a deal there and then but it didn't happen. But then the horse turned up at the Autumn Yearling Sale at Goffs and we bought him there for €11,000.”

Marnane added, “Olivia started working at Jessie's last year. She's in college in Dublin and wanted somewhere to ride out in the mornings. I said to her, 'why don't you try Jessie?' She fell in love with the place when she went in there and the Harringtons have been so good to her. I said we'd send them up a couple of horses as a result and one of those turned out to be Funny Money Honey (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}). She was a revelation. She won a listed race and was third in another listed race up at the Curragh. We sold her very well to America and did the same again this year by sending up a few two-year-olds for Jessie to train for us.”

Funny Money Honey cost just €11,500 as a yearling and fetched 165,000gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale last year. Givemethebeatboys and Supersonic Man are also now worth many multiples of what the Marnanes handed over for the colts and the excitement is building for their appearance at the Goffs London Sale on the eve of the royal meeting. 

“The Goffs London Sale is effectively a shop window for us,” Marnane explains. “Henry [Beeby] and his team do a great job in making it all happen. They move mountains in order to let horses run in their new owner's colours at Royal Ascot and it's a sale that has been lucky for us in the past. We sold Forever In Dreams (Ire) (Dream Ahead) there [for £430,000] in 2019 and she came out and finished second in the Commonwealth Cup just a few days later. There will be a lot of emotion at Ascot next week and a lot of people will be very interested in these two horses at the sales because they are so special. They are going there with serious chances.”

Givemethebeatboys and Supersonic Man will be joined at the Goffs London Sale by Bansha House graduates Rush Queen (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}) and Tiger Belle (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}), both of whom have won maidens for trainer Ado McGuinness after their purchase at the breeze-up sales by Stephen Thorne on behalf of the Shamrock Thoroughbred Syndicate. 

Rush Queen cost 50,000gns at the Craven while Tiger Belle fetched £70,000 at Doncaster. In the grand scheme of things, it's not what you'd call breaking the bank for two Royal Ascot contenders, and in many ways their sale prices illustrate an up-and-down year for Marnane at the breeze-ups. 

Fleeting Spirit (Ire), Prince Of Lir (Ire), Rio De La Plata and Sands Of Mali (Fr) are just a handful of recognisible names that have graduated through Marnane's system but the leading source of talent says that he is paying a penalty for the fact that his horses don't break the clock in their breeze. 

He explained, “The breeze-ups have gone very difficult. Our horses are not drilled to do two furlongs. I'm sorry, they're not. But it's amazing, their last two furlongs are usually their best! 

“There's too much emphasis on times. It's not my way of doing it. Call me old-fashioned. Maybe I'm an old-fashioned horseman or something like that, but that's the way we do it and I'm not changing. I want our horses to be racehorses. I want them to go into their new trainers and new owners and to be lovely and relaxed. And when they are asked to go, they go. 

“But fair play to Ado and Stephen, they stood up and they bought those horses. There was a big shortage of trainers at the sales but look what can happen when they do turn up. If you want to go to Royal Ascot, and there's only one Royal Ascot, you need to turn up at the sales.”

Givemethebeatboys has shortened into a general 8-1 chance for the Coventry with the news Frankie Dettori has been booked to take the ride. Supersonic Man will take his chance in the Windsor Castle rather than the Norfolk and, if either colt was to enter the winner's enclosure, chaos is guaranteed. 

“There is just no feeling like Royal Ascot,” Marnane says. “It's a pure adrenaline rush to have a runner over there and it would be so exciting for everybody involved if the horses were to run well. 

“It's not just for me, it's for my team here. There's a core group of people who have been with us for 30 years, the likes of Mike O'Brien, John Crosse, who breaks in all the horses, Danny and Emma in the office. 

“Then we have our operation in France and the guys in France come over here for the spring to get the horses ready so it's a big team effort. And for Jessica and Kate and the whole Harrington team, there will be a lot of emotion at Ascot next week. It would be just out of this world if it were to happen. Hopefully we can give everyone something to shout about.”

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Dettori To Ride Harrington’s Givemethebeatboys In Coventry Stakes

Share prices in Jessica Harrington's Givemethebeatboys (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}), a leading G2 Coventry S. contender, took a spike on Thursday with the news that legendary jockey Frankie Dettori would take the ride on the colt at Royal Ascot on Tuesday.

Givemethebeatboys, a gritty winner of the G3 Marble Hill S. at the Curragh when last seen, will be offered up for sale by his owner Con Marnane at the Goffs London Sale on the eve of the race.

He is not the only horse that Marnane and Harrington will offer at the sale–Supersonic Man (Ire), another Bungle Inthejungle colt, who will be aimed at the Norfolk or Windsor Castle, will also go under the hammer. 

Both colts would have been ridden by Harrington's stable jockey Shane Foley had he not suffered a broken collarbone at Gowran Park earlier this month. 

Foley described himself as “gutted” when revealing that he was facing a six-week layoff due to the injury last week and, when relaying that Dettori had been booked to ride Givemethebeatboys on Thursday morning, Harrington acknowledged that missing one of the biggest meetings of the year would be a tough pill for her regular rider to swallow. 

Harrington said, “We've got Frankie to ride Givemethebeatboys. It's great. Listen, if he thinks the horse is good enough for him to ride in a race like the Coventry, that's absolutely fantastic news for us.”

She added, “It's going to be very tough for Shane. He's missed winners already and, you know, the first thing he said to me when he broke his collarbone was, 'there's my championship gone.' That was the first thing. 

“But look, it could have been a lot worse. He's doing well and he comes to see the horse work. I know that it must be very hard on him but he is great and is a key cog in the wheel. He's coming over for the sale on Monday.”

Marnane couldn't hide his delight about securing Dettori for the colt he sourced for just €11,000 at the Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale. Speaking ahead of a feature interview with TDN Europe that will be published in Saturday's edition, Marnane labelled Givemethebeatboys as “a very special horse” and one who “has a serious chance” in the Coventry before echoing Harrington's sentiments about Foley.

He said, “We're delighted to have been able to secure Frankie–he knows a thing or two about Ascot, doesn't he? It's very tough on Shane, though, as he's been brilliant on the horse in his two starts to date. Let's hope we can provide everyone with something to shout about next week.”

Givemethebeatboys came through his final piece of work on Thursday morning with flying colours, according to Harrington, who revealed that she has a team of 10 or 12 horses to run next week. 

She said, “Givemethebeatboys worked this morning and he worked great. Couldn't be better. Everyone seems to be very happy with him. I think we've got 10 to 12 runners for Royal Ascot depending on who gets into what. That's a very big team for me.”

Asked to nominate what horses she was most looking forward to running along with Givemethebeatboys, Harrington, who will be in attendance, replied, “Well I'm looking forward to running Irish Lullaby if she gets into the Copper Horse Handicap. Then I've got Sounds Of Heaven and Village Voice at the end of the week, not to mention Ocean Quest. It's a nice team.

“I'm feeling great at the moment. Hopefully everything goes well and I will be there for the sale on Monday and for the racing on Tuesday. We'll see how the rest of the week goes. It all depends on how I am. It would be something else if the horse was to run a big race on Tuesday.”

 

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“This Is Massive For Us” – Asadna Has Aughamore Team Excited For Ascot

Aughamore Stud's Michael Gleeson has said that producing Asadna (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}), arguably the most impressive two-year-old winner there has been so far this season and a genuine Royal Ascot contender, eclipses anything the family-run farm has achieved in the sales ring. 

Gleeson runs one of the shrewdest breeding and pinhooking operations in Ireland along with his brother Laurence. The Westmeath men have made a habit of producing a number of big results at the sales in recent years and are now savouring what looks a real Coventry S. contender in TDN Rising Star Asadna. 

He said, “This is massive for us. The sales ring is brilliant but it's the winner's enclosure where you really want to be. We were fortunate enough to have sold a Group 1 winner [Champers Elysees (Ire) (Elzaam {Aus})] who won the Matron S. during lockdown so we couldn't be there for that. That's always going to stick in the back of your mind so we're going to make sure we're at Royal Ascot to see Asadna run.”

That might be a good idea. The ratings suggest that what Asadna did on debut at Ripon was something out of the ordinary. In actual fact, no two-year-old has posted a bigger Timeform rating than Asadna did when pulling a massive 12 lengths clear of his rivals to win over six furlongs on debut at Ripon for George Boughey. 

For Asadna to win on debut didn't come as a surprise to anyone close to him. But for him to go and post one of the most impressive speed figures in recent times for a debutant, just over a month after selling from Church Farm and Horse Park Stud to owner Sheikh Abdullah Almalek Alsabah for 160,000gns, could not have been predicted by anybody. 

Gleeson said, “We spoke to John Cullinan and Roger Marley, who breezed him, and they were very keen on the horse. But then again, he didn't blow the lights out at the Craven but still managed to sell well. 

“Obviously, they got him sold on their reputation because it was probably the soft ground that killed him in the breeze. We heard he was going well with George and everyone liked him but you never want to get too far ahead of yourself. 

“You hear so many stories about horses who are going to be the next big thing and it normally doesn't work out so you have to try and keep your feet on the ground.”

He added, “When you first saw him win by that distance, you were in shock. And then the more information that came out in the following hours and days made you wonder if it actually happened. At the same time, it was still only a maiden, but he looks very exciting.” 

Asadna is a best-priced 4-1 for the Coventry but most firms are quoting just 5-2 about him winning one of the most prestigious two-year-old races in the calender. His success is a triumph for the Gleeson brothers' patience and once again highlights their ability to sniff out a bargain given the dam Looks Great (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) was picked up for just 10,000gns through Hamish Macauley at the Tattersalls July Sale seven years ago.  

Gleeson said, “We've seven broodmares on the farm now but a lot of those have only been purchased in the past couple of years. Asadna is out of one of the original mares that we bought when we moved back home to the farm to try and give it a go so it has taken time. It's a long time since she was bought from the sales as a three-year-old. 

“As her name suggests, she was an outstanding individual and we knew that her dam [Danehill Dreamer (Danehill)] produced lovely-looking stock. There was a Nathaniel (Ire) colt  [Ecole d'Art (Ire)] out of the mare that made 675,000gns as a yearling. 

“You need to find an angle and have to forgive something somewhere when you are shopping at that level. So we forgave her page because she had a strong backpage and felt that New Approach (Ire) would be a very good broodmare sire, which he now looks to be. He looks to be the next big thing as a broodmare sire.”

He added, “We were actually debating whether or not to put her in training after we bought her off Godolphin but we just didn't have the finances to test the waters.”

The Gleesons kept it local by travelling just 20 minutes from their base in Streamstown, County Westmeath, to their near neighbours in Tally-Ho Stud to visit Mehmas just before his first runners hit the track. It turned out to be an inspired decision given the heights Mehmas has scaled in the interim and Gleeson is hoping that Asadna can be the latest star for the popular sire. 

He said, “We went to him during his first season and it just made sense to go back. He is local to us there in Tally-Ho Stud and they have always been very good to us. It was an easy decision. When we used him the second time with the mare, with the resulting progeny now being Asadna, there was actually a lot of word about his first runners so we decided to send two mares to him before anything hit the track. It proved to be the last chance saloon when you consider what his stud fee is now. 

“But with the way the market is gone now, there has to be an element of risk because sire power is everything, especially with the mares who don't have the big pages. You need to land on the right sire to potentially upgrade your mare.”

Gleeson added, “Looks Great now has a Belardo (Ire) yearling filly who I imagine we will bring to the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale. She's also in foal to Nando Parado (GB, who we have a share in, so we were keen to support him this year with something decent.”

“Even though The Fugue (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is in the pedigree, you also have Limato (Ire) (Tagula {Ire}), while Fille De Reve (GB) (Iffraaj {GB}) and Sulaalaat (GB) (New Approach {Ire}) were other highly-rated performers in the pedigree as well. Sulaalaat actually won over six furlongs so we just said that we'd embrace the speed element of the pedigree. From a commercial point of view, it made sense to go that way with that level of a stallion.”

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