‘I Went to Coolmore From School and Didn’t Come Home’: David Bowe’s Life in Bloodstock 

“I was speechless,” says David Bowe of being presented with this year's Wild Geese Award at the ITBA's National Breeding and Racing Awards on Sunday night. 

The award recognises Irish men and women who have forged successful careers in the bloodstock industry worldwide, and its recipients to date have included those working in Australia and America. Bowe didn't fly too far afield, though he did serve a stint in the States early in his career. For more than a quarter of a century he has been based just across the water in England, with the last 22 years spent as manager of Jeff Smith's Littleton Stud in Hampshire.

“I was humbled, absolutely blown away, the fact that I was chosen, especially when you think about all the previous recipients,” he adds. “I can't understand why, but it's just wonderful to be acknowledged by the ITBA, being an Irishman. Well, it's phenomenal, absolutely, I couldn't ask for better.”

He may not be able to understand why but plenty of people who have worked with Bowe over the years can vouch for the skills and horsemanship that put him in the running for such an award. The video of tributes shown on the night included one from Bill Dwan, who said, “He's an absolute gentleman. I don't know anyone in the business who has a bad word to say about him. It's not ever about David; it's about the horses, it's about Jeff.”

Smith himself said, “Year by year he has improved the stud from what it was.”

Growing up partaking in all the usual pony endeavours during his schooldays, Bowe's real education began in a nursery famed not just for its equine graduates but for plenty of two-legged graduates as well.

“I went to Coolmore from school and didn't come home,” Bowe says. “I think my father hoped I was going to go on to academia but it was never going to happen.

“Coolmore was just the best training academy in the world. If you rose to the occasion, they let you and enabled you to do everything. So they sent me to America, and I came back from America and ended up managing Abbeyleix estate for Lord de Vesci for five years.”

Bowe eventually found himself in England, with his early time there spent working at the National Stud and at Longholes Stud in the days of the Hon. John Lambton when it still stood the stallions Komaite and Wolfhound.

“And then I came to Littleton Stud and met Jeff Smith,” he continues, “and really, I guess, all the graft and work I did previously at Coolmore and Abbeyleix and in America, I was able to put it into practice here. Jeff is a unique man. He's probably going to be the most influential person I've ever met, in that he enabled me to be able to go and do what I've been lucky enough to do. It's been brilliant.”

Smith is of an increasingly rare breed of owner-breeders running a select operation. He is loyal to his trainers, many of whom have had horses for him for decades, and he races his homebreds, which are supplemented from time to time by the odd foal purchase.

On top of his regular stud management duties, Bowe has been key to this element of the Littleton operation in selecting the foals at the sales, and with some notable success, headed by the four-time Group 1 winner Alcohol Free (Ire). The daughter of No Nay Never was bought from her breeder Churchtown House Stud for €40,000 and was resold following her four-year-old season for 5.4 million gns at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale. 

“We had land here, we had staff, and sometimes we came up short on numbers, so Jeff let me go off and buy a few. It's going back a long time ago now, but the first horse we bought as a foal was called Dream Eater. He did very well for us,” says Bowe of the son of Night Shift who was a Listed winner and was placed eight times in Group races, including finishing third in the G1 Queen Anne S. behind Goldikova (Ire) and Paco Boy (Ire).

“We've done that ever since, really. We never buy any more than maybe three or four every year. We've been lucky. We buy them from good nurseries and you know that they're in good shape when you buy them,” he adds.

“I would go out there and spend the money as if it was my own. You're looking for value. But basically, I'm lucky enough that I can go and buy an individual and I don't have to worry about the fact that the sire is not fashionable. I like the horse and I'll buy it, and Jeff and myself are on the same page. It's about the actual individual rather than what it's by or what it's out of. Equally, that's very important for the residual value afterwards if you're going to breed or resell. But primarily, the first thing is the physical specimen.”

Casting his mind back to the halcyon days of Alcohol Free, he says, “Honestly, nobody could tell me or anybody else that she was going to be as good as she was. I liked her and I hoped, like we all do every time you buy one, that she was going to be good, but for her to be as good as she was, was beyond our wildest imagination.”

The old imagination was fired up again last year thanks to another foal purchase, Ghostwriter (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), trained by Clive Cox. The colt finished his unbeaten run of three last year with victory in the G2 Royal Lodge S. to leave Smith and Bowe dreaming of the 2,000 Guineas. 

“Again, one of the important things is buying from good nurseries and we bought Alcohol Free from the Gaffneys, and they're just proper horse people. And the same with Ghostwriter. We bought him from Norelands. They always produce brilliant stock. You're ahead of the game already because you're bringing home healthy stock,” he says. 

“The lovely thing about buying foals is we can bring them home here and then we have them for the next 14 months until they go into training. We're at an advantage because we have such good relationships with everybody, and it is about the bigger picture, it is about the team. It is about the girls here on the farm, like our head girl, Kelly Stevens, and the trainers, the pre-trainers. It can't be put down to one person, but it's wonderful to be credited by it anyway.”

Ghostwriter is not alone in fuelling the Classic dreams of the Littleton Stud team this year. Of arguably greater importance to a breeding operation is to have a talented homebred filly, and Smith looks to have just that in See The Fire (GB), who won her maiden last August and was then second in the G2 May Hill S. and third in the G1 Fillies' Mile. But then again, she was bred to be good, as the Andrew Balding-trained filly is by Sea The Stars out of Smith's G1 Juddmonte International winner Arabian Queen (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}), making See The Fire a fifth-generation Littleton homebred. 

“We've had a really, really good winter,” Bowe says. “We're dreaming about what we're going to do. See The Fire has done so well and we're hoping to go to the Guineas without a trial because she ran so well in the Fillies' Mile. It was a good test of stamina and she saw it out well.

“So we hope she'll do the fantasy stuff: Guineas and go to the Oaks and maybe the King George, who knows?

“Ghostwriter, he loved that hill [at Newmarket] and he was seriously impressive. So we're chuffed to bits with him also. Clive is delighted. I was speaking to him the other morning actually, and he doesn't think he'll go for a trial with him either.”

Arabian Queen, Alcohol Free, Ghostwriter and See The Fire are just the latest names on a long list of classy animals to have carried Smith's purple and blue colours over the last four decades. From the speedball Lochsong (GB) to the high-class sprinter/miler Chief Singer (Ire) and the people's favourite stayer Persian Punch (Ire), the owner has been rewarded for his investment in the sport with plenty of days in the sun. To hear Bowe describe his boss is to understand that there would be few people more deserving of such success. 

“Jeff  understands the game intrinsically,” Bowe says. “He understands that, one, it's a sport. Yes, there is a lot of money involved, but he takes bad news as well as he takes good news. 

“Jeff said to me a long time ago, 'If you don't trust your trainer, why would you have a horse in training? So why would you interfere with the training regime?

“We discuss things with the trainers but, fundamentally, the trainer makes a decision and it makes life an awful lot easier. Sometimes we might say, 'What do you think about dropping back in trip?' But the upshot is they're the trainers, we're not. So trust your trainer, let them get on with it. Let them train the horse. And then if it doesn't work out, it is not for the want of trying.”

He continues, “Jeff is in it for the sport. There's a huge aspect of enjoyment in it, and it gets you over the dark days when it doesn't go so well. 

“He is a purist and we are looking to win the Derby. We love speed and going back to Lochsong, a lot of the families were speed, speed, speed. And we weren't trying to breed the speed out of them, but daughters and what have you, have gone to proper Classic-type sires that may not fetch you a fortune in the ring if you went there, but they could breed you a Classic winner.

“We have a nice boutique stud with some lovely mares that we can breed to whoever we like. We've had some fun.”

With hopefully plenty more fun in the offing, Bowe concedes that he has enjoyed his decades in England. “Don't, whatever you do, say that I've become anglicised,” he says.

Right, so we won't say that then. But this particular wild goose admits that he may well be called home eventually to Ireland, where he has land of his own. Bowe's advice on Sunday night for younger folk wishing to become involved in the industry was, “Immerse yourself in it, get involved in it, and stick with it.”

They are words to live by, whatever your passion in life, and as he acknowledges, when you find that passion, a job becomes simply a way of life.

“I would imagine I'll retire back to Ireland,” he adds. “By retiring, I mean buying and selling a few, walking around the farm. I would love it, but I also love England so much, and my kids are here, so going back would be difficult, but it's only over the water.

“I'm here for the time being, though, and enjoying every minute of it.”

 

The post ‘I Went to Coolmore From School and Didn’t Come Home’: David Bowe’s Life in Bloodstock  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Lauding the Best in the Business on a Night of Sheer Emotion 

KILLENARD, Ireland – By daybreak on Monday the last few revellers were leaving the bar at The Heritage while those – admittedly few – of a more disciplined nature started to consider breakfast. 

Heads were hurting but hearts were still soaring after an evening celebrating all that is great about the Irish bloodstock industry. And it was a truly great night, but one which naturally started on a sombre note as the gathered guests bowed their heads in a few moments of silence to reflect on the passing of the ITBA chief executive Una Tormey last month at the age of only 41.

It wasn't the only part of the evening to bring a lump to the throat. The Next Generation Award was presented a little later on to Amy Marnane, who is the embodiment of unbridled enthusiasm, just like her dad, Con. He was there of course, eyes welling with pride, along with Amy's sister Olivia and members of the extended Marnane family. The one absentee was Con's wife Theresa, who died in December and, like Tormey, is much missed by her many friends in the business and beyond. 

By 2am in the hotel bar, Con and Amy were taking turns on the microphone, and if her endeavours in the bloodstock world ever fail her (they won't) Amy could easily fall back on a career as a singer. It was a night of celebration, and people who know Con Marnane even only in passing, will realise that he takes that approach to life on most days. The recent months will surely have been tough on the family without Theresa in their midst, but there is no better way to honour her memory than by continuing to live life to the full. On Sunday night she would have been especially proud of her eldest daughter, who is a shining example to all young people coming into this industry.

“She was a sponge to soak up information. By five or six she knew every horse by their sire and dam,” said Con in the tribute video to Amy before adding with a grin, “I'm not really surprised…She learnt from the best.”

The best was what Sunday night was all about. From the top jumps prospects, many of whom will return to the Cheltenham Festival in a fortnight's time, to the potential breed-shapers of the future on the Flat, Ireland's equine stars and the people who made them were duly celebrated. 

“We are delighted to have Minister Pippa Hackett join us again for this year's awards and we thank her and her government colleagues for their continued support,” said ITBA Chairman Cathy Grassick in her opening address. 

“We are honoured tonight to recognise the outstanding achievement of Irish-bred horses, both Flat and National Hunt, during 2023. This is our opportunity to celebrate their outstanding successes in a year which Irish thoroughbred talent was on display to a global audience once more. It is also an opportunity to acknowledge those who have made a lifelong contribution to Irish thoroughbred breeding and our people awards are well deserved and a testament to the wonderful people we have working in our industry.”

Willie Austin, who will forever be associated with the brilliant, prolific jumper Danoli (Ire), claimed the Small Breeder Award for the year in which Danoli's relative Blazing Khal (Ire) heaped more glory on the family with victory in the G2 Boyne Hurdle.

We will hear more from David Bowe in tomorrow's edition of the TDN after the Littleton Stud manager was given the Wild Geese Award, which is annually handed out to an Irishman or woman who has forged a successful career in the bloodstock industry beyond Ireland's shores. 

Bill Dwan summed up what many people feel about Bowe when he said, “He's an absolute gentleman. I don't know anyone in the business who has a bad word to say about him. It's not ever about David; it's about the horses, it's about Jeff [Smith, Littleton Stud owner].”

Stitch-up of the year goes to the ITBA's awards organising committee, who managed to pull the wool over Leo Powell's eyes. For many years Powell, the former editor of the Irish Field, has been the compere on awards night. This year he was told that the recipient of the Special Contribution award had been kept top secret, and indeed it had been, to the degree that Powell had no idea that the award was coming his way until he was hijacked on stage, expecting to read out someone else's name. 

The warmth of feeling for Powell within the racing and breeding industry was summed up beautifully by Jacqueline Norris in another of the heartwarming videos that the ITBA team does so well. “He's incredibly interested in the people that make up this business. He's kind, he's considerate, he thinks about people,” she said. “Leo Powell is pure class.”

There was also widespread approval for this year's inductees to the ITBA Hall of Fame. Referred to regularly as a “power couple”, the husband-and-wife team behind Tinnakill House, Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne, are the worthy new names on that illustrious roll of honour, which also includes Meta's late father, Michael Osborne.

Their great friend Alan Byrne paid tribute to the couple, with plenty of leg-pulling in his humorous address. He said, “What a team, what a partnership: in business and in life. I'm in awe of what they do, and also the skills they bring to their partnership: expertise in pedigrees, conformation judgement, strategic thinking, commercial nous, rigour and an unwavering commitment to hard work – and, look, Dermot brings something to the partnership as well.

“Above all, I would say that Dermot is an enthusiast. With Dermot, the glass isn't just half full, there's about to be so much liquid in evidence that more glasses need to be bought as quickly as possible. He loves the life and he loves the game.”

In almost 20 years at Tinnakill House, the couple has bred four Group 1 winners in Casamento (Ire), Alexander Goldrun (Ire), Red Evie (Ire) and, most recently, State Of Rest (Ire).

Byrne also highlighted the time and devotion they have committed to the industry above and beyond their own farm and in many roles, including Cantillon's chairmanship of Naas racecourse and Osborne's stint as senior steward of the Turf Club, as well as their encouragement of young people starting off in the business. 

“They only ever want the best for the Thoroughbred industry in Ireland,” added John P Byrne.

As Leo Powell conducted an interview on stage with the 'wild goose' David Bowe, who was clearly choked with emotion at being honoured by his peers and countrymen, he asked Bowe for one parting piece of advice for young folk keen on getting involved in the bloodstock business. 

“Immerse yourself in it, get involved in it and stick with it,” offered Bowe.

They are words that can just as well apply to racing and breeding, or indeed the ITBA Awards evening. Don't go there thinking that you will be able to get an early night. Roll with the emotion, sing, dance and enjoy everything that is worth celebrating about this wonderful life. 

ITBA National Breeding & Racing Awards Winners

Chaser of the Year 2023
Shishkin, Breeder: CJ & EB Bennett

Hurdler of the Year 2023
Marine Nationale, Breeder: JB Bloodstock   

National Hunt Race Mare 2023
Marie's Rock, Breeder: Dan Breen

Young National Hunt Horse 2023
A Dream To Share, Breeder: Brucetown Farms

Small Breeder 2023
William Austin 

Two-year-old Filly of the Year 2023
Porta Fortuna, Breeder: Whisperview Trading Ltd

Two-year-old Colt of the Year 2023
Henry Longfellow, Breeder:  Coolmore 

Three-year-old Filly of the Year 2023
Mawj, Breeder: Godolphin 

Three-year-old Colt of the Year 2023
Auguste Rodin, Breeder:  Coolmore

Older Horse 2023
Mostahdaf, Breeder: Shadwell Estate 

Next Generation Award 2023
Amy Marnane 

Wild Geese Award 2023
David Bowe

Contribution to the Industry 2023
Leo Powell

Hall of Fame 2023
Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne 

 

The post Lauding the Best in the Business on a Night of Sheer Emotion  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights