Tag: Dermot Cantillon

Goffs, It’s Good To Be Back

KILDARE, Ireland–There's no denying that bloodstock sales are an important part of the business but it is what happens on the racecourse that truly counts and recent events have put an extra spring in the step of a number of breeders at Kildare Paddocks ahead of the start of the Goffs Orby Sale.

Standing outside her draft of six from Staffordstown on Monday morning was Kirsten Rausing, chatting happily with her staff and brand new director of the stud John Oxx. Rausing broke off every now and then to accept congratulations from passers-by on the second Group 1 win for her homebred Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) in Cologne on Sunday. One of those passing was fellow owner/breeder Liz Barry of Manister House Stud, whose Astadash (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}) had won the previous weekend's G3 Denny Cordell Lavarack & Lanwades Fillies S. The race is sponsored by Rausing, who was delighted to see a photo of Barry's grandson Alex holding aloft the giant trophy won by their homebred.

“We all know how much can go wrong with horses,” said Rausing with the experience of a breeder of some 50 years' standing, who has learnt, as we all must, to appreciate the good days. 

Fortunately there have been many good days this year for the horses racing in her white and green-hooped colours, as well as for those who started their days in the paddocks of Lanwades and Staffordstown. The weekend started in excellent fashion when Zaaki (GB) (Leroidesanimaux {Brz}) extended his group-race winning streak to five when landing the Underwood S., his second Group 1 victory in Australia for British ex-pat trainer Annabel Neasham.

Later that afternoon, Rausing was on the Rowley Mile to watch Sandrine (GB) (Bobby's Kitten), already the winner of the G2 Duchess of Cambridge S. and G3 Albany S., finish third in the G1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park S. And the breeder was already in Ireland on Sunday afternoon by the time the Sir Mark Prescott-trained Alpinista emulated her grandam  by winning the Preis von Europa 17 years after Albanova (GB) (Alzao) made Germany her own in a glorious summer of three Group 1 victories in Dusseldorf and Cologne.

Germany's leading older horse Torquator Tasso (Ger) (Adlerflug {Ger}) and top 3-year-old Sisfahan (Ger) (Isfahan {Ger}) fought out a thrilling finish to the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden earlier this month, but Alpinista has got the better of both of them independently, the former when she won the Grosser Preis von Berlin in August, while Sisfahan was third in Sunday's Preis von Europa.

So prolific is the Lanwades 'AL' family that it is no surprise that four relations of Alpinista feature among the Staffordstown draft, including a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt out of the G3 Oh So Sharp S. runner-up Alamode (GB) (Sir Percy {GB}), who features as lot 336. The only filly in the consignment (lot 337) features Lanwades stallions on both sides of her pedigree: the daughter of Sea The Moon (Ger) is the first foal of Albizzia (GB) (Archipenko), whose Galileo (Ire) half-sister Alegra (GB) has already produced two stakes winners. 

Rausing takes understandable pride that all 20 horses whose names appear in bold type on Albinista's pedigree page were bred at Lanwades, and it is doubtless the long-term thinking, planning and devotion to cultivating various families that has led to a record-breaking season for Lanwades on the racecourse this year. 

Power To The Breeders 

Similar comments apply to Patrick Burns of Newlands House Stud, whose draft of four contains a full-brother to another of this season's Group 1-winning fillies, Winter Power (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {Ire}), herself a graduate of the 2019 Orby Sale.

The breeder points to the catalogue page on the door of the colt who will sell as lot 294 on Wednesday and highlights the names to have appeared since he bought Winter Power's grandam Nordic Living (Ire) (Nordico) as a 4-year-old from Jim Bolger's Glebe House for IR£1,200 in 1995. 

“The family's been good to me, and so has the stallion,” Burns said of the clan which includes Winter Power's listed-winning half-sister Hay Chewed (Ire) (Camacho {GB}) and G2 Ridgewood Pearl S. winner Devonshire (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}).

The stallion in question is his brother Maurice's Bungle Inthejungle, resident of Rathasker Stud and sire of another member of the Newlands House Stud draft (lot 370), the full-brother to G2 Lowther S. victrix Living In The Past (Ire). He has indeed been good to Burns, but then good breeders help to make stallions, too.

Tally-Ho Stud's season just keeps getting better and better, latterly thanks to one of the standout juvenile colts of the year, Perfect Power (Ire) (Ardad {Ire}), who on Saturday added the G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S. to his earlier successes in the G1 Darley Prix Morny and G2 Norfolk S. The enjoyment is undoubtedly extra sweet given that Tally-Ho also bred Perfect Power's sire Ardad–one of two freshman stallions to have supplied the winners of Newmarket's Group 1 races at the weekend, the other being Caravaggio, whose daughter Tenebrism came with a late flourish to land the Juddmonte Cheveley Park S.

Perfect Power's three-parts sister by Kodiac (GB) features among a strong draft from the stud as lot 214, alongside another five yearlings by Tally-Ho's flagship stallion, as well as one by Kodiac's son Kessaar (Ire), who has his first yearlings for sale this year. That colt (lot 384) is out of Bisous Y Besos (Ire) (Big Bad Bob), a mare who has already worked well with another of the farm's young stallions, Galileo Gold (GB), to produce Oscula (Ire), who has provided three updates since the catalogue was printed in winning the G3 Prix Six Perfections and finishing third in both the G2 Prix du Calvados and G2 Rockfel S. on Saturday.

Time For Rest

Another whose page has had a major boost since publication of the catalogue is lot 205, Tinnakill House's Dandy Man (Ire) half-sister to the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational S. winner State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). The filly may have been bred just down the road from Goffs but the page has a proper transatlantic feel to it. Her dam Repose is an unraced daughter of Quiet American, while the third dam is the champion race filly It's In The Air (Mr Prospector), whose 16 wins include five Grade 1s, while her dynasty boasts such names as the Group 1 winners Storming Home (GB) and Musical Chimes.

Not only has the major win for State Of Rest–who has recently touched down in Melbourne for the next stage of his globetrotting tour–improved the page significantly but the mare's next foal, 2-year-old Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}), won at Galway on Sept. 7 for the same connections, Teme Valley Racing and Joseph O'Brien.

“It's all happening in the family, it's very exciting,” said Dermot Cantillon of Tinnakill House, who bought the grandam Monaassabaat (Zilzal) at Goffs back in 2007 from the late Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum's Gainsborough Farm. “She's a lovely filly and seems to be going down very well.”

Marju Magic For Oghill House Stud

Oghill House Stud has had notable success through daughters of Marju (Ire), with Mauresmo (Ire) having produced the G1 Racing Post Trophy winner Marcel (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), while another son of Invincible Spirit (Ire), the first-season sire Profitable (Ire), has also worked well with Marju to produce this year's G2 Queen Mary S. victrix Quick Suzy (Ire). The racy full-brother to that filly appears early in Wednesday's session as lot 247.

“We've always been big fans of Invincible Spirit and we bred his first ever winner,” said Hugh Hyland. “We are also fans of his sons, which was why we used Profitable. Quick Suzy was such a nice model that we sent the mare back. It's all about the Breeders' Cup now for Quick Suzy and we're looking forward to cheering her on.”

Quick Suzy's dam, the dual winner Snooze (Ire), also has a Belardo (Ire) colt foal on the ground and is now back in foal to Profitable.

The stud also offers a three-parts-sister to Marcel, by Invincible Spirit himself, as lot 123.

A Welcome Return

A beautiful autumnal morning for the final day of viewing added to the sense of joy for many at the sale being back in its rightful home of Kildare. Henry Beeby regularly bounds up and down the stairs next to the Goffs press room with a sprightliness that belies his fifty-something years, and his sectionals were livelier than ever on Monday. 

“We're delighted to be back here,” said the Goffs Group Chief Executive. “This is what it's all about. It is the Irish national yearling sale and it needs to be in Ireland. Vendors are happy because that's where they want to be. It didn't bear contemplating going elsewhere so we're very happy to be here.”

This year's sale also features the return of the Goffs Million, a race that sets out to do exactly what it says on the tin, offering guaranteed minimum prize-money of €1 million. Graduates of this year's Orby Sale are eligible for the seven-furlong contest, which will be staged on the Curragh on Sept. 24, 2022.

Beeby said, “A noted breeder said to me that it isn't that people might come because of the Million, they will have to come. And happily the purchasers have engaged with it and said it's at the right time and at the right trip. Seven furlongs at that time of the year is the stepping stone to Classic distances, and that's what we are aspiring to sell.”

Acknowledging the difficulties faced by the the relocation of the 2020 Orby Sale to the Goffs UK complex in Doncaster, he continued, “It's no secret that last year's sale was a disappointment to us and wasn't what we hoped it would be, so it was important that we were proactive in addressing those issues, and the Million was a key part of that. We looked at lots of different things. There are some very good incentives and bonus schemes around, but generally the consensus was to have something you could get your teeth into–it's got prize-money down to tenth place, and it's got the Group 1 bonus if the winner goes on to win a Group 1 race. We've also appointed new agents in America, and created an entirely new role and agent in England and in France to add to our other agents, and that's been important. After last year we did a lot of talking to a lot of people and we had to be proactive.”

He added, “Time will tell but, happily for us, breeders have backed us with some lovely horses and the standard of the individuals is high. I've been getting some very good feedback over the last few days.”

The Goffs Orby Sale takes place on Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am each day.

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Quality Across Tinnakill Draft

In an industry that involves cycles of frequent change, one thing that can be relied upon as a constant is the presence of Tinnakill House Stud at Goffs’s major sales, and Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne’s Co Laois nursery reliably returns this weekend with a select draft of mares and foals for the Goffs November Foal and Breeding Stock Sales.

Tinnakill’s 17 foals slated for the first three days of the sale include eight during Sunday’s premier session. Lot 600 is one of 13 foals by Invincible Spirit (Ire) set to go under the hammer and his dam, Chicago Dancer (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), is quickly accruing an enviable record at this sale. Her first foal, a colt by Sea The Stars (Ire), was bought by the late Gerry Dilger of Dromoland Farm for €330,000 at Goffs November in 2017 and pinhooked for 1-million gns at Tattersalls October Book 1 the following autumn when bought by Godolphin. Named Volkan Star (Ire), he was a winner last year at two for Charlie Appleby and trained on in 2020 to win the Listed Fairway S. and the G3 Prix du Lys over a mile and a half at ParisLongchamp.

Chicago Dancer’s second foal, a filly by Sea The Stars, made €200,000 at Goffs November last year and will carry the green silks of Peter Brant, having been bought by his White Birch Farm for 350,000gns at this year’s renewal of Book 1.

Cantillon expressed confidence that Chicago Dancer’s third foal will catch the eye at Kildare Paddocks. As well as critically having produced a stakes winner with her first foal, Chicago Dancer is a half-sister to two stakes winners herself, and appearing under the third dam are the likes of the G1 Sydney Cup scorer Mourayan (Ire) and the G2 Lancashire Oaks and G3 Lillie Langtry S. winner Endless Time (Ire).

“The pinhookers have done really well out of this family,” Cantillon said. “This colt is by Invincible Spirit and it looks like the mare throws to the stallion. Both of the Sea The Stars’ were very much like him and reminded me very much of their sire, and this one reminds me of Invincible Spirit. He’s a good-walking colt with a good attitude. We expect he’ll do well for us and I’m fairly confident that whoever buys him, he’ll do well for them as well.”

Tinnakill offers a Camelot (GB) colt (lot 582) who is the second foal out of Benefaction (Ire), a 6-year-old daughter of Nathaniel (Ire) who was a winner at three in France. Benefaction is a half-sister to the Aga Khan-bred GI Secretariat S. winner Shamdinan (Fr) (Dr Fong) and the G2 Herbert Power S. scorer Shahwardi (Fr) (Lando {Ger}), and a granddaughter of the G2 Prix de Malleret winner and G1 Irish Oaks second Shamadara (Ire), who produced the G1 Gran Premio di Milano winner Shamdala (Ire). Benefaction has a yearling colt by Siyouni (Fr). The Camelot colt is one of six by his sire in the sale, and Cantillon noted they have been scarce in the marketplace.

“I’ve been surprised but how few Camelots have come up for public auction; I think there were only two or three in Newmarket and again at Goffs there are very few,” he said. “This is an outstanding foal. He comes from a really good Aga Khan Group 1 family and Camelot crossed with that type of mare will get you potentially a top-class middle-distance horse. Physically he’s a good horse, he’s a good walker. I’d be very optimistic he’d sell well and I think he’ll be a very good start for the mare. This would be one of our very best foals.”

Tinnakill’s lot 719 is an Exceed and Excel (Aus) colt out of the Listed John Musker S. third Silver Grey (Ire) (Chineur {Fr}). Cantillon signed for the then 9-year-old Silver Grey for 26,000gns in foal to Brazen Beau (Aus) at Tattersalls December in 2016, just weeks after her listed-placed 4-year-old half-sister Kodiva (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) sold for $425,000 in foal to Speightstown at Keeneland November. Kodiac, to be fair, looks much catchier on a catalogue page than Chineur, but Silver Grey has nonetheless proven a shrewd purchase for Tinnakill. The Brazen Beau colt she was carrying at the time made 65,000gns as a foal at Tattersalls for Tinnakill, while her next foal, a Fast Company (Ire) filly named Graceful Moment (Ire), made £35,000 as a Doncaster yearling. Tinnakill sold Silver Grey’s Kodiac (GB) yearling colt for 50,000gns at Tattersalls December last year.

“Maybe people were put off by Chineur, but she’s a grey mare and if you look down that family, there have been some very good horses of that colour so I suppose that appealed to me,” Cantillon said.

Those greys on the page include third dam Negligent (Ire) (Ahonoora), England’s champion 2-year-old filly of 1989, and four-time Group 1 and Classic winner Sky Lantern (Ire) (Red Clubs {Ire}). Cantillon explained, however, that the real credit for Silver Grey winding up in the Tinnakill broodmare band is due to showperson Alan Hannigan.

“I was standing on the rail at the back walking ring at Tattersalls and Alan Hannigan, who works for me at the sales, he was leading the horse up and he said to me, ‘Dermot, you should buy this horse,'” Cantillon said. “So that was the extent of the research. On the basis of that I went in and I bought the mare, and she’s been very, very successful for us.”

“Silver Grey was a very good sprinter in her own right,” Cantilled continued. “She was rated 108 and she’s the best sprinter and the highest-rated horse by her sire. Her first foal showed promise at two and has continued; he’s now won three races. This is a typical Exceed and Excel foal; he’s strong, he looks a 2-year-old sprinting type and he’s got a good walk. He’s what you’d hope for, and I always like to see in a foal that when it comes out of the box, it’s what you’d expect to see. He looks like an Exceed and Excel and I think that’s always a big plus.”

Tinnakill offers a filly from the first crop of champion sprinter Harry Angel (Ire) in lot 677. Cantillon purchased the filly’s dam, the winning Mokaraba (GB) (Unfuwain) for €30,000 at Goffs November four years ago from the Derrinstown Stud draft, and in the interim Mokaraba’s first foal, the GIII Robert J Frankel S. winner Qaraaba (GB) (Shamardal), has provided the family a significant boost. Her current 3-year-old is Harvest Moon (Uncle Mo), who won four straight races this summer including the G3 Torrey Pines S. and the GII Zenyatta S. before finishing fourth in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland last month. Qaraaba’s Californiagoldrush (Cape Blanco {Ire}), now five, won the GII Sands Point S. and was third in the GI Del Mar Oaks in 2018. The third dam is the five-time Group 1 winner and triple Classic scorer Salsabil (Sadler’s Wells), herself a daughter of champion Flame Of Tara (GB) and a half-sister to Group 1 winner and sire Marju (Ire).

“I bought that mare from Derrinstown and I’ve been lucky that a number of good black-type horses have come up particularly under her first daughter, who was a stakes winner,” Cantillon said. “Qaraaba is producing fillies that are Group 1 fillies, really, and I’m excited about what’s going to happen as the pedigree matures.”

“I think the Harry Angel filly looks a real sprinting type,” he added. “What I liked about Harry Angel is that he had brilliance. On the racecourse he showed on a number of occasions that he was brilliant. I always think that if you’re going to invest in a stallion, if the stallion has shown that I think it sets them out from the crowd. I have a breeding right in the horse and that’s why I bought it, because I was attracted to the fact that he was such a great racehorse.”

Tinnakill offers just two mares during the breeding stock session of the Goffs November Sale on Monday, and each is a young stakes winner or producer. First into the ring as lot 898 is the 9-year-old Hala Hala (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}). Cantillon bought her for 68,000gns at the same Tattersalls December sale he plucked Silver Grey from in 2016, and the two-time winner out of the Galileo (Ire) mare Galistic (Ire) cost 68,000gns on that occasion while barren. The three foals she has produced for Tinnakill have all done well in the ring-a €55,000 yearling, a 50,000gns foal and a 58,000gns foal-and the middle of those, an Exceed and Excel filly named Hala Hala Hala (Ire), was a winner this year at two and second in the G3 Princess Margaret S. Hala Hala is offered in foal to Bated Breath (GB).

Following Hala Hala into the ring will be Crisaff’s Queen (GB) (Zoffany {Ire}) (lot 899), who broke her maiden in listed company in Italy at second asking and is offered carrying her first foal, by Ten Sovereigns (Ire). Tinnakill purchased her for €30,000 at Goffs February this year.

“They’re two really nice mares,” Cantillon said. “Hala Hala, her second foal was second in a Group 3 as a 2-year-old and looks like she could win a stake next year. Crisaff’s Queen is what a lot of people really look for, and that’s a stakes-winning 2-year-old. They’re two good mares and I think they’d be two good additions to any broodmare band.”

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