Update Keeps Dream Alive For Small Breeder

Martin Cooney arrived at the Goffs November Breeding Stock Sale in 2018 with a modest budget and a simple plan: “buy a mare that was in foal, and that could be a quick way to turn our money around with a bit of luck,” the Fethard-based horseman said.

On Cooney’s shortlist the first day of the sale was the 8-year-old Hard Spun mare Plying, in foal to Starspangledbanner (Aus). A $200,000 yearling, Plying had won three times for Sheikh Mohammed and trainer Henri-Alex Pantall before being culled for €12,000 at the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale in 2013. By the time she resurfaced at Goffs five years later, Plying had produced the placed 3-year-old filly Saguaro (Ire) and the unraced 2-year-old Alexander James (Ire) (Camelot {GB}). She had a yearling colt by Zoffany (Ire), and her No Nay Never filly foal had made €40,000 at the Goffs foal sale two days earlier.

“We went through a good few mares and it came down to one or two that we liked,” Cooney recalled. “Plying had a great walk and a good girth on her. I thought she had a great head on her. She had the frame of being a strong mare and I thought maybe with us, having a smaller number of horses, that she might improve. She was in foal to Starspangledbanner, which was a plus.”

Cooney followed Plying into the ring and was able to secure her on a bid of €21,000.

“I’d say we were lucky on the day; I think someone else at the last second tried to drop in another bid, but the hammer went down and your man said, ‘too late sir.’ From that day on, in fairness, the mare has been lucky.”

That sir, whoever he is, will doubtless be lamenting not raising his hand quicker, as Plying is now the dam of two stakes winners, including the aforementioned No Nay Never filly who was subsequently named Alcohol Free (Ire) and won this year’s G1 Cheveley Park S. for owner Jeff Smith and trainer Andrew Balding. Alexander James had previously bolstered the page last October with a listed victory in France as a 3-year-old.

Cooney, through his Jossestown Farm, brings Plying’s latest foal, a colt by Dandy Man, to this year’s edition of the Goffs November Foal Sale, and he sells during the premiere Sunday session as lot 698.

“He is a cracker,” Cooney said of the April-foaled bay. “He’s got size, he’s got scope, he’s got the looks. I’d be shocked if he doesn’t make a few quid.”

Expanding on the decision to send Plying to Dandy Man, Cooney said, “Plying is American-bred and has a speedy pedigree. Dandy Man is full of speed but as well as that he isn’t an over-big type of horse. She tends to throw them with size, not in a bad way, but we thought the perfect model might come out with the Dandy Man cross. I thought the match would work well and to be honest, it did. He’s correct and he walks. It’s hard to explain, but he is a bull. I wouldn’t change him in any way. He’s strong in every way and he has a good back end to him, which is important for those speed horses that will run five or six furlongs.”

Cooney admitted that anything the Dandy Man colt brings him is a bonus; the Starspangledbanner filly Plying produced for Cooney covered the cost of her dam as well as the Dandy Man covering fee when she brought €40,000 at Goffs February earlier this year. She was pinhooked by Knockatrina House for 130,000gns at last month’s Tattersalls December Yearling Sale.

“Plying had a lovely filly foal by Starspangledbanner,” Cooney said. “She colicked at the first sale she went to [last year’s Goffs November Foal Sale] and we were a bit unlucky because there were plenty of people on her. She went to the November sale and colicked on the day of the sale. It wasn’t the right thing to do to send her through the ring, so we brought her home and minded her and she went to the next sale and made €40,000, which covered the cost of the mare and the covering fee of Dandy Man. And then the updates happened after that.”

Cooney said he followed Alcohol Free’s progress as she was broken in and sent to Andrew Balding’s Kingsclere Stables.

“I heard through the grapevine that she might be going to Andrew Balding’s after being broken, which is always a plus,” Cooney said. “The manager at [Jeff Smith’s] Littleton Stud told me she was a real nice physical and they really liked her.”

Alcohol Free won at first asking on Aug. 15 at Newbury before running a fine race to be second to Happy Romance (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}) in the G3 Dick Poole S. at Salisbury on Sept. 3. Sent off at 7-2 in the G1 Cheveley Park S. three weeks later, Alcohol Free narrowly led Miss Amulet (Ire) (Sir Prancealot {Ire}) through the opening furlongs before drawing further clear at halfway. That rival re-rallied in the closing stages with G3 Firth of Clyde S. winner Umm Kulthum (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) also proving a tough adversary, but Alcohol Free hit the line a half-length the best much to the delight of her connections, not least Cooney.

“To be honest, I nearly had a heart attack watching the Group 1,” Cooney recalled. “I nearly threw the telly out the window watching it. I couldn’t believe it. We were ecstatic. You hope that something will do that, but the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. It doesn’t really happen to an ordinary Joe; usually those pedigrees are always with the bigger operations.

“We have always had horses but we’ve never had a pedigree like that. It’s nice for the small man to get on top.”

Indeed, Cooney said Plying is currently one of two mares in his barn, and he also pinhooks a few foals annually, at both flat and National Hunt Sales. And chances are good he’ll be back at the breeding stock sale next week looking to grow his broodmare band.

“The idea going forward would be to try to find another Plying,” he said. “We’d be interested in going to the sales again and trying to find a gem that maybe we could syndicate, put in foal to a good sire and maybe it just might take off again.”

Cooney acknowledged that sire power was an important aspect of Plying’s page at the time of her purchase, despite the fact she hadn’t yet hit as a broodmare.

“The thing we liked about Plying was that on her page, she had one runner, a High Chaparral that didn’t show much, but after that she had a Camelot, a Zoffany and a No Nay Never, which on any page suggests you have a fair chance for the mare to throw a winner. That really kind of sold us on her.”

Plying is currently in foal to another Coolmore sire in Gleneagles (Ire), and while a 2021 mating hasn’t been set in stone, Plying looks likely to get another upgrade.

“We’re flat out thinking about what would be the right thing to do and where to go,” Cooney said. “I personally would love to go to Kingman (GB). I think she’d have an absolutely gorgeous horse, but there also is the likes of Lope De Vega-he’s another top-class stallion. There’s nothing confirmed yet but we’re thinking the likes of them.”

Cooney began 2020 with a profitable mare in his barn, and is ending the year at the sales with a half-sibling to a 2-year-old Group 1 winner and Classic contender. “The dream is still alive,” as Cooney himself said, but he is nonetheless keeping his feet on the ground.

“The simple and short story of it is that we went looking to buy a mare that could breed winners from,” he said. “She was the one, and it worked out.”

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Festive Foals Take Centre Stage At Goffs

KILDARE, Ireland–Those among us who leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute have the perfect opportunity to give the gift of a foal or a mare this festive period given the timing of this year’s rescheduled Goffs November Foal and Breeding Stock Sale.

With current events requiring the sale to be pushed back almost four weeks from its original calendar slot, the action now commences on Friday and consists of three days of foals and a single day of mare trade. Unfortunately for those with very deep pockets, the much-anticipated potential sale topper–the Kingman (GB) colt out of Nightime (Ire) (Galileo {Ire})–has been withdrawn which is a major blow to Goffs given his siblings have topped two of the last five editions of the sale. However, there will be plenty of other foals that will attract the attention of pinhookers and end users alike and as an exasperating year comes to a close, Goffs Group Chief Executive Officer Henry Beeby said he is looking forward to hosting the first flat sale with customers on site at Goffs since February.

“It’s good to be back trading here in Kildare Paddocks; we had the December National Hunt sale last week which was the first sale to take place in Ireland since Covid on its originally scheduled date,” Beeby said. “That obviously is not the case for this November Sale, but we did what we had to do in order to accommodate the most people. At the time when we had to make the decision we wanted to have a clear two weeks for both vendors and purchasers between this sale and the December Sale [at Tattersalls] in order for them to isolate as necessary. It’s not ideal, but this is a case of needs must and it’s a year when you do what you have to do to minimise the problems at hand and I hope it will still allow us to have a vibrant sale.

“We don’t have a Part 2 of foals which reduces the catalogue slightly but I still think we have been very well supported by a lot of Irish breeders which we are very grateful for and we will just have to do our best.”

Beeby said he has been buoyed by the sustained strength of trade at the upper end of the market at foal and breeding stock sales so far in this unprecedented season.

“The resilience of pinhookers is simply awe inspiring,” he said. “Whether they have a good year or not they get stuck in regardless, basically because the majority are lifetime industry professionals and they just have to roll with the punches. That is what we all have had to do this year and we are all in it together and we just hope we can all get out the other side intact. People understand these date changes are necessary and those who attend the sale can all be reassured that Goffs will have done everything to make the complex as safe and as user-friendly as possible. We have a 36-page set of protocols, 30 stewards, one-way systems, hand sanitiser stations and plenty of outdoor areas. These include an outdoor bidding area with heaters, a marquee and the fact that we already have an outdoor covered parade ring is a great help. We will certainly make the best of it and do whatever we can to facilitate as successful a sale as is possible.”

As Beeby pointed out this year’s foal catalogue is slightly reduced to three days which should help the clearance rate but a general trend in this sale is that trade heats up day by day as the standard of pedigree gets stronger, building towards a usually frenetic day of bidding on the final day which in this case falls on Sunday. Despite several high profile withdrawals which also includes some big-pedigreed foals from Moyglare Stud, there are dozens of foals that should ignite plenty of competition from bidders including lot 571 from Knockainey Stud. The New Bay (GB) filly is a half-sister to dual stakes winner Great Page (Ire) (Roderic O’Connor {Ire}) and her yearling half-sister by Kodiac (GB) made 220,000gns when bought as a foal last year by Shadwell. Another foal who has a big-money sibling to work for her is lot 583. This Acclamation (GB) colt’s three parts brother by Mehmas (Ire) fetched £330,000 in the Orby Sale two months ago while the pedigree already lacks little with the dam Big Boned (Street Sense) having produced the Group 3 winner K Club (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) and the stakes-placed Back To Brussels (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) from only three runners so far.

Dandy Man (Ire) has been a good friend to a lot of pinhookers and there are a couple of colts by the Ballyhane stallion that could prove popular. Lot 590 from Milestream Stud is from the speedy family of Katla (Ire) (Majestic Missile {Ire}) and Wootton Bassett (GB). Later in the sale Jossestown Farm offers a Dandy Man half-brother to G1 Cheveley Park S. winner Alcohol Free (Ire) (No Nay Never) as lot 698. The mare Plying (Hard Spun) has also produced the stakes winner Alexander James (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) while her yearling filly by Starspangledbanner (Aus) made 130,000gns last month.

The progeny of Fashionable (GB) (Nashwan) have sold very well at Goffs over the years with the past two offerings out of the mare grossing €510,000 as foals and lot 621 will bid to continue that trend for breeder Ross Moorhead. The Fastnet Rock (Aus) filly is a half-sister to G1 Irish Oaks runner up Jack Naylor.

A filly with lots of residual value as well as obvious racing value is lot 659. Consigned by Ballintry Stud, the daughter of No Nay Never is a full-sister to two high achievers in American MGSW Nay Lady Nay (Ire) and G2 Coventry S. winner Arizona (Ire).

Of the four Frankel (GB) foals originally catalogued two are consigned by Des Leadon and Mariann Klay’s Swordlestown Little Stud. The first of those is lot 673, a filly out of stakes winner Marvada (Ire) (Elusive City) who is the dam of the high-class Terebellum (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). The foal received a further pedigree boost when her 2-year-old half-sister Miss Finland (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) broke her maiden at the second time of asking at Chelmsford last week. Swordlestown Little also offers a Frankel colt out of Nisriyna (Ire) Intikhab (lot 684), a mare whose progeny have sold very well as foals in Goffs. Her 2018 offering, now called Qaasid (Ire) (Awtaad {Ire}) sold for €170,000 and he also broke his maiden for Shadwell since the catalogue went to print.

The very next foal into the ring is also a Frankel colt, this time from Neilstown Stud and lot 685 should continue the fine work of the mare Noyelles (Ire) (Docksider) who has bred two stakes winners in Lily’s Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) and Zurigha (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) and has proven a fine money-spinner for Goffs Director Nick Nugent and his wife Alice.

Baroda Stud’s final foal offering of the year, lot 707, could also be significant as the Foostepsinthesand (GB) colt is a half-brother to this year’s G1 Keeneland Phoenix S. winner and Orby Sale graduate Lucky Vega (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

As the sale draws to a conclusion a pair of Dark Angel (Ire) colts could make their presence felt. Lot 723 from Hill House is a half-brother to the smart pair Inverleigh (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) and Setarhe (Ire) (Footstepsinthesand {Ire}) while lot 745 from AK Thoroughbreds is out of the stakes winner Tarakala (Ire) (Dr Fong) and is closely related to this year’s brilliant GI Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Tarnawa (Ire) (Shamardal).

The sale begins at 10 a.m. each morning and as has become the norm on-line bidding will be available to prospective purchasers.

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Goffs Moves November Foal, Breeding Stock Sales to December

In light of the Level 5 COVID-19 restrictions announced by the Irish government on Monday, Goffs has been forced to shift most of its autumn sales calendar.

The heightened restrictions mean it will not be legally permitted to hold sales at Kildare Paddocks from Oct. 21 to Dec. 2. After consultation with the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association and Tattersalls, new dates were selected for the Goffs November Foal and Breeding Stock Sales that will allow attendees to be at Tattersalls and observe the two-week Irish quarantine rules. The November Foal Sale, originally scheduled for Nov. 16 to 18, will now be held from Dec. 18 to 20. The Breeding Stock Sale will follow on Dec. 21.

The Goffs Autumn Yearling Sale will be moved from Nov. 4 and 5 to Jan. 12 and 13. The Goffs Autumn HIT Sale will remain on Nov. 5 as a live online auction. The December National Hunt Sale will also remain on its original dates of Dec. 9 and 10.

Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said, “Like much of the rest of the country, we did not anticipate a move straight to Level 5 but we fully respect the decision and objectives of the government and understand that, in this timeframe, it would not be responsible to attempt to hold a sale. Therefore, in consultation this morning with the ITBA and Tattersalls, we reviewed every sale and selected what we believe is the best possible alternative to maximise the success for each category.

“Rescheduling the market-leading Goffs November Sale to December will allow sufficient time for buyers and vendors to quarantine for two weeks following the Tattersalls December Sales. Our December National Hunt Sale falls after the current six-week lockdown period and therefore remains on its original scheduled dates.

“[The] Goffs Autumn Horses-In-Training Sale also remains on its original date, Nov. 5, but will be a fully online sale with a live auctioneer and bidding via Goffs Online and by phone. The Autumn Yearling Sale will be pushed back to January 2021. This sale is heavily reliant on overseas investment and it is hoped that a number of countries will have been added to the Irish government’s Green List for travel by that stage, allowing key overseas buyers to attend.”

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