There may have been relative silence at The Curragh in July when the Ger Lyons-trained Even So (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) won the G1 Juddmonte Irish Oaks, but in the Boland household at Piercetown Stud in Meath the decibels were likely to have hit the high notes.
Eight months previously the stud’s owner Ronnie Boland and his son Aaron had bought a Footstepsinthesand (GB) half-sister to Even So as a foal at Goffs November for €22,000 and the now yearling filly will return to the sales ring with a massive update when she takes up her slot as lot 57 at the Goffs Orby Sale at Doncaster on Sept. 30.
Being a half-sister to a Classic winner is no mean feat in itself; however, the pedigree is far from one dimensional, as the filly’s dam Breeze Hill (Ire) (Danehill) is a half-sister to a brilliant Derby winner in Dr Devious (Ire) who also landed the G1 Irish Champion S. and the G1 Dewhurst S., as well as a champion sprinter in Archway (Ire). One doesn’t have to look too far down the page either to see the likes of G1 Epsom Oaks winner Dancing Rain (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}), champion 2-year-old Maybe (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and the multiple Group 1 and Classic winner Saxon Warrior (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).
Taking up the story of Irish Oaks day in July, Boland said, “Obviously it was an exciting day and we were delighted to see Even So win. She had already done us a turn when she won a listed race at Naas on her previous run but to go and win the Oaks was something we could only have dreamt about.”
It was more than just blind luck that lead the Bolands to the foal’s stable last year at Goffs, however, as Ronnie explained: “Myself and Aaron do a bit of work for Ger Lyons; we take horses that are out of training and that need a break and Aaron also works for Ger at the races sometimes. When he saw this filly catalogued in Goffs last year Even So had just won her maiden in Gowran but it wasn’t in the catalogue and Aaron thought she could be capable of developing into a stakes filly this year so it was his decision to buy her.”
Even So went into a lot of people’s notebooks the day she broke her maiden at Gowran last September and when she stretched almost four lengths clear of her rivals in a soft ground maiden over a mile it was a performance that definitely suggested stakes class at the very least with the possibility of ‘could be anything’ when upped further in trip. Although a beaten favourite on her return when third to stablemate Lemista (Ire) (Raven’s Pass) in the G3 Park Express S. at Naas in March, she acquitted herself well on her next start when fifth in the G1 Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas over an inadequate mile, running on strongly at the finish. The Coolmore-owned filly then confirmed her staying power when beating subsequent stakes winner Laburnum (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Listed Naas Oaks Trial before landing a second Classic in as many months for her trainer Ger Lyons.
“We would have been happy with any bit of stakes form, even to be have been placed in a listed race would have been grand but to get the big one was special,” Boland said. “There was a lot of shouting at the television here in the house and Aaron was actually at The Curragh working for Ger so he was on hand to witness it.”
Responsibility for prepping the yearling for the Orby has been handed over to Boland’s neighbour, Bill Dwan’s The Castlebridge Consignment, and so far things are going according to plan. “She is coming along fine I believe and hopefully on the day that matters she will be looking her best,” Boland said. “There are four Classic winners under the first two dams and it’s a very solid fillies family.”
As well as acting as a relaxation resort for many of Ger Lyons’s squad, Piercetown Stud is also home to a small band of broodmares with G2 Prix de Pomone winner Star Lahib (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) the highest achiever to have emerged from the boutique nursery. Risk Of Thunder (Ire)–not the famous cross country chaser of yesteryear owned by Sean Connery but a 2020 James Tate-trained winning juvenile filly by Night Of Thunder (Ire)–is another flying the flag for the farm.
Boland is breeding winners not only on the track but also on the educational side of the bloodstock business as his son Aaron was awarded the Gold Medal in the Irish National Stud breeding course earlier this year.
“Aaron is actually in England at the moment, he is working for Chasemore Farm doing their yearling prep,” Boland said. “He is going to be in Newmarket at the time of the Orby Sale so unfortunately he won’t be there to see the filly go through the ring. It’s his first real foal pinhook so hopefully he gets on well. He used the proceeds from selling an Awtaad filly foal last year that he bred himself to buy her so fingers crossed his luck will continue.
“It’s a tough game and everything has to go right not only during prep but also getting them to the sales up until they go into the ring. Then you need a few people to like them so it’s far from straightforward, as everyone in the business knows.”
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