Worth a total of €300,000, with €150,000 to the winner and prize-money down to tenth place, the race is for EBF-eligible two-year-olds by sires with a median auction sale price of €75,000 or less.

Hugo Palmer was the winning trainer in 2023 with Golden Trick (Ire) (Galileo Gold {Ire}) for the Bronte Collection, which also owned the runner-up Jungle Mate (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}). The Bronte Collection syndicate has 18 horses entered for this year's race. 

Arizona Blaze (GB) (Sergei Prokofiev), who won the opening juvenile race of the Irish season, features among the entries, as does his runner-up Rowdy Yeats (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}) and the third-placed Monotone (Ire) (Verbal Dexterity {Ire}). Arizona Blaze is one of 14 entries for Amo Racing. 

British-based Irishman Richard Fahey trains 13 of the 119 entries from the UK. He said: “The Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is a fantastic initiative but a bloody hard one to win. We've put 13 horses in it this year and even though it is early in the year it is a no-brainer to make these entries. The €250 entry for a €300,000 race is a massive incentive for owners and lets us all dream a little.

“We haven't managed to win the Ballyhane Stakes yet but we'll be trying desperately hard again this year to run a few in it because it is great prize-money and at a good time of the year for these juveniles.”

Joe Foley, who owns Ballyhane Stud and is chairman of the Irish EBF, added, “The race is now in its fifth year and it's fantastic to see such a strong number of entries from both home and abroad, and a big thank you to everyone who entered a horse. 

“With a massive pot of €300,000 on offer and prize-money down to tenth place it gives connections the chance to dream big at this time of year. We are looking forward to watching the upcoming juvenile races and seeing which horses come onto the radar for the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes in August.”

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The Group 1-winning sprinter has his first runners this season. His former stud-mates at Ballyhane, Asymmetric (Ire) and Space Traveller (GB), have moved to Micheal Orlandi's Starfield Stud in Co Westmeath.

A statement released by Ballyhane Stud on Friday morning cited “a breakdown in the business relationship between Clipper principal Steve Parkin and Ballyhane Stud owner Joe Foley.”

It read, “It was agreed that stallions wholly owned by the Clipper operation would not stand at the Carlow farm in the future and, as a consequence, Asymmetric and Space Traveller moved to Starfield stud near Mullingar on Wednesday.”

The G2 Richmond S. winner Asymmetric recently commenced covering his first book of mares, while Space Traveller (GB), who won the Clipper-sponsored G2 Boomerang S. at Leopardstown, is in his second season at stud.

“We both thought this was the best way forward and I wish the team at Starfield all the best with the two horses,” said Joe Foley.

“As Sands of Mali is a partnership horse, he will remain at Ballyhane where his book has been increasing significantly due to highly encouraging reports of his first crop of two-year-olds.”

He added, “It has been a great adventure helping Steve and his family build his racing and breeding operation into what it has become today and I'm proud of the top horses that I've sourced for them over the years. I wish them all the best into the future, especially on the racetrack this year where the Clipper and Bronte teams have an exciting string of horses preparing for the season ahead.”

Parkin's homebred Group 1 winner Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) is currently second-favourite in the betting for the Qipco 1,000 Guineas, while her stable-mate at Karl Burke's Spigot Lodge, Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {GB}), shortened significantly in the Qipco 2,000 Guineas market following his 'TDN Rising Star'-worthy wide-margin win at Southwell on Wednesday. Bred by Linden Bloodstock, he was bought for Parkin by Foley as a foal. 

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A statement released by Dullingham Park on Tuesday read, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Space Traveller and Sands Of Mali, formerly at Ballyhane Stud, have been relocated to stand the remainder of the 2024 season at Micheal Orlandi's Starfield Stud in Mullingar [County Westmeath].

“Space Traveller is in his second season covering and reports of his first foals are exceptional. His fee remains at €6,500. Sands Of Mali has his first crop of runners this year and his fee remains at  €5,000.”

The statement continued, “All enquiries and covering bookings must be made to Micheal Orlandi – 083 8092299 or micheal@compasequine.co.uk.”

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Those were the words of owner-breeder Steve Parkin in a TDN interview penned in September last year, revealing all about his ambition to stand stallions at Dullingham Park Stud, plus the succession plan which he hopes will guarantee the long-term future of a racing and bloodstock empire he's spent the last two decades building.

Five months on and the wheels are now firmly in motion when it comes to Britain's newest stallion operation, so too the immersion of Parkin's eldest child, Fabienne, in everything the business entails.

Described by Parkin as “in love with the game”, Fabienne is already no stranger to taking on responsibility when her father's absence demands it, such as on this cold Newmarket morning when she's tasked with accommodating the latest two members of the TDN team to have descended upon Dullingham Park during the Tattersalls February Sale.

The state-of-the-art facilities and the new stallions they've recently become home to certainly leave a lasting impression on this first-time visitor, thanks in no small part to the infectious enthusiasm for all of it shown by Fabienne.

In this most unforgiving of industries, only time will truly tell whether Fabienne has inherited her father's famed business acumen and work ethic, but the hunger for more success in the familiar all-grey colours of Clipper Logistics has clearly rubbed off in spades if the evidence of this one morning in her company is anything to go by.

“I'd love to win a Classic, personally,” Fabienne begins when we start to discuss which races would be top of the bucket list for the Parkin family. “Fallen Angel is second favourite for the 1,000 Guineas which is beyond exciting. The Guineas for me is a huge thing and possibly the race I want to win the most. And York is our home track, so I'd love to win the Juddmonte International or the Nunthorpe.

“But I'm as excited for a Southwell maiden winner as I am for winning a race at Royal Ascot or the other big meetings. It's that passion that my family and my father bred into me. They raised me to love my racing and to love my breeding. I'm only young and I'm only starting, but I've got great mentors around me and everyone has been really supportive in helping me learn.”

Fabienne briefly looks starstruck when she recounts that renowned owner-breeder Kirsten Rausing is among those who have generously offered guidance or just a sympathetic ear, the pair having crossed paths when Rausing paid a visit to Dullingham Park during the Tattersalls December Sales.

At the helm of Lanwades Stud for more than four decades, Rausing knows more than a thing or two about standing stallions and was clearly as keen as the rest of us to cast her eye over the two additions to the Newmarket ranks for 2024, not to mention their impressive new digs.

“We purchased Dullingham last year and we've sort of revolutionised it,” Fabienne says of the rapid development. “We've knocked a few things down and we've built a few new stallion boxes and a covering shed. We've turned it into our station down here which is really nice, to have a base in Newmarket and a very exciting new venture as a stallion farm.

“We've had a few stallions in Ireland that we've either invested in or raced and then stood at Ballyhane Stud with Joe [Foley]. It's fantastic to now be able to offer the English breeders a service over here. We are English owner-breeders and to support the English market is really exciting for us.”

That excitement seems to be reciprocated by breeders who have flocked to see the two stallions on the Dullingham Park roster, headed by Shaquille (GB), who stands for a fee of £15,000 in his first year having taken the sprinting scene by storm in 2023.

Trained by Julie Camacho, Shaquille won seven of his nine career starts, notably becoming just the second horse after Muhaarar (GB) to win both the G1 Commonwealth Cup and G1 July Cup as a three-year-old on his way to being crowned Europe's top sprinter at the Cartier Awards.

Shaquille is also the highest-rated son of the four-time Group 1 winner Charm Spirit (Ire) who, like Muhaarar, is a grandson of the former Shadwell stalwart Green Desert, with the pair being by Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Oasis Dream (GB), respectively.

Ollie Fowlston, quickly settling into his own new role as managing director of Dullingham Park, says of Shaquille, “He's been unbelievably well received. We've got all the right breeders on board that we'd hoped for and they're loving what they see.

“He's just a very good-looking horse. He's beautifully balanced and a great walker. He's very correct in front with lovely big feet on him. He's got a lovely head as well, a good shoulder and a lovely wide hip on him. If we can get the first crop of foals looking and walking like him, that will be the first big hurdle jumped.”

Shaquille certainly cuts quite the figure as he calmly struts his stuff in the serene surroundings of Dullingham Park, taking everything in his stride and looking anything but the character who threatened to throw away his two Group 1 wins by rearing as the stalls opened, forfeiting several lengths to the rest of the field.

Only a horse of immense talent would have been able to overcome such adversity on his way to beating the best sprinters Europe has to offer, the horse of a lifetime for Camacho and partner Steve Brown, as well as owner Martin Hughes, who co-bred the colt out of the unraced Galileo (Ire) mare Magic (Ire), herself a daughter of Cheveley Park Stud's multiple Group-winning sprinter Danehurst (GB) (Danehill).

Those closest to Shaquille always maintained that he was the consummate professional to do anything with at home and Fowlston confirms that the colt's temperament has been nothing but an asset since he arrived at Dullingham Park, before going on to consider the adjustment this new venture has been for him following 25 years at Tattersalls.

“It's been exceptional how he's settled in really, because we've had so much building work going on and diggers around the place,” Fowlston explains. “He's not batted an eyelid at all and it's like he's lived here for a few years. Funnily enough, the first night he spent on the farm was the first night he'd ever spent away from the Camachos because he was born there as well.

“It's very exciting and quite surreal [to have Shaquille at Dullingham Park]. You go up to the stallion yard and when you see Shaquille's head sticking over the door you do have to pinch yourself a little bit.

“I'm really enjoying it. It's very different from my previous job at Tattersalls. It's selling but selling in a different capacity. It's been a great help my grounding at Tattersalls and having got to know all the breeders has made life a bit easier.”

Having Soldier's Call (GB) join the roster at Dullingham Park should also make Fowlston's life a bit easier. With the speedy son of Showcasing (GB) breeders already have a pretty good idea of what they're going to get as he embarks on his fifth season at an increased fee of £8,500, the first four having come under the supervision of Joe Foley at Ballyhane Stud in Ireland.

Bought by Foley for 85,000gns as a yearling, Soldier's Call was a notable success story for the Clippers Logistics team as a two-year-old when he carried the grey silks to a trio of high-profile victories in the G2 Flying Childers S., G3 Prix d'Arenberg and Listed Windsor Castle S., before going on to fill the runner-up spot in the G1 Nunthorpe S. at three.

Ranked third among the leading first-crop sires in Europe last year with 26 individual winners, Soldier's Call looks set for another big year in 2024 following a promising start, with a trio of three-year-old maiden winners in Britain already on the board.

“Joe's done a great job starting him off,” Fowlston says of Soldiers Call. “He's got big numbers on the ground. I think he's got 105 two-year-olds to run for him this year and I think he's got bigger books to come. We couldn't be more excited and it's something for breeders to look forward to as well.

“There's a bit of a gap in the English market for a horse like him. Breeders can come here and they know that he'll start off a young mare. He'll get a good winner and you can go to the sales and get well paid if you have a nice one by him.

“He's going down very well at the moment and already he's had the three three-year-old winners this year. He'll no doubt have early two-year-old winners on the turf when the season starts and we'll be taking bookings I'm sure right up until mid-May.”

Dorothy Lawrence (GB) was one of the flagbearers for Soldier's Call's first crop of juveniles last year, producing her best effort when beaten just a short head in the G3 Dick Poole Fillies' S. at Salisbury. She should be competitive in more good races for the Clippers Logistics team in 2024 if training on as well as her sire did.

As for fellow homebred and Karl Burke trainee Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}), she will be tasked with trying to deliver on Fabienne's dream of winning a Classic when, all being well, she lines up in the 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket on Sunday, May 5.

The form of her victory in last year's G1 Moyglare Stud S. would appear to put her in there with a leading chance, already having provided that memorable day at the Curragh which carried extra significance for the whole Parkin family.

“It really does,” Fabienne agrees when it's suggested to her that it means more to win any race with a homebred. “When you see your foals born at home and then they go on to be successful on the racetrack, it's beyond exciting.

“We had Fallen Angel last year who obviously won the Moyglare and there was a lovely story behind that with us breeding her and then losing the dam. That was very poignant and moving.

“I think we're lucky really. You have to have a bit of luck in this industry, as much as you can try and be clever about what you do. We're a very young operation in terms of our breeding and we've already been so successful. To have already bred Dramatised and Fallen Angel from the farm at home is really exciting.”

G2 Queen Mary S. and G2 Temple S. winner Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) is now a member of the broodmare band which reportedly numbers around 30 at the Parkin family home in Yorkshire, the 300-acre Branton Court Stud near Harrogate, plus another 50-60 in Ireland. The hope is that Fallen Angel will one day follow in the footsteps of her late dam, Agnes Stewart (Ire) (Lawman {Fr}), by joining those ranks, even better if she does so as a Classic winner.

As for the four remaining empty stallion boxes at Dullingham Park, Fabienne confesses that she has already earmarked one for Night Of Thunder (Ire) colt Flight Plan (GB), who fittingly won last year's G2 Dullingham Park S. at Leopardstown and has the potential to make up into an even better four-year-old in 2024.

However, it's Foley who gets the last word–not unusual, I'm told–when it comes to the biggest and brightest prospects for the Clipper Logistics team this year, providing the inside track in his role as bloodstock advisor to the Parkin family.

“Who's he?” Foley asks when the name Night Raider (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is put to him during our conversation at the February Sale, briefly threatening to throw this interviewer off the scent of the nine-length Southwell winner before the twinkle in his eye reveals there is a big opinion there waiting to be unleashed.

“I remember buying him as a foal, I thought he was the best foal I'd ever bought,” he soon delivers. “He was always a beautiful horse and he's always impressed the people who were around him. He's a big horse at 16.1hh and he's out of a Shamardal mare, out of a Dubai Millennium mare. There's a lot of Dubai Millennium in him.

“He doesn't look like his half-brother [G3 Palace House S. winner Far Above] at all. He'd lead you to think that there's a lot of speed in the pedigree, but it's a very classy family. He looks like a miler, he gallops like a miler and he wasn't stopping when he won at Southwell.

“Danny [Tudhope, jockey] adores him, he thinks he's a really high-class horse. He's just won a December maiden, so he has an awful lot to prove, but on our team he's the horse with the most potential.

“We're very excited to see what he does, but we've been disappointed in the past–we're hoping for the best and expecting the worst,” he adds, betraying the same boundless optimism as Fabienne but the experience to know better.

The post Enthusiasm In The Air as Dullingham Park Embarks on First Season appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Three-year-olds with a median price of no more than €75,000 will be able to take part in the Irish Stallion Farms EBF Gowran Classic, with entries for the race, run over nine and a half furlongs, set to close on Wednesday, March 13. The winner will receive an automatic free entry into the G1 Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby at the Curragh on Sunday, June 30. This applies to both colts and fillies.

Six races, each worth at least €25,000, make up the series which offers total prize-money of €330,000. The Curragh, Navan and Cork will host four maiden races between them–two for fillies only–and each of these races will be restricted to three-year-olds whose sires achieved a median price of not more than €50,000 in 2022.

A median price of €75,000 will apply to runners in the €30,000 Irish Stallions Farms EBF 3yo Spring Series Race held at Roscommon on Monday, May 13. The same median price restriction will apply to runners in the €200,000 series finale.

There will be free entry, sponsored by Irish Stallion Farms, for all racegoers at Gowran Park on Bank Holiday Monday, June 3 and the racecourse's manager, Eddie Scally, said, “Gowran Park are really excited to host the inaugural €200,000 Irish Stallion Farms EBF Gowran Classic, the region's richest Flat race.

“This race will form part of an action-packed day both on and off the track this June Bank Holiday Monday with live music and a massive family fun day. We hope the Gowran Classic will attract all the top trainers and riders from both Ireland and abroad and see for themselves the warm Kilkenny welcome.”

Joe Foley, chairman of the Irish EBF, added, “Irish Stallion Farms already sponsor two successful series for two-year-olds, the auction and median series with 27 races in each and a combined value of nearly €850,000.

“We felt it important to develop a similar series for later developing middle-distance three-year-olds; hence the Spring Series was initiated with the valuable €200,000 race at Gowran as its centrepiece. We look forward to seeing this three-year-old series grow and develop and are delighted to support Gowran Park racecourse in particular, who are investing heavily in their facilities.”

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As hardy as he was talented, Dandy Man was bred by Noel O'Callaghan at Mountarmstrong Stud from the G3 Molecomb S. winner Lady Alexander (Ire) (Night Shift), who is also the dam of G2 Queen Mary S. victrix Anthem Alexander (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}). He raced for five seasons, winning six of his 30 starts, initially for Con Collins in Ireland, then for his daughter Tracey, before he was bought by Godolphin and continued his career under the care of Saeed Bin Suroor. 

Already the winner of the G3 Palace House S. before switching to the Godolphin blue, Dandy Man added another Listed win to his two previous Listed victories in Ireland, and he was fourth, beaten a length, in the G1 King's Stand S. He had also been second in that same race behind Miss Andretti when trained by Tracey Collins, as well as finishing third in the G1 Nunthorpe S.

Dandy Man spent his entire stallion career at Joe Foley's Ballyhane Stud, and he has been represented by the Group/Grade 1 winner Peniaphobia (Ire), La Pelosa (Ire) and River Boyne (Ire). The latter now stands in Ireland at Tara Stud. Further group winners include Dandalla (Ire), Mooniesta (Ire) and this year's G3 Pride S. winner Novus (Ire).

Paying tribute to the horse who served 15 consecutive seasons on the Ballyhane roster, Foley said, “Dandy Man had been a great friend to so many people, starting with Con and Tracey Collins, and especially to all of us here at Ballyhane. 

“It was very hard to say goodbye to him, and we are grateful for all that he has given us over the years he has been here with us. He was like a member of our family. 

“I would also like to add a special word of gratitude to breeders who used him over the years.”

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A high-class juvenile for Alan King, Asymmetric fetched a six-figure prize-tag at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale before landing the G2 Richmond S. in tremendous fashion. 

That victory was described in the Sporting Life as “a highly impressive performance”, with Asymmetric accounting for a quality field, which included subsequent Group 1 winners Perfect Perfect and Ebro River, as well as the Flying Childers winner Caturra. 

Jockey Martin Harley described Asymmetric to be in possession of an “incredible turn of foot”, which was evident when the colt ran a gallant race to finish third in the G1 Prix Morny S. in 2021. 

Ballyhane Stud owner Joe Foley commented on his new acquisition, “With Soldier's Call joining Dullingham Park, we are delighted to welcome another son of Showcasing to Ballyhane. We've seen what they can do, with Soldier's Call's exciting first crop in 2023, and another son of Showcasing being responsible for the high-class sprinter Bradsell. 

“Asymmetric is made very much in that mould, and is a tremendously good-looking colt. With his speed, class and pedigree I am confident that he will be a popular choice with breeders.”

Asymmetric added more black type to his record during a season in America before spending his four-year-old campaign in France. On a memorable day in Deauville in August, he won the Listed Prix du Cercle just half an hour before his younger half-brother Mill Stream won the Listed Prix Moonlight Cloud. Mill Stream returned to France at the end of that month to win the Group 3 Prix de Meautry.

Asymmetric and Mill Stream are the first and second foals of their dam Swirral Edge, herself an extremely fast dual winner. The mare's Listed-winning half-sister Fashion Queen is already a black-type producer, and the strong sprinting elements of the pedigree are further enhanced by the presence in the family of Flying Childers and Molecomb Stakes winner Wunders Dream, herself now also a black-type producer. 

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The imposing three-for-four Karl Burke trainee won her Haydock debut in May, ran second at listed level at Sandown in July and then rattled off victories in August's G3 Sweet Solera S. and the G1 Moyglare Stud S. at the Curragh in September. She was under consideration for next week's G1 Fillies' Mile.

“I'd say she is unlikely to run again this year and will just head straight for a Guineas next year,” said Foley.

“We were always planning to give her just four runs this year. If she hadn't won the Moyglare we would have targeted the Fillies' Mile, but she's already a Group 1 winner at two now and she's a big filly with lots of scope for next year, so we don't want to interfere with that.

“We've decided to let her off and give her a break, so she's not going to run in the Fillies' Mile and she was never going to a Breeders' Cup this year.”

Burke will be in charge of determining if the filly will have a prep run before the 1000 Guineas.

Foley added, “We'll see how she goes [for a prep] and leave that to Karl. Going straight to the Newmarket Guineas was the original plan, but that could change.”

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But the story of the sale was the strength of the Italian buyers, with Cristiana Brivio, who operates under the banner of Razza Latina, and Valfredo Valiani, two of the leading purchasers on the day. 

Foley, who also stands Soldier's Call at Ballyhane Stud, was repeating the trick from last year after topping this sale 12 months ago. 

“I am delighted to have found her, she has a great pedigree-her second dam [Ameerat] won the 1,000 Guineas and there is loads of page here,” said Foley.

He added, “She is a stunningly-beautiful filly, too, and looks a real classy type. She will run in the Clipper Logistics colours.”

Breeder David Laverty enjoyed a fine payday having purchased the filly's dam Ebbraam for just 1,000gns.

“I bought the mare via a Tattersalls Online Sale through Covid,” said the breeder who hails from County Armagh and keeps 10 to 12 mares. “From day one this filly has always been in proportion and is a great walker.

“The team at Ballyknock has done a great job with her prep. My father has been breeding horses for a lifetime and we have had the highs and very lows, it is nice to get a result for all of us.”

The session concluded with a turnover of €1,546,100 and a robust clearance rate of 81 per cent.A vibrant international atmosphere was maintained over both parts of the September Yearling Sale – yearlings have been purchased by representatives from 13 different countries, with over 80 shipping to Italy, the most popular overseas destination for new acquisitions. Horses are also travelling to the Far East with Thailand appearing on the buyers' sheet for the first time.

Tattersalls Ireland CEO Simon Kerins commented, “The demand witnessed over the last two days has carried through into today's session, resulting in lively trade and a clearance rate comparable to last year given the increased catalogue. The plethora of both international and domestic buyers throughout the week has significantly contributed to these results. We hugely appreciate the support of our loyal vendors who have recognised that Part Two of the sale has established itself as a viable option for selling commercial yearlings.”

He added, “We now turn our attention to preparing the catalogue for the Sapphire Sale with entries closing for foals, yearlings and broodmares on Friday, 20th October and the sale taking place on Friday, 16th November.”

All yearlings catalogued for the September Yearling Sale and Sapphire Sale are eligible for the €250,000 Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes 2024.

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He was that once, until he turned the van that he drove himself into a fleet of lorries, and his business extended from warehouses and distribution to supporting some of Britain's biggest retailers in meeting their increasing online demands.

Clipper Logistics has become a well-known name beyond the business pages, particularly among those who follow horse racing. Thirty years after the company was founded, Parkin sold Clipper to GXO Logistics in May 2022. 

“How does a little fella from Leeds with one van create a billion-pound business?” he asks rhetorically as we sit down in the sumptuous office at his latest acquisition, Dullingham Park Stud.

It's a question which this interviewer was plucking up the courage to ask but, as it transpires, the notebook filled with questions may as well have been left at home. All that was needed was a well-charged phone with the voice recorder playing as Parkin merrily recounts his extraordinary tale with a 'can-hardly-believe-it-myself' subtext.

It barely needs stating in the case of a self-made multi-millionaire, but Parkin's success has not of course happened by chance. He knows he's lucky, with his string of racehorses and sprawling stud farms in Yorkshire and Newmarket, but he would also subscribe to the 'harder you work, the luckier you get' mantra. And he's clearly not resting on his laurels while all around him others carry out his orders. 

No, retirement is very much not on the agenda for the 62-year-old; he's already onto the next project in which he is planning to use his sharp business acumen in complementary harness with his friend and bloodstock advisor, Joe Foley, the owner of Ballyhane Stud in Ireland.

“When I was in business, I always tried to do things properly,” he says. 

In illustration of that, under construction just outside the window are what will clearly be high-spec stallion boxes. Six of them. 

Over the last two decades, Parkin has gone from being a co-owner with friends, to sole owner, to owner-breeder, with his greatest success in the latter regard coming last Sunday with the victory of his homebred Fallen Angel (GB) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) in the G1 Moyglare Stud S. Next come the stallions.

He continues, “Things percolate from the top, so how that person at the top of the tree is, is how the rest of the business will run, and the culture that it creates. I've tried to have this same ethos here, and what we're creating, obviously a lot of it is Joe Foley's doing. But where I step in is the extra ten per cent, if you like, from a business perspective. If I'm going to stand stallions here, I want to go the extra bit just to give that feeling that this is something. It's not a backstreet garage, it's a proper shiny dealership. Hence, why we've put proper stallion boxes in.”

He is certainly not limited in his ambition for what will become Britain's newest stallion operation over the winter in stating that he would like Dullingham Park Stud, which is managed by Ollie Fowlston, to emulate Juddmonte Farms.

“Juddmonte, I think, stand head and shoulders above everybody in this industry,” he says.

Throughout the course of a lengthy conversation we veer from the development of Clipper Logistics to horses, family and his beloved Leeds United, and one thing underpins these meanderings: passion. At a time when British owners-breeders are disappearing faster than polar ice caps, it should be viewed as good news indeed that Parkin has set his heart on buying stud farms instead of football clubs. But it was close.

“I'm a big Leeds United football fan,” Parkin says. “I've come very close on a couple of occasions of buying [the club]. That's a big pull to buy your football club.”

He admits that his finance director David Hodkin wasn't enthused by the idea, but that he also had his own personal reservations.

“It wasn't David who talked me out of it, it was actually thinking of my children,” he continues. “All young, all at school. Your dad buys a football club, the amount of hassle they would get.

“But I said to David, 'Right, if I'm not buying the football club, I'm going to properly go for it with the racing.' And it's hard for a normal business finance director to understand. If I went and bought a warehouse, kitted it out, it starts giving me revenue. Doesn't work like that with racehorses or mares. You've got to wait; it's a building block. Anyway, eventually we upped our ante and spent a bit more money.”

To his growing team of horses in training he added the 300-acre Branton Court Stud near Harrogate, which is now his home to Parkin, his wife Joanne and their four children Fabienne, Delphine, Henri and Severine. The eldest, Fabienne, is often seen at the races and sales and is, according to Parkin, “in love with the game”, while Severine is still in education and studying horse management. Their father is delighted at their shared interest, and it is a love which he in turn inherited from his grandfather and father. 

“On a Saturday afternoon, when they'd been and had their bets, they would sit in front of the telly and argue with each other,” he recalls. “Racing was the only sport you could watch live on TV back then.”

If I'm going to stand stallions here, I want to go the extra bit just to give that feeling that this is something. It's not a backstreet garage, it's a proper shiny dealership.

Trips to York racecourse, initially with his father and later with friends, eventually led to his first foray into ownership. Involvement in a larger syndicate then became co-ownership in the Group 2 winner Captain Rio (GB) (Pivotal {GB}).

“I started to do alright and I owned a couple of horses with this guy who got into financial trouble, so I had to buy him out. I ended up buying Captain Rio off him and through that I met Joe Foley,” he recalls.

“He did a deal with me on Captain Rio and we stood him in Ballyhane. Getting Captain Rio very quickly I thought, 'This is easy this. I paid that and I've just made that from a stallion deal.' And he won a couple of good races so there was plenty of prize-money. So I decided to dabble a bit more, and about one-and-a-half million quid later I finally had another winner.

“At this point, Joe said to me, 'If you don't change or have a strategy, you won't be in racing in five years' time.' And he was right.”

Further transactions have taken place in the interim. Rosdhu Queen (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}), Parkin's first Group 1 winner, and his German 1,000 Guineas winner Electrelane (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), were bought for 65,000gns and 35,000gns and sold on after their racing careers for 2.1 million gns and 500,000gns, to Coolmore and Shadai Farm respectively. In the meantime, other fillies and mares have been retained or bought to furnish the paddocks at Branton Court Stud, which had its first homebred Royal Ascot winner last year in the G2 Queen Mary S. winner Dramatised (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}). This was followed and trumped by the exploits of Fallen Angel at the Irish Champions Festival. 

That same weekend, Starlust (GB) (Zoustar {Aus}), bred at Branton Court but sold to Jim and Fitri Hay, won the G3 Sirenia S., while the yearling purchase Flight Plan (GB) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}) argued his case for a future berth in one of those shiny new stallion boxes by winning the Parkin-sponsored G2 Dullingham Park S. A trip to America and potential Grade I spoils could be next on his agenda.

“My love of this industry is for the horse,” says Parkin, who admits that he came close to turning his back on it all when he lost Agnes Stewart (Ire), the dam of Fallen Angel, just as her filly was ready to be weaned. 

“Don't forget, I watch them being born. Within 20 minutes, a foal's up on its feet. Within three days it's out in a field. Within three months it's then becoming a naughty school kid. I sit on my terrace at home and the fields are all in front of me, and all of the mares and foals are there. I sit there and I watch them, and I'm fascinated with them.

“And when Agnes Stewart died, this is quite corny I suppose, but I used to call to her. She'd be grazing and she'd turn to me. Agnes Stewart was a school in Leeds I used to play against at football and I always thought it would be a good name for a horse. She was a good two-year-old, and then unfortunately she got injured which curtailed the rest of her career.

“I was looking at her one evening in the field and I thought, 'What's she doing?' And then thought, 'That's colic.'

“I was that devastated, I didn't speak to Joe for a month. But she left us with that filly. I mean, what a story, and that's why I was so emotional on Sunday.”

Entering the stallion business plumbs new depths of involvement for the man who already stands two of the best colts he has raced, Soldier's Call (GB) and Space Traveller (GB), at Ballyhane. For Parkin, it is completing the inexorable loop he's been on since his schoolboy days of sending older lads in to the bookies to place his bets.

“I know this is a sport, and animals are a bit different, but you've still got to use the business ethos,” he says. “I used to have a transport business, but then I would subcontract warehousing, I'd subcontract packaging, I'd subcontract processing. So what I did was I went out and bought a packaging company, I bought a warehousing company. I went and bought that company, and another company, and I joined the circle up.

“If you look at this industry, you can do that same circle: owner, breeder, mares, farms, and the last thing is the stallions.”

He continues, “So we want six stallions here. We've obviously got one or two that we own now that are in Ireland . That's Joe's thing, so obviously we've got to keep that going.

“And the idea here is to cover the range from a 10k stallion to a 50k stallion. I think that's where we need to be heading, and that's lacking a bit [in Britain] compared to Ireland. I'm hugely excited to see how it all develops.”

Angelic result in the #WinAndYoureIn Moyglare Stud Stakes!

Fallen Angel punches her ticket to the #BreedersCup Juvenile Fillies Turf. Congrats to all of the connections!pic.twitter.com/FcfjDeAPQX

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) September 10, 2023

Also in the development stage, and with some decent early results, is the Bronte Collection, Parkin's return, of sorts, to syndicate ownership. Set up by himself and Foley with a name inspired by Yorkshire's famous literary sisters, the group numbers 15 friends, including the cricketer Jonny Bairstow, and in its second year of existence looks to have a potential Classic prospect in the Acomb S. winner Indian Run (Ire) (Sioux Nation). He steps into Group 1 company next for the Dewhurst S.

“The grey [Clipper Logistics] colours, there's a big plan behind all that,” Parkin explains. “Eventually my daughter will take over. I'm doing this for my family when I'm no longer here and I don't really want other people owning those horses with me. 

“But obviously I know a lot of people from a business career and personal friends, and a number of people were asking me to have a horse with me.”

A selection of homebreds and sale purchases were put together to compile a sizeable team of runners for the Bronte investors, with the team having had 29 individual runners in Britain this season. The original plan had been to sell the horses at the end of their juvenile seasons.

“I buy the horse, or I'll provide the horses from my farm. All they pay for is the training of the racehorses. But, a huge difference to anybody else is that if we have a good horse and we sell it, we split the money. The money doesn't come to me,” he says.

“We trialled it last year really, and it's the best fun I have in racing. Last Sunday, the Moyglare, that was fantastic. It was the greatest day of my life, but there's a pressure behind that. For some reason, I don't know why, with the Bronte, there's no pressure–and the WhatsApp messages, it's hilarious. All these lads have had pieces of horses before, but have all gone away from the game apart from the odd one or two. This has completely rekindled their love of racing.”

Parkin adds, “Because of the success this year, we're going to keep some of the horses in training and not sell. These guys love the sport, they're having that much fun from it.”

With a team of more than 60 of his own horses in training as well, Parkin is inevitably having to spend more time in racing's spotlight. It is clearly not his preferred option, and Foley, a key figure in the politics of Irish racing and breeding, has proved the perfect frontman for the organisation. Parkin, who describes Foley frequently as a “genius”, has his own political links. A member of the Conservative party, he is, through his business endeavours, an advisor to Downing Street. And it should not be overlooked that the Richmond constituency of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Yorkshire is also not a million miles from Parkin's home.

“I've been asked to get involved in the politics of racing and I have some views on racing that are very radical. I think it's doable, but it would need people to be quite radical and the big problem is that racing is run by committees,” he says.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given his fondness for football, Parkin believes that a premiership model, with a much bigger shake-up than is currently being planned, is required to engage more fans and retain the country's historic front-running position in the sport.

He adds, “We've got the best bloodstock, the best bloodlines here and in Ireland. And I say this to Rishi Sunak: this is the golden nugget. We can't lose that golden nugget because the more you chip away at it, the more it'll shrink.”

It is unlikely that we will see him in the running to head any of those committees, however.

“I like to be under the radar and racing gives me a bit of exposure but I can manage that. If I owned a football club, I'd be all over the national press,” he says.

“But there's a lot of similarities. If Leeds United score a goal, obviously you jump up. And depending how big a game it is, is how much you would jump up. But I get more of a buzz out of winning a two-year-old maiden at Ripon than I ever did watching a football match.”

Wisely, he appears content to leave the politics to Foley, a strategy that will hopefully ensure that his love for the game is an enduring one. After 20 years it shows little sign of abating.

“Joe needs praising. He is a genius in this industry,” Parkin reiterates. “He takes this as personally as I do. In fact, probably more. He feels the pressure more than I do because he knows it's my money he's spending, and we've spent millions. But also he knows the buzz I get out of it and how much it means to me and. It does, it means everything.”

The post ‘My Love Of This Industry Is For The Horse’: Stallions the Next Step for Parkin appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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