The Rathmore Stud boss also provided a passionate riposte to some of the criticism being levelled at the mares' races at the Cheltenham Festival by stating that their horse of a lifetime Honeysuckle (GB) may never have seen a racetrack had it not been for the opportunities presented to mares through the heightened programme in recent years.

Following the high-profile defection of Constitution Hill (GB) in this year's Champion Hurdle, Willie Mullins and owner Rich Ricci have come under pressure to run last year's Triumph Hurdle scorer Lossiemouth (Fr), as short as 1-2 for the Mares' Hurdle, in the day one showpiece. 

It's a situation Molony can relate to as similar pressure was being heaped on trainer Henry de Bromhead and Alexander to run the reigning Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle against the boys in the build-up to last year's festival despite the fact she clearly wasn't operating at her brilliant best throughout the campaign. 

In the end, Honeysuckle bypassed the Champion Hurdle in favour of the Mares' Hurdle, and delivered one of the standout performances of the meeting when bowing out with a hard-fought victory over Love Envoi (Ire). 

While Molony agrees that change is needed in order to drive competition at the Cheltenham Festival, he says the three mares' races–the Mares' Novices' Hurdle, Mares' Hurdle and Mares' Chase–are hugely important lures for people to buy and race mares.

He said, “The mares' races have been under attack recently but, what people don't seem to realise is that none of these mares would be in training at all if it wasn't for these mares' races. Honeysuckle, Annie Power (Fr), Quevega (Ire)–none of those mares would have been kept in training if it wasn't for the mares' races. Before these races came about, there was zero trade for National Hunt fillies. Zero. That's what people don't seem to realise.

“For me, we need to step back and appreciate how these mares' races are enhancing the game. I don't understand the criticism levelled at these races. Now, I do agree that changes need to be made at Cheltenham, but I am firmly of the belief that these mares' races are adding to the programme and that they are not part of the problem. In actual fact, they are part of the solution.”

Molony added, “One pundit, I can't even remember who it was, described the Mares' Hurdle as the worst race at the Cheltenham Festival. Whoever he was, he clearly wasn't watching last year's edition. These races add a huge amount of colour. Okay, last year's race was run in exceptional circumstances and there was huge emotion surrounding the whole thing. However, according to most people who were there and a lot of people watching it on television, it was one of their most amazing experiences in racing when Honeysuckle won.”

The Mares' Novices' Hurdle is shaping up to be one of the races of next week. Gordon Elliott has gone on the record in saying that Brighterdaysahead (Fr) compares favourably with anything he has ever trained before. While Molony is full of respect for Brighterdaysahead, he is also confident that Jade De Grugy can give a good account. 

He said, “Great friends of mine, the Bleahens, sold Brighterdaysahead so I have known about her for a long time. She was the most beautiful three-year-old and she has a serious pedigree. She's clearly a very good racemare and we have lots of respect for her.”

Molony added, “Our lady has done everything very easily, though. When Brian Hayes got off her at Fairyhouse, he said he thought he was in loads of trouble at one point in the race, because he thought he wasn't going fast enough. As it transpired, she was just going so easy and he said he'd never sat on anything like her before. Willie seems to be quite bullish about Jade De Grugy so we will find out who is the best mare on the day.”

Alexander will be doubly-represented in the Mares' Hurdle with Gala Marceau (Fr) and Tellmesomethinggirl. Molony says that he is quietly confident that the latter can out-run her general odds of 20-1. 

He explained, “I think the two-and-a-half miles will really play to Gala Marceau's strengths. She was very disappointing the last day but Willie seems pretty confident that that was just a blip. We're actually quietly confident about Telmesomethinggirl. We know she loves the place-she won the Mares' Novice very impressively three years ago and she was running a huge race in the Mares' Hurdle itself two years ago before she got brought down. 

“Rachael [Blackmore] came in afterwards and was absolutely sick–she thought she was going to win. At her best, I think she'd give everything in the race something to think about. We had a waste of a year over fences last year with her. She didn't really take to it. Henry seems to be confident that she's coming right back to her best so we're quite hopeful.”

Alexander will take on another short-priced favourite on Friday when Kargese bids to get the better of the hugely impressive Sir Gino (Fr) in the Triumph. Kargese, a Grade 1 winner at the Dublin Racing Festival, is said to be improving with racing, and Molony gives the filly a big chance getting weight from the opposite sex.

Molony said, “Everywhere we look, we seem to be running against a monster. Telmesomethinggirl has Lossiemouth to contend with, Jade De Grugy has Brighterdaysahead and now Kargese has Sir Gino to worry about in the Triumph. She is a beautiful-looking mare. The first day she ran for us, she just didn't settle at all and did remarkably well to finish second. Then she went and won the Grade 1 at the Dublin Racing Festival where she settled much better. If she settles in the Triumph, she'll run a big race getting weight from the geldings.”

On the rest of their festival squad, he added, “We'd love Doddiethegreat (Ire) to run well and win some money for the Doddie [Weir] foundation. He'll be declared for the Coral Cup and, if he gets in, he'll run. If he doesn't, he'll go for the Martin Pipe but we're hoping he gets into the Coral Cup. 

“We also have Miss Manzor (GB) in the Boodles. We like her a lot and she ran a blinder at Christmas. She must have a little bit of a squeak.”

Asked to nominate Alexander's best chance of the week, Molony said, “Tellmesomethinggirl, Jade De Grugy and Kargese all have great chances but they're all running up against monsters. If one of them happened to win, we'd be delighted.”

Meanwhile, four-time Festival winner and dual Champion Hurdler Honeysuckle is due her first foal by Walk In The Park (Ire) in the coming weeks. 

Providing an update on the legendary racemare, Molony concluded, “Honeysuckle is still in Scotland. Kenny was very keen that she foaled over there and it's all good so far, touch wood. She is due in about three weeks' time now. Kerry, who looks after her so well over there, is under strict instruction to call me whenever she foals–I don't care if it's two o'clock in the morning! 

“Fingers crossed, everything will go well and we will have a healthy foal. Everything going well, she will come back to us when the foal is about three weeks old and we will be visiting Blue Bresil (Fr) this year.”

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The event took place on Wednesday at The Lord Bagenal Inn, County Carlow, just a stone's throw away from where Willie Mullins, one of the greatest National Hunt trainer of all time, is based. 

The panel featured Anthony Bromley, Walter Connors, Bertrand le Metayer, Peter Molony, Charles O'Neill and Richard Pugh with Lorna Fowler the master of ceremonies. 

ITBA chief Cathy Grassick described herself as delighted by the huge turnout, and said, “I was delighted. Not just the number of people, but the calibre of attendees as well, and it made for healthy and important debate. If you want to make change or debate the future of our industry, it's important that the people who make the decisions are in the room, and they were. It's great that there will be some things that will be followed up on.”

Grassick added, “One of the key messages I took from the evening is that the panel were keen to point out all of the things we do right in this country and, while, yes, there are some things we could change, we need to make sure that we are not throwing the baby out with the bath water. There's an awful lot of good things happening and a lot that we can be proud of. That doesn't mean that we can't do some things better.”

Despite the weight of some of the issues up for debate, the evening got off to a light-hearted start with French bloodstock agent le Metayer revealing that, when Molony called him to see if he would be interested in sitting on the panel, he also asked for his jacket size. Why so? 

“It was for a bullet-proof vest,” he joked, while alluding to the current reign the French thoroughbred is enjoying over its Irish counterpart.

A scene from The Lord Bagenal on Wednesday | ITM

Le Metayer's sense of humour was once again on show when, paying the Irish breeders a back-handed compliment given their penchant for fashion compared to the French breeders, he said, “Historically in France, and obviously it's a big country, but, the guy from down the road in Burgundy is not going to drive six hours to get his mare covered by Saint Des Saints. 

“The reality is that [the success of the French breeding model], I wouldn't call it any brilliance or horsemanship, it's sheer luck. Overall, I think Irish people are better horse people than the French but you guys have got less common sense than us! You are thinking commercially and we are thinking of going 10 minutes down the road [to the local stallion master].”

The depth of the French broodmare band, and the sheer robustness of the mares that breeders in France can call upon, was also highlighted as a major advantage to the industry over there. 

Meanwhile, Molony made the point that too much emphasis was being placed on the stallion in Ireland these days and, in borrowing a line from the excellent Jamie Railton podcast with Roger O'Callaghan, where the Tally-Ho Stud man urged breeders to look themselves in the mirror, the Rathmore Stud boss did the same. 

Molony went on to give examples where broodmares with proven credentials have been sold relatively cheaply in recent times and identified an opportunity for National Hunt breeders to replenish their broodmare band in the current climate. 

Pugh addressed the issue of polarisation in the National Hunt market, which has been so heavily dominated by the progeny of Walk In The Park and Blue Bresil in recent times, by doing what he does best; wheeling out some cold, hard facts. 

He said, “We all know the story of the 2023 Cheltenham Festival where 28 races were won by 27 different stallions. But for the purpose of this evening, I looked back over the past 12 months of Grade 1 winners in Ireland. There have been 30 individual winners of Grade 1 races in Ireland in the past 12 months and 20 of them were French while nine were Irish and one was British. 

“That's what we're up against. Also, no Irish horse won two. Another thing that was interesting was that there were 23 different sires represented by those 30 Grade 1 winners so, for all of the polarisation, actually, when you get out there into those Grade 1 races, it's spread out a lot more.”

Pugh added, “I have huge sympathy for the Irish breeders because they are going where they think the market is. It's got to be commercial. I sympathise with the Irish breeder who sits down and says, 'this is the covering I would like because it would suit the mare, but that is the covering I feel that I have to choose to get paid.' If that is the case, it's disappointing.”

It was Pugh who summarised that the Irish thoroughbred is, on average, “a year behind” its counterpart in France and the panel agreed that the introduction of three-year-old bumpers or even two-year-old store sales could be an avenue worth exploring in an effort to meet the societal demands. 

Everybody wants things quicker, it was gleaned. And to deal with the demands, or in some cases dwindling patience, three-year-old bumpers and earlier store sales were put forward as ways in which the process of blooding a National Hunt racehorse could be fast-tracked, thus, providing answers to those paying the bills that bit sooner. Grassick confirmed that both ideas could be explored following the event. 

She said, “There has been a lot of study and a lot of historical evidence for slow and steady exercise across the whole range of development in the thoroughbred–so foals, yearlings, two-year-olds etc. Introducing horses to light exercise from a young age, the physiological benefits are proven to increase bone density, muscle memory, balance etc. That's what the studies are showing. When you look at some of the horses who were broken as Flat yearlings, the likes of Istabraq and Hurricane Fly who have come across and become great Champion Hurdlers and stood the test of time, it obviously wasn't any detriment to them to have begun their careers earlier than most.”

One of the more surprising developments of the evening was the criticism levelled at ITM by a number of people in the audience. It resulted in a passionate riposte from O'Neill, who defended the organisation, as did Bromley, who described ITM as “the envy” of everyone in Britain which resulted in a round of applause. 

It was at this point where le Metayer shared that the foundations set out by ITM, in terms of attracting buyers and promoting the Irish thoroughbred on an international scale, was copied in France. Shortly afterwards, Pugh urged breeders to examine the product and not to point fingers at the people, ie ITM, whose job it is to market the product. 

One thing that everyone in the room could agree on is that the cost of producing these foals has sky-rocketed in line with inflation. Such a point was explained in no uncertain terms by Connors. The introduction and development of the mares' programme in Britain and Ireland is another thing that had the majority of those in the room singing from the same hymn sheet. The success of that relatively recent development is also reflected in the numbers. 

Grassick explained, “It's staggering the success of the ITBA National Hunt Fillies Bonus Scheme. When you look at the figures between 2022 and 2017 for example, the turnover on fillies at the Tattersalls Derby Sale has more than doubled, even though they are offering roughly the same number of fillies. 

“In that time, the turnover has gone from €1.8m to €3.6m for 70 to 75-odd fillies sold. It has resulted in massive increases in the demand for fillies at the sales and proves that the scheme does work and providing a race programme with such opportunities works as well.”

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Entitled 'Jumping into the Future: The Challenges Facing Irish National Hunt Breeding', the debate will be led by trainer and breeder Lorna Fowler of Rahinston Farm and Stud. The panel consists of bloodstock agents Anthony Bromley and Bertrand Le Metayer, breeder and stud owner Peter Molony, vet and consignor Walter Connors, and Tattersalls Ireland director Richard Pugh.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. and attendees are encouraged to arrive early to take advantage of a networking opportunity prior to the start of the seminar at 6:30 p.m.

ITBA chair Cathy Grassick said, “I am excited at the prospect of hearing from our expert panel on all issues relevant to our industry. This is a crucial time for the market and an important event for everyone to voice their opinion.” 

William Flood, who chairs the ITBA National Hunt committee, added, “This is a very important time for the industry in light of recent results at the sales. Our National Hunt committee has gathered an expert panel to help talk through these important topics.” 

Those intending to attend the seminar must register via email on ddeveney@itba.ie or by calling the ITBA on 045 877 543. ITBA members and non-members are welcome to attend this free event, at which light refreshments will be provided. 

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The 9-year-old was beaten for the first time in 16 starts when tackling the Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse in December, in which she was third. She went on to finish runner-up to State Man (Ire) in last weekend's Irish Champion Hurdle, a race she had won for the three previous seasons.

A 12-time Grade 1 victrix, Honeysuckle is also a treble winner at the Cheltenham Festival, having won the last two Champion Hurdles and the Mares' Hurdle in 2020.

Peter Molony, racing manager to Kenny Alexanxder, announced the news on Tuesday morning.

He told PA Media, “I think after Sunday, on mature reflection, most reasonable people would agree she has taken a step back. She still fought her heart out and when Vauban came to take second off her she put her head down and her ears back and went 'not on your life'.

“So she still has that competitive spirit, she's still a racehorse and that's why we've decided to give her one last hurrah. She deserves it and Cheltenham would be a lovely place to bow out.”

He added, “The whole day on Sunday, strangely enough, even though we got beat, was one of the best days we've had on a racecourse with Honey. The reception she got, the cheer when Rachael got legged up, the roars as she cantered down to the start–Rachael said when she got down to the start she had a stupid grin on her face from the huge reception they got.

“The public have really taken her to their hearts and it's wonderful, so Cheltenham is probably the right place for her to finish her career.”

Honeysuckle will retire eventually to Alexander's New Hall Stud in Scotland, where the owner-breeder is assembling a formidable team of National Hunt mares. The Ayrshire farm was the birthplace of Group 1 winner Donna Blini (GB) (Bertolini), who was bred by Gordon Thom and later found ever greater fame as the dam of Japanese Horse of the Year Gentildonna (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

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Along with her own illustrious race record, an extra selling point was provided by the fact that Apple’s Jade was offered carrying her first foal by the hugely popular Walk In The Park (Ire), the sire of top-class chasers Douvan (Fr) and Min (Fr). It was her former trainer Gordon Elliott who placed the final bid, and he was acting on behalf of Noel Moran’s Bective Stud.

“It will be a very, very long time before we see her like again and it’s next to impossible to have a chance at auction to buy a mare like her who won 11 Grade 1 races,” said Moran via telephone after the sale. “We’re delighted to have gotten her and I’d say in future we will definitely be keeping her progeny to race.

Gordon Elliott added, “She’s been a horse of a lifetime for me and I hope she will be just as successful for Noel and Valerie. They are looking for some high-class broodmares and she topped the bill. I hope she’s really lucky for them.”

Gigginstown’s Eddie O’Leary also reflected on the career of Apple’s Jade. He said, “She’s a very, very special mare and if she breeds horses with half the heart she has they will be absolutely fine. We’re sorry to see her go as she’s been such a special mare for us and I hope that she will be just as successful for Noel and Valerie.”

Along with Apple’s Jade, her dam, the five-time winner Apple’s For Ever (Fr) (Nikos {Fr}), has also produced the useful Grade 2-winning hurdler and full-sister Apple’s Shakira (Fr) among her five winning offspring to date.

Gigginstown House Stud, which also sold Cheltenham Festival runner-up Barra (Fr) (Vendangeur {Ire}) in foal to Poet’s Word (GB) for €70,000, was the leading vendor at the sale.

The majority of the catalogue was made up of foals, and the demand for the stock of Walk In The Park continued during the second day but the most expensive weanling of the day was a filly by Flemensfirth, who was retired from stud duties in August at the age of 28. The half-sister to the Grade 2-winning chaser and hurdler Irish Saint (Fr) (Saints Des Saints {Fr}) was consigned as lot 288 by Ballyreddin Stud and, at €80,000, was the selection of Peter Molony, a noted buyer of National Hunt fillies whose purchases include the unbeaten five-time Grade 1 winner Honeysuckle (GB) (Sulamani {Ire}).

Molony, who owns Rathmore Stud, said, ” I saw her six weeks ago at home and loved her, and she’s turned inside out since then. It’s a lovely, current pedigree with lots happening and she’s one of the last Flemensfirths.”

He added, “We will take her home and dream for the next two years. We’ll see whether she’ll come back [to the store sale].”

Molony also signed for lot 324, a Walk In The Park filly, for €40,000. He said of Peria Stud’s half-sister to listed bumper winner Glory and Fortune (Ire) (Fame And Glory {GB}), ” She’s a lovely big filly. I love the sire and, again, it’s a nice current pedigree. She’ll definitely be one for the Land Rover Sale in 2023.”

Walk In The Park had 23 foals sold across the two days at an average price of €31,000, well above the overall average for the foal section of the sale, which was €14,487, which was 2.5% up on last year’s trade. The turnover for foals was €4,520,000, which was down by 8% but from 35 fewer foals sold. 

For the sale as a whole, the aggregate was €5,219,100, almost exactly on par with last year, but from the sale of 41 fewer horses. The clearance rate was up a point at 71%, the average was up by 11% at €16,010, and the median down by 4% at €10,000.

Goffs Group chief executive Henry Beeby said, “To hold the first Thoroughbred sale in Ireland on its scheduled date since the outbreak of Covid-19 is noteworthy in itself. Like everyone in the country we have endured a truly torrid time and approached the sale with a degree of trepidation. Could we even conduct the sale and, if so, how would it measure up?

“On behalf of all the team at Goffs I want to thank everyone – vendors, purchasers, sales staff, vets, caterers, Covid stewards – for their support, forbearance, help and understanding over the last few days. We have managed to conduct a sale in as near to traditional format as possible whilst respecting and implementing a whole range of protocols to ensure Kildare Paddocks was safe and compliant at all times. We salute the patience of all attendees and their acceptance of one-way systems, number restrictions, social distancing, compulsory facemasks and the rest. This is not the way we like to ‘welcome’ visitors to our sales but this is truly a time of ‘needs must’.”

He added, “So to the business. We have been both relieved and delighted with the strength and depth of the two days which was good enough to feel ‘normal’. Indeed, there has been fierce competition for the superb bunch of foals with which we were entrusted by our vendors and to end up with a set of figures that were anywhere near last year’s excellent results, never mind ahead, is such a relief. Again we are so grateful to our vendors who are supporting us with increasing numbers of their best bred National Hunt youngsters as we are nothing without them and their support has allowed us to grow this sale into a catalogue of market leading potential.

“And then there’s Apple’s Jade. We were truly honoured to be entrusted with her by Michael and Eddie O’Leary, and simply overjoyed that she lived up to her star billing. Her price of €530,000 obliterates the record for a National Hunt mare to ensure her appearance in the sales ring absolutely matched up to her racecourse reputation and we look forward to seeing her progeny carry on her mighty legacy, perhaps even in the Goffs sales ring en route to big-race success.”

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