Tag: Richard Ryan

‘Worldwide’ Breeze-up Demand Fuels Bumper Arqana Edition

DEAUVILLE, France–Close to €38 million had already been spent on juveniles at the four breeze-up sales in Europe to have preceded Arqana, and that figure has now risen to around €59 million following a bullish day of trading in Deauville.

Featuring the season's only seven-figure breezer and with a much larger catalogue than usual, it was no surprise to see turnover increase, though a near-50% upturn was perhaps even better than anticipated, with the 140 sold bringing in a total of €21,110,500 to ring the new record bell. Other indicators were also up: the average by 15% at €150,789, and the median to €105,000.

No stranger to picking up the top lot at this sale, Oliver St Lawrence was the agent behind the first millionaire two-year-old of the European season when going to €1.2 million for Grove Stud's Siyouni (Fr) colt (lot 145) out of the dual Listed winner Isabel De Urbina (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}).

“I had to pay twice the price for this one,” joked St Lawrence in reference to the €550,000 it took to buy last year's top lot, the subsequent G2 Mill Reef S. winner Sakheer (Ire) (Zoffany {Ire}). The Siyouni colt will also join Roger Varian's stable.

“He turned out alright so hopefully this one will be just as good. I wouldn't have thought we'll see him racing until August or September, a proper race towards the end of the season.”

He also issued an update on KHK Racing's Sakheer, who finished seventh in the 2,000 Guineas. He said, “He didn't love the ground but he has come out of the race well. There was some discussion about withdrawing him on the morning of the race when all that rain came. He'll drop back in trip now for the Commonwealth Cup, that seems the obvious thing to do, and we'll just take it one race at a time.”

KHK Racing also owns 2021 Arqana Breeze-up graduate Eldar Eldarov (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}), the winner of last year's St Leger, who is entered in Friday's G2 Yorkshire Cup.

 

 

The main talking points:

  • The transatlantic travels of Arqana's executive director Freddy Powell have not been in vain for there was a strong American theme to proceedings on Saturday. Two of the top four lots are both heading to the United States. Coolmore bought the Uncle Mo colt (lot 51) for €600,000 from Tom Whitehead's Powerstown Stud and he will be trained by Todd Pletcher, while Arnaud Delacour will take charge of a Blue Point (Ire) filly bought for €500,000 by Nicolas Bertran de Balanda for Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stable.
  • West Point Thoroughbreds, one of the owners of Flightline, also appeared on the buyers' sheet alongside a Street Sense colt (lot 17) from Knockanglass Stables, while Flightline's trainer John Sadler was active at the sale, buying three horses through Fernando Laffon-Parias and Francoise Dupuis.
  • It was a stellar day for Brendan Holland, who sold seven horses through his Grove Stud, including three of the top eight, for a total of €2.4 million and average of €342,857 to lead the vendors' table.
  • Two colts by Dubawi (Ire) featured in the catalogue, and they both sold to Godolphin through Anthony Stroud for €800,000 and €400,000, from Oak Tree Farm and Yeomanstown Stud respectively. Mags O'Toole had bought the colt (lot 180) from the family of Group 1 winner Chicquita (Ire) and Magic Wand (Ire) for €150,000 at the Arqana October Sale, while Yeomanstown gave 180,000gns for the half-brother (lot 116) to Group 2 winner Turath (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) at Tattersalls December Yearling Sale.
  • Richard Brown struck early with three purchases within the first 11 horses through the ring, led by the €420,000 bid for lot 13, Mocklershill's full-brother to G2 German 1000 Guineas winner Txope (Fr) (Siyouni {Fr}). The colt had been a €170,000 buy-back in the same ring last August. Blandford Bloodstock ended the day as the second-leading buyer at the sale with nine bought for €1,525,000.
  • Lot 12, a Saxon Warrior (Jpn) colt out of the unraced Posh Claret (GB) (Royal Applause {GB}) bought for 34,000gns as a yearling, was not sold when knocked down at €480,000 in the ring. A private sale of €400,000 was later agreed between vendor Johnny Collins of Brown Island Stables and Anthony Stroud, and the colt will go into training with John and Thady Gosden.
  • Anthony Stroud later bought the Blue Point half-brother (lot 87) to Darley sire Palace Pier (GB) (Kingman {GB}) for €325,000. Bred by Coolmore, the colt was in utero when his dam Beach Frolic (GB) (Nayef) sold for 2.2 million gns to MV Magnier at Tattersalls in 2020. Another half-brother, the year-older Castle Way (GB) (Almanzor {Fr}), provided a recent update when winning the Listed Newmarket S. at the Guineas meeting.
  • The run on Blue Point continued, with four members of his first crop sold for an average of €281,250 to make him the leading freshman. Of his contemporaries, Calyx (GB) was also represented by four sold for an average of €178,000.

 

 

The Bleep Bleep Connection

We had to utilise the bleep-o-meter when transcribing the interview with Johnny Hassett of the Bloodstock Connection after he sold his Sioux Nation filly (lot 45) to Oliver St Lawrence. There weren't quite 450,000 expletives on the tape, but that was the number of euros it took to secure the half-sister to Listed winner Manhattan Jungle (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {Ire}) who had been picked up for €90,000 at the Goffs Sportsman's Sale. From that same sale, Hassett had also bought a Magna Grecia (Ire) colt (lot 94) for €145,000 in partnership with Nico Archdale and resold that son of the unraced Callisto Star (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}) on Saturday for €210,000 to Saudi Arabia's Najd Stud.

“What's not to like? I've had a tricky season,” Hassett said. “I haven't counted it yet but my gut reaction was that I hadn't made or lost too much money up to here, which probably means I had lost some because I'm always positive. But I'd say I'm out now and I've four more horses to sell here.

“This sale is strong so far and I think a lot of the high-dollar horses are stacked later. I think I have a couple of shots at the €150,000-plus lots and that was the first one and it worked.”

Asked if the pressure was off now, he replied, “Oh ****, yeah. You do a bit better when you're not hungry. It makes it easier when the pressure is off; you perform better.”

Hassett added, “A lot of credit must go to Emma Chilcot and the selection team, who got this right.”

The Bloodstock Connection ended up with six sold for an average of €193,667 and aggregate of €1,162,000, and there was a definite improvement in Hassett's language as the day wore on.

 

 

Ryan Signs Up Lone Waldgeist

Very few French consignors feature at the breeze-up sales but Philip Prévost Baratte made his presence felt when selling the sole entrant in the catalogue from the first-crop of Ballylinch Stud resident Waldgeist (GB) for €360,000.

Richard Ryan, who was been busy throughout the season, signed for lot 47 on behalf of Teme Valley, with Anthony Stroud and Alastair Donald also in the hunt. 

Ryan indicated that the son of Sous Le Soleil (Tizway), who is out of the G1 Preis der Diana winner Que Belle (Ger) (Seattle Dancer), would be trained in Ireland by Paddy Twomey.

“He's quite set and neat, balanced, there's an awful lot of Galileo about him,” said the agent, who signed for four on the day for Teme Valley and Opulence Thoroughbreds respectively. “He'll get a run or two for sure before this season is out, but he was bought with a view to try to run in the Classics next year.”

Ryan continued, “He has a German pedigree on top of an Arc winner. Waldgeist wanted a mile at two himself, so you're not trying to break any records, you just want them to present properly, have a good mouth, nice stride, and finish out the breeze ready for the next stage of his career, which is where he's at.”

He added of Prévost Baratte, “He's a skilled vendor. At this stage, everything has been done right for the horse.”

 

 

No Jogging but a Trio of Breezers for Sadler

In the company of Fernando Laffon-Parias and Francoise Dupuis, Californian trainer John Sadler made the most of his maiden voyage to Arqana by recruiting a trio of European breezers to take home with him.  

“It's my first trip to Deauville and to Arqana. It's lovely driving here from Paris through the French countryside and everyone has been so nice,” Sadler told TDN.

“The Powell brothers [Freddy and Richard] have been good hosts. [Their brother] Lenny Powell, who trains with us at Santa Anita, sent me a text and said 'You might want to think about going for a jog along the boardwalk'. This was last night when it was raining and cold!”

He continued, “There are a lot of horses here with American pedigrees, which is good, through we didn't end up buying one. There's so much turf racing now worldwide, and there are plenty of options for a turf runner in the United States, especially in California, because we have year-round turf racing and the perfect climate for it.”

Joining the Sadler barn will be a colt by Highclere Stud's freshman sire Land Force (Ire), who has been represented by his first two winners in the last two days. Lot 100 from Lackendarra Stables was knocked down at €250,000, and was later joined by Knockanglass Stables' Siyouni filly (lot 122), sold for €150,000, and a filly from the first crop of Haras d'Etreham's City Light (Fr), himself a son of Siyouni, who was bought from Philip Prévost Baratte for €160,000 as lot 177.

 

 

A Blether with Blarney

Brendan Holland, best known to all as Blarney, was understandably a happy man as he reflected on a day's work that represents months and months of planning and hard graft, starting at last season's yearling sales. 

The sale's leading vendor said, “Today has gone above and beyond Plan A, for once, as everyone who does it will appreciate, things went according to plan. 

“I've been lucky in France since this sale was in Saint-Cloud, and I tend to buy, in general, a later-maturing horse. I'm just attracted to that kind of horse, and that type of horse is more suited to this sale than any other sale. It's not just that I like coming here, it just suits my type of horse, and I also have a few left for Goresbridge for a similar reason. I have to split my horses.”

Observing the breeze-up market overall in 2023, he added, “Regardless of many economic woes, if this year wasn't a good year for the breeze-ups then there was never going to be a good year. We had three Classic winners last year and four other Group 1 winners. The quality of the horses is improving every year. We, as a bunch, are spending more on yearlings. That's not always reflected on the track if you spend more, but in this sector that is being reflected. The more we spend on yearlings, we're offering a better product, and maybe we're producing the product better as we are learning. 

“The industry is very connected worldwide and everyone is aware of what's going on in the different jurisdictions. It's no surprise that the breeze-ups are attracting new clients from different parts of the world. I sold one to America and two to Australia today, and that's reflective of the market. The breeze-up market really is worldwide.”

 

Hoyeau And Powell Pleased At Curtain Fall

Arqana President Eric Hoyeau and Executive Director Freddy Powell said, “We are very pleased with the results, thanks to the hard work and professionalism of our vendors who have once again placed their trust in us and brought horses of such a high standard that have been extremely well prepared. The quality of the catalogue brought many buyers to Deauville, whom we would also like to thank for coming. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the work of our teams as well as that of France Galop and the staff at Deauville Racecourse, who largely contributed to the success of this sale by allowing us to hold the breezes on a beautiful prepared track again this year.”

The post ‘Worldwide’ Breeze-up Demand Fuels Bumper Arqana Edition appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Market Reflections: Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale

Is bigger always better? Throughout the first evening of the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale one could have been forgiven for thinking that a rise in the number catalogued for the first of the European sales in this sector was not necessarily a good thing. At 202 in the book and 166 ultimately offered across the two days, this was the largest Craven Sale since 2007 and up significantly from the 164 catalogued and 134 offered last year. 

For reasons that are hard to fathom, ungraded sales, with horses sold merely in alphabetical order of their dam's name, can often be wildly disparate in regard to results from the different sessions. While Tuesday evening's trade looked on the tough side, with the clearance rate dropping to 69% from last year's 78%, and a 9% and 10% slide in the average and median figures, Wednesday came rallying with a late charge to level things up considerably. A final-day clearance rate of 84% meant that overall the sale settled at 76%, largely the same as 2022, with the average up by 5% and median down by 11%.

The buying bench had its usual international feel, though Amo Racing, which spent just over 1.5 million gns under various guises at last year's Craven Sale, was a notable absentee. Ironically, Kia Joorabchian's operation then won the following day's G3 Craven S. with Arqana breeze-up graduate Indestructible (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}).

As ever, we hear about the big touches, such as Roderick Kavanagh and Cormac O'Flynn turning a 42,000gns December yearling into a 625,000gns breezer, but for every hit, there are plenty of misses. Those operating in the breeze-up sector are well used to spreading the risk and praying that one horse will cover potential losses on others, especially as the cost of the yearlings now turning up at breeze-up sales has risen considerably. 

The number catalogued across the sector is also rising. Last year saw the introduction of the Goffs Dubai Sale during the Dubai World Cup week. Though this takes place in the Middle East, we can pretty much count it as a European sale, featuring as it does the same group of consignors. Across the six breeze-up sales, from Goffs Dubai in March, to Goresbridge in late May, a total of 1,115 juveniles have been catalogued this year, which is an increase of 92 (9%) from 2022.

The question on the minds of most consignors will be whether or not the specialised sector can sustain such an increase. In this sense, the breeze-ups may even have become a victim of their own success to a degree, following a banner year in which the headline horses were the Classic winners Native Trail (GB), Cachet (Ire) and Eldar Eldarov (GB).

At the top end of the Craven market, 10 horses sold for 250,000gns or more in both this year and last. This time around, 59 reached six figures, compared to 46 in 2022.

Vendor Views

Matt Eves is the managing partner of Star Bloodstock, which, like many consignors, had mixed results at the Craven Sale. From an original draft of four, one horse was withdrawn, one failed to reach her reserve, another sold for two and a half times his yearling price, while another had a setback after breezing well.

“From a personal perspective, it was a rollercoaster,” said Eves candidly. “We had a Sea The Stars (Ire) colt on the first day, and he breezed really well and we had everybody looking at him and everybody on him. And then he comes out and he's got a slight lame step and suddenly it's a nightmare. So I went from having a horse that I was thinking was going to make 300 to 400,000 to having a horse that got 165,000 and nobody bidding in the ring.”

I'll be fascinated by the end of the year to see if the increased volume of horses has meant the spend has gone up or if we've had the same spend spread thinner – Matt Eves

He continued, “It felt, for most of the sale, that the catalogue was too big.  If Tattersalls want to carry on doing a catalogue of this size, they need to look back to the success they had in 2020 [during a season interrupted by Covid] when they had an Ascot section and a Craven section. And if they go back to doing that, then from a consignor perspective it will feel a lot better, to go back to that split so you've got the speedy types in one bit of the book and you've got the more expensive horses in the other. And what you had then was people coming in, they were looking for that Ascot horse, and you had the guys on the ground who would buy one for 40 grand. So if I got one that hadn't quite breezed like I'd hoped in the Craven section, I had a man on the ground who would give me 40 grand for it, whereas I didn't have that this year.”

Eves also believes that a change in format would help proceedings. “The sale is always too long, the way it is spread out,” he said. “The after-racing factor doesn't really have a massive impact in terms of getting people in so you need to think of a better way to do that. What they did in 2020 actually worked really well.”

He added, “I'll be fascinated by the end of the year to see if the increased volume of horses has meant the spend has gone up or if we've had the same spend spread thinner.”

Brendan Holland of Grove Stud sold all three horses offered at the Craven, with two making a tidy profit, including the most expensive filly of the sale, a daughter of Night Of Thunder (Ire) bought for €90,000 and sold to Kerri Radcliffe on a behalf of an unnamed, new London-based client for 600,000gns.

“One of the main things from the first two sales has been the poor clearance rates,” Holland said. In addition to the listed clearance rate of 76% at Tattersalls, the Dubai Sale weighed in at roughly the same on 74%.

“And there did seem to lack a middle market. On a positive note, there's new buyers for the top lots and there are more international buyers. They had an increased catalogue, the average did hold up, and the aggregate jumped accordingly. But on the back of such fantastic results last year in particular, and for a few years now, we would like to have seen a stronger clearance rate really, there's no doubt about that. I mean, it's a tough sector of the industry. You have to perform. It's not forgiving. It is about separating them and trying to find the good ones. I accept that.

“We've done okay so far, but the worry this year starting the season was that there's an increase in the numbers overall being sold. I think the sales companies have struggled to contain the numbers, understandably. They've been inundated with applications. But it's been proven over the last 10 years that there is only a certain market for a certain number of breeze-up horses, and it's not a thousand; it's not anywhere near that.  So I would think the theme will remain the same for the rest of season. There'll be plenty of money there, but there will be poor clearance rates.”

Holland also believes that there is a misconception that 'better' horses are being held back for the Arqana sale in mid-May.

“As vendors, we keep hearing it, but we're selecting in January, and we have to remind them by the first week in February,” he noted. “No-one knows in the first week of February who the best ones are. We pick them based on suitability for an early sale and a later sale, and it's a different type of horse. It's nothing to do with ability.

“I would traditionally have more late-maturing horses than early-maturing horses. I would struggle often to find what I would consider suitable Craven horses. I mean, I had three this week, I wish I had more, but when I sit down and go through the bunch, the drafts that I've bought, that's all I felt were suitable for a high-class early sale, which is what the Craven is. 

“But as regards the better ones going to France, that's a ridiculous statement to make really, if you think about how the horses are selected in the first instance. We can't be selecting abilities in January because we don't know then.”

Buyer Views

A skilled selector of young horses, Richard Ryan was in action at the Craven sale and signed for a Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt who will run in partnership for Teme Valley and Coolmore. A recent breeze-up purchase of his, the Group 1-placed French Claim (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr}), runs in Saturday's Listed Vintage Crop S. at Navan.

From a buyer's perspective, Ryan opined that the middle market at the Craven was stronger than he had anticipated. He said, “I have been around a little while and I couldn't value accurately even closely on occasion. I was wide of the mark on many occasions to the tune of them far exceeding what I expected them to make.

“If you take the sums of some of those higher-echelon lots around the 600,000 mark, what would that get you in Book 1? Would you expect to find something by a proven, Group 1 or Classic-producing stallion? Highly likely. From a very high-class page with a very effective broodmare sire that may even have stakes pretensions under the first dam? Highly likely. 

“Spending that sort of number on a breezing two-year-old in April by a sire that has had a couple of maiden winners on occasion, that's all, and nowhere near Group 1-producing level yet, from some indifferent pages as well, and the fact that it has been asked to achieve a sub-12 second furlong for one or two furlongs, if at all, is actually head-scratching. In the global market for proven horses in training, £600,000 will get you a stakes winner. So I scratch my head a little bit at the rationale of some of those upper-echelons figures, but if two people are bidding against each other, then so be it.”

I was wide of the mark on many occasions to the tune of them far
exceeding what I expected them to make – Richard Ryan

He continued, “If you take a Sea The Stars or Dubawi, or for example Wootton Bassett, or a nice No Nay Never, something that has a rake of evidence supporting it, then there will be numbers of people willing to bat against each other. But even those by middle-market stallions, that weren't the dearest individuals as yearlings, probably aren't quite there yet and whose breezes were just adequate, were far exceeding my valuations in the mid-ranges, so I genuinely felt wide of the mark in terms of rationale behind the hammer fall this week.”

Ryan, whose previous breeze-up purchases also include the stakes winners Mitcham (Ire), Peace Offering (Ire) and Buxted (Ire), added, “The breeze-up sector is an incredible indictment of the skills of the vendors. It shows the enormous depth of horsemanship they have as a wider team. It is quite impressive to say the least that they are able to produce a horse at this time of year, keep it intact without overdoing it, and giving the trainers that follow on cause for confidence.”

Anthony Stroud is also no stranger to the full range of bloodstock sales and has enjoyed success through breeze-up purchases Native Trail, Sir Gerry and A'Ali (Ire) among others. At this year's sale he signed for the co-top lots, one for Godolphin and the other for an undisclosed client, among four purchases.

Regarding the increase in numbers this season, he said, “There's no doubt that the breeze-up sector is a very good medium for buying horses but it is difficult to know where all the clients will come from.”

Of the Craven Sale in particular, for which the horses breeze on the turf of Newmarket's Rowley Mile on the Monday, followed by two post-racing sale sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, Stroud added, “I think what's very difficult is that as the weather improved the ground got a bit better for the horses breezing later. Consistency of ground is very important for everyone, whether you start early in the morning or whether you're the last one up. People have to take account of that when they are doing the timings and the stride patterns. Going up the Rowley Mile for Tattersalls is a very good test but the consistency is something that needs to be discussed between the consignors and the sales company.”

Stroud continued, “I think there needs to be a break of, say, 20 minutes during the breeze because it's quite a lot for people to take on board, the concentration levels required, though they are very efficient at getting through them quickly. 

“They've added an extra 30 horses and the last horse I bought was at 9.40 on the Wednesday night. I think that's too late for everyone involved, especially the staff. Mind you, I don't think it necessarily makes any difference to how the sale goes. However late a horse sells, people will be there to buy the right horse.”

The European breeze-up action moves on to Doncaster next week with the gallops session for the Goffs UK Breeze-up Sale taking place on Monday from 9am, followed the next day by the sale at 10am.

The post Market Reflections: Tattersalls Craven Breeze-up Sale appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘Her Brother State Of Rest Made Rapid Improvement At Three’: Teme Valley Racing’s Tranquil Lady On Oaks Quest

Richard Ryan knows a thing or two about Epsom, having spent many years there as assistant trainer to the late Terry Mills. He also knows a good deal about buying horses, with his apprenticeship served under the man who is generally considered a maestro in this field, Richard Galpin. These two strands in Ryan's bloodstock armoury have now entwined in the prospect of an Oaks runner for Teme Valley Racing, for which he is both buyer and racing manager. 

Remarkably, Tranquil Lady (Ire) (Australia {GB}) is the second of two group winners in two years from the same immediate family for Teme Valley Racing. Her year-older brother State Of Rest (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) carried the claret-and-gold-hooped colours with distinction across the globe last year to win the Saratoga Derby followed by the Cox Plate–quite something for an operation named after a peaceful part of the English countryside in Shropshire. 

No sooner had State Of Rest been sold on for an Irish-Australian partnership which secures his future dual-hemisphere stud career at Newgate Farm and Rathbarry Stud than his sister stepped up to present herself as a genuine Classic contender. 

“She put her best foot forward in the Blue Wind S.,” says Ryan of the filly's four-length win in Group 3 company following a seasonal reappearance in the Listed Salsabil S., in which she was fourth. 

“Her first run was almost a typical first run, where the vagaries of the way that race was run just caught her out on the day. Her asset is looking like stamina, so it was quite a clear decision that we take in Epsom, Ascot or the Irish Oaks. The gap that now exists between Epsom and the Irish Oaks means that you can do the two.”

Bought from her breeder Tinnakill House Stud for £160,000 in the year the Goffs Orby Sale was relocated to England, Tranquil Lady returned to Ireland to take up residence alongside her brother at Joseph O'Brien's yard, running three times as a juvenile for a win and some black type when listed-placed at the Curragh in October.

Ryan continues, “She's a daughter of Australia and her brother State Of Rest made rapid improvement at three. It led us to believe that it was always likely that she was going to change physically and indeed she did. She is developing more of a top line by the week. We just hope that the performances come with that visual impression.”

Having spent 19 years with the Mills stable and a spell with David Elsworth, along with stints at Juddmonte and Whitsbury Manor Stud after cutting his teeth at Harthill Stud with Neville Dent, Ryan is well placed to understand the delicate balancing act which trainers are required to perform at this time of year. Members of the Classic generation are still very much in the development stage, and a button being pressed too soon or too hard can take its toll on the remainder of the season. It was a lesson, if not learned but reinforced, last year with State Of Rest, who raced for Teme Valley at two and three.

“It was a very frustrating 2-year-old year in which the wider public didn't really get a chance to appreciate how useful he was,” Ryan recalls. “He was incredibly unlucky in a number of top stakes races. He got forced wide in the Tyros, and arguably should have been very close there. He got drawn very wide in the Ballyhane and had to pull across the back of the field then run along the rail from an impossible position. Arguably he could have won that. Then he lost a shoe early in the Champagne S. and nearly won that. It was a tale of misfortune really at two, and Joseph never lost faith in the horse.”

He continues, “He was very bold about him going into his 3-year-old season and we were keen on our chances in the Irish 2,000 Guineas, which he was being trained for, and then a small muscle strain in his quarter, which is very insignificant in a horse's wellbeing, prevented us from seeing out the race plan at that time.

“But Joseph was absolutely adamant that this was a very high-class horse and that we should be patient that it would all come right. And indeed how right he was.”

State Of Rest would reward both owner and trainer for their patience with his top-level wins in August and October, and this season, for the State Of Rest Partnership, he travelled to France to win the G1 Prix Ganay before being beaten just half a length when third in a highly competitive running of the G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup.

“He's a unique horse in a couple of respects, let alone his ability,” says Ryan. “He has a constitution almost as rare as hens' teeth. He had a 60-hour non-stop journey returning to Joseph's yard from Australia and he bowled down the ramp like he'd just gone round the corner. He had a roll, shout, buck and a kick and Jospeh had to canter him the next day because he was so fresh.

“As well as being immensely talented he's mentally strong. You have to have the mind if you're going to be great.”

[State Of Rest] has a constitution almost as rare as hens' teeth; he had a 60-hour non-stop journey returning from Australia and he bowled down the ramp like he'd just gone round the corner.

This no doubt helped when State Of Rest had to face the stringent testing regime brought in last year by Racing Victoria for overseas runners at Melbourne's Spring Carnival.

“It mustn't be underestimated how much he had to handle in what was asked in getting down to Australia and being able to compete on even remotely level terms,” Ryan notes. “The veterinary checks and tests were verging on the ridiculous, but we stuck to our task. He virtually had to give up three or four days of exercise completely to be boxed to two different venues because of the high-tech equipment that was required for full-body scans. He had to maintain a decent level of fitness and then travel and train completely on his own for a month. To then show Group 1 top-class form off the back of it was a testament to the horse and to Joseph's staff that they were able to achieve it. It was a unique year when the goalposts were moved so far, and Newgate were aware of what he had achieved.”

He adds, “We have retained some breeding rights and we enjoy cheering him on. I hope he continues to do well for his new owners. I am sure he is a long way from finished for this season. That uniqueness in terms of his ability, toughness and soundness must surely stand him in great stead as a stallion.”

It is not just these two siblings to have represented Teme Valley Racing in stakes company in recent seasons. Gear Up (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) won the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud in 2020 after landing the G3 Acomb S. Last year Bayside Boy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}), owned in partnership with his breeder Ballylinch Stud, beat the Queen's Reach For The Moon (GB) (Sea The Moon {Ger}) to win the G2 Champagne S. and then finished placed in the Dewhurst and the Vertem Futurity. Another with Classic pretensions this season is French Claim (Fr) (French Fifteen {Fr}), the dual winner who was recently placed in the Leopardstown Derby Trial. By a relatively unheralded French-based sire, French Claim was recruited by Ryan at the Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale for £36,000.

“I had the benefit of a career path that was mapped partly by Joss Collins from an early meeting as a teenager, and I stuck virtually religiously to that with the aim of getting along in the racing industry,” says Ryan, whose judgement has been regularly vindicated by the select number of horses he purchases. 

“I was trained by one of the best as a young lad in Richard Galpin. The bigger thing now is that you have to have an eye with the global markets in your mind, and as we have a strong eye on commerciality at Teme Valley we are not afraid to trade at the right time. So you have to have a global eye, and that being for strong, well-made horses that have good attitudes and that you think will remain sound over a long period.”

I was trained by one of the best as a young lad in Richard Galpin.

He adds, “That takes away some of the luxury of going with your gut sometimes on a slightly lesser individual that you believe may well have the attitude to overcome those vagaries of its physique. The idea is to try to combine a strong physical with the attitude that gets the job done. Pedigree is secondary almost. Once I like the individual I've then got to like the pedigree and feel that it is capable of producing a stakes-level horse.

“Budget ties your hands and can make you more imaginative with your decisions but if you stay loyal to the parameters that you have in your mind then you put all your years' experience at the coal face, and with the various people you've been around over the years, and try to make credible decisions.”

That he has clearly been doing well for Teme Valley Racing which, contrary to popular belief, is not a syndicate but a private individual.

“Teme Valley is the brainchild of a man who had a long-held ambition to be involved in the higher echelons of Flat racing after many years as an owner in National Hunt racing,” Ryan explains. “We hatched a plan and the last few years have been the culmination of that plan.”

And both owner and agent appear to have much still to look forward to this season. Lively ground and a wide draw scuppered Bayside Boy's chances in the Poule d'Essai des Poulains, but Ryan says of his thirteenth-place finish, “That's one to completely draw a line through. He'll probably go to Ascot for the St James's Palace but we have half a thought for the Jersey. We have some reputation rebuilding to do with him but I feel confident that will happen as the season goes on.”

The Paddy Twomey-trained French Claim has later-season big-race targets. 

 “He is a very impressive individual and he breezed well with good manners in a style that I like to see,” Ryan notes. “He has exceeded expectations and has given the trainer great cause for enthusiasm. We feel the best is yet to come. The ground was a little quicker [at Leopardstown] than we would have liked for his trial. We wanted more of a test of stamina. The Derby was under consideration at one point but his action may not lend itself to Epsom. He's not ruled out of the Irish Derby yet, as that can often be wet and a proper test of stamina. But we are thinking something like the Grand Prix de Paris on the way to the St Leger. That's our loose theory at the moment.”

Then, with a range of trainers that includes O'Brien, Twomey, Varian, Clive Cox and William Haggas, Ryan points to a group of juveniles starting out on the path to becoming full-fledged racehorses. The first to come to hand among that group is Hellsing (Ire) (Dandy Man {Ire}), the winner on debut of a maiden on Irish Guineas weekend for Ger Lyons.

“Ger was very pleased with the horse for a long period,” he says. “As a big horse his future lies over seven [furlongs] and possibly a touch more. He has always shown a fair bit of talent and we had half an idea when the hammer came down that he would be a type for the Goffs Million, as he was bought at the Orby Sale. That's still a strong consideration but it won't be the be-all and end-all in terms of stifling any considerations at stakes level.”

Ryan warns, “We've got an awfully nice bunch of 2-year-olds for this year.”

The post ‘Her Brother State Of Rest Made Rapid Improvement At Three’: Teme Valley Racing’s Tranquil Lady On Oaks Quest appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights