The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association promised “lively debate” ahead of its eagerly-anticipated National Hunt seminar and it didn't disappoint with the introduction of three-year-old bumpers, altering the sales programme, the importance of a strong broodmare band and polarisation of the market some of the major topics discussed on the night.
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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