Tag: Shared News Europe

Two Wildcard Additions to Tatts Online January

A breeding right to Roseman (Ire) (Kingman {GB}–Go Lovely Rose {Ire}) in addition to point-to-point mare Like Ta Ma (Ire) (Soldier of Fortune {Ire}) have been added to the Tattersalls Online January Sale, which will be held Jan. 18-19.

The two-day digital sale also includes a stallion share to the Aga Khan Studs' stallion Zarak (Fr) (Dubawi {Ire}).

Offered as Lot 67, Roseman brings the number of Breeding Rights to eight. Second by a head in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II S. at Ascot, he also ran fourth in the G1 Queen Anne S. at Royal Ascot. The young stallion is set to stand his second season at March Hare Stud for a fee of £5,000.

Consigned by Daniel Lynch, Like Ta Ma won her point-to-point debut at Rathcannon in November before finishing a close second in a Mares Point-to-Point at Carrigarostig last weekend.

For the complete catalogue, click here.

The post Two Wildcard Additions to Tatts Online January appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Value Sires Part II: The Middle Ground 

Continuing our series on the profitability of stallions, this week we are looking at those who stood between £20,000 and £49,999 in 2020. Three of the top four in this table have subsequently graduated to the higher-fee bracket outlined in Part I of this series last Thursday. 

As previously stated, we will be examining sires in four key price brackets according to their yearling sales returns of 2022 set against their fees at the time of covering. The average profit has been determined by the stallion's fee plus a figure of £20,000 for keep costs. The profitable stallions featured must have had at least five yearlings sold in 2022 to make the list and prices have been converted to sterling from Euros according to the conversion rate on the day of the sale.

Just as Dubawi (Ire) headed the list of those in the most expensive fee bracket, so does his son Night Of Thunder (Ire) claim top honours here in this second tier when his fee was €25,000, having been as low as €15,000 for two years before that. It stepped back up a notch after the Kildangan Stud resident's stellar first crop of two-year-olds demonstrated just what their sire was capable of and, since that time, his price has kept climbing to a current high of €100,000. Yes, that's expensive, but the clamour for Night Of Thunder's yearlings was such that 90 were sold (84 of which were in profit) last year for an average of more than eight times his fee at £197,346, with an average profit of £154,565. 

Clearly it will be hard to maintain such a level from a higher fee, but it is fair to assume that with the price rise comes an uplift in the quality of mares he is covering, and he was no one-crop wonder. With a top-rated sprinter in Europe to his name last year in Highfield Princess (Fr) and 32 stakes winners from four crops of racing age, Night Of Thunder is fast reaching the elite bracket at only 12 years of age.

Wootton Bassett (GB) has been an incredible success story for Haras d'Etreham, where his stud career started at a lowly €6,000 fee, which dropped to €4,000 in 2014 and 2015 and rose in line with his achievements from relatively small books of lowly mares in his early years. The figures shown on this table represent his final crop bred in France at €40,000. He has subsequently taken another two big price leaps following his move to Coolmore in Ireland – to €100,000 and now €150,000. That, predictably, has been accompanied by strong support from plenty of big breeders. His upward rise will need to continue but, given the mares he has covered in recent years, it would be staggering if it doesn't. Like Dubawi and his sons, Wootton Bassett provides a useful outcross option for many via the Mr Prospector line, in this instance through Mr P's extremely influential son Gone West, who is Wootton Bassett's great grandsire. 

Wootton Bassett has at least one top Classic prospect in the Group 1-winning juvenile Al Riffa (Fr), who provides an early example of just what his sire of capable of when crossed with Galileo (Ire). His 83 yearlings sold in 2022 returned an average price of £151,427, giving him a profit margin of £94,978.

Starspangledbanner (Aus) had noted poor fertility at the outset of his career but this appears to have been largely overcome, which is a bonus to breeders. From 121 mares covered in 2020 at a fee of €22,500, 62 of his yearlings were sold with a decent profit margin of £70,801. This year marks the 16-year-old's career-high fee of €50,000, which means that unlike Night Of Thunder, Wootton Bassett and Camelot (GB), Starspangledbanner will remain in this bracket for now. He is joined at stud this season by his high-flying son State Of Rest (Ire), a Group 1 winner in four different countries, and is responsible for one of the most exciting sprinter/milers in Hong Kong, California Spangle (Ire), who recently downed the colours of the outstanding Golden Sixty (Aus). It is easy to see why Starspangledbanner's popularity has been consistently high, just like his fellow Coolmore-based forefathers Choisir (Aus), Danehill Dancer (Ire), and Danehill. 

Then there's Camelot, the horse who should be a Triple Crown winner and the sole remaining son of Montjeu (Ire) in the Flat division in Britain and Ireland (his fellow Derby winner Authorized (Ire) is still plying his trade in Turkey).

Camelot may divide opinion but as the sire of ten Group/Grade 1 winners in five different countries he is unquestionably a good stallion, and one who has piqued the interest of Australian buyers thanks to the exploits of Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet and dual Group 1 winner Russian Camelot (Ire), who is now at Widden Stud. His two highfliers of last year, Irish Champion S. victor Luxembourg (Ire) and Deutsches Derby hero Sammarco (Ger), remain in training and the yearlings of 2022 posted average profit of £54,918 from the 45 that were sold. That crop was conceived at €40,000, and Camelot's fee rose to €60,000 the following year, where it is again now after a brief high of €75,000.

With Night Of Thunder out in front, there is plenty for the Darley team to like about this list and they have another three in the top ten at varying stages of their career: Blue Point (Ire), Teofilo (Ire), and Cracksman (GB). Much will be expected of Blue Point this year, and with 98 of his first-crop yearlings offered in 2022 it is clear that breeders viewed him as a commercial prospect from the outset. He is after all made in the image of his late and celebrated sire Shamardal and his race record had that intoxicating blend of precocity and speed which is catnip to modern-day breeders.

Having started out at €45,000, he is now down to €35,000 for his fourth season at stud, and his first yearlings returned average profit of £36,872. Of course this season is crucial for him as we start to see his first runners but you can bet that Charlie Appleby has a few smart juveniles up his sleeve by the sire who lit up Royal Ascot not once but twice in a week with a Group 1 double. A two-year-old winner at the same meeting this year for Blue Point would be just the ticket to get his secondary career off to a similarly fast start.

Cracksman took a few people by surprise last year with a spate of relatively early winners which has grown to a list of 18 to date, including the G2 Premio Dormello winner Aloa (GB) and Listed Star S. victrix Dance In The Grass (GB). His opening fee of £25,000, gave average profit of £25,201 on the 34 yearlings sold from his second crop. Cracksman is now available at £17,500 and, given his own racing profile, there is cause to believe that his offspring take another step forward in their Classic season and beyond.

Cracksman's fellow first-season sires of 2022, Zoustar (Aus) and Saxon Warrior (Jpn), were also buoyed by solid results from their debutants. Zoustar is of course several seasons ahead in the southern hemisphere. G1 Cheveley Park S winner Lezoo (GB) was the stand-out of his European runners, prompting a fee rise to £30,000 this year from his opening mark of £25,000. From 67 yearlings sold, his average profit margin was £23,951. 

Saxon Warrior gives renewed hope of the Deep Impact sire-line taking root in Europe and from his first runners, Victoria Road (Ire) flew the flag for him with a Breeders' Cup victory, while the G1 Prix Marcel Boussac runner-up Gan Teorainn (Ire) has now spread her wings even farther through being exported to Australia after being bought for 1,000,000gns by Yulong Investments. From a starting fee of €30,000, which dipped to €27,500 in 2020, his yearlings averaged almost £67,000 last year, showing average profit of £21,938.

My pick from this list, however, is the dependable Nathaniel (Ire). There are few stallions in the world who will ever sire a filly of the calibre of Enable (GB), but the brilliant light of his stud career shines well beyond that obvious beacon. A Classic heroine in France and Grade 1 victrix in America, backed up the top-class British-trained duo of God Given (GB) and Lady Bowthorpe (GB), could have had Nathaniel pegged as a fillies' sire, but then Desert Crown (GB) breezed down the hill at Epsom to win the Derby with consummate ease. 

Nathaniel's success extends beyond the Flat to some smart jumpers, including Zanahiyr (Ire) and Concertista (Fr), and the offers to Newsells Park Stud from National Hunt stallion operations in recent years have surely been numerous. 

The average price of the yearlings conceived from Nathaniel's 2020 fee was £66,259, leading to average profit of £21,259. Good on the team at Newsells Park for hanging on to this extremely useful stallion, who surely represents excellent value at his current fee of £15,000.

Value podium

Gold: Nathaniel

Silver: Cracksman 

Bronze: Starspangledbanner

The post Value Sires Part II: The Middle Ground  appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The Doctor Will Amuse You Now

Happy Blue Monday, if that's not a contradiction in terms. Some of us may feel that the whole of January is utterly foul, but someone, somewhere, once decided that the third Monday of this month was the most depressing day of the year, so here we are.

Fear not, however, because if you need a little pick-me-up on this dark day then you could do worse than follow the Twitter account of trainer Fergal O'Brien (@OBMRacing), head of the most upwardly mobile National Hunt stable in Britain, which is guaranteed to deliver daily something between a belly laugh and a small chortle, and often both. Considering the high frequency of winners emanating from O'Brien's stable (he is currently ahead of the multiple champion Paul Nicholls in this regard and was the first of his colleagues to breach the 100-winner mark this season), one might very well wonder how the trainer finds so much time to tweet. The answer is that he doesn't.

Like a number of trainers, O'Brien outsources his social media, and those familiar with the account may assume that he employs a full-time comedian to manage his online presence, but in fact he doesn't employ anyone. The man behind the account is Dr Simon Gillson (@DrSimonCMP), who co-founded the private general practice company Concierge Medical in 2013 and tweets for fun, which has in turn brought plenty of fun to others. That he is based close to Cleeve Hill allows 'Dr Simon', as he's known in racing circles, to indulge his passion for the jumps at Cheltenham, his local racecourse, and at O'Brien's nearby yard of Ravenswell.

“We have a private medical practice in the Cotswolds, an old-fashioned family doctor home-visiting service, and the first person that ever signed up to that back in late 2013 was one of Ferg's owners,” Gillson explains. “I didn't know him at the time but towards the end of 2014, I went to the owners' and trainers' bar with him in Cheltenham. That's when I met Ferg and, like any good trainer, within four weeks of that he had encouraged me to buy a share in a racehorse.”

He continues, “Both my grandads liked to bet, and then one of them particularly used to go racing, so when I was growing up in Yorkshire, you could get to about nine or 10 courses within an hour and a half. During summer holidays we spent a lot of time Flat racing, which at the time was great, but then that morphed into me being more of a National Hunt fan.”

'Racing Twitter' really took off about a decade ago and during that time there have been some good, bad and downright ugly exchanges on the social networking site.

Jockeys, especially, and some trainers come in for plenty of stick, which can often be deeply unpleasant, but Twitter has also become a vital news and promotional source for the industry, as well as a huge amount of amusement.

Those trainers and jockeys who have stuck with the platform can use it to their advantage while giving racing fans some great behind-the-scenes insight, though there has been a trend for 'managed' social media accounts, which lose something in their inauthenticity. That is certainly not the case for O'Brien, thanks to the wacky humour of Gillson, whose wry daily observations on all manner of subjects from the sporting to baking to the political are a breath of fresh air. He also doesn't neglect his real-life position (IRL, as the kids like to say) as a doctor to put across the more serious message of mental health issues while avoiding the soppy memes that pop up around this important subject.

“I think, with my doctor head on, we have a platform now which has helped people,” he says. “Combine that with the horses, and we're able to help people. Even if that's just a few that come to the yard and feel so much better about it, then that's obviously no skin off our noses at all. And the thought that we've made someone's day a bit better is brilliant. And if they want to come back then that's fine as well, because there is clearly a therapeutic effect to horses for some people and we're very happy to share that with anybody.

“I was doing the social media for my medical practice, and it's a very different environment doing medical-related tweets. It's not exactly a jokey thing. And then I realised that nobody was really doing any social media for the yard, which seemed such a shame for someone with Ferg's size of personality not to be getting some of that out across into social media. So that's where it started.”

Gillson continues, “The whole point to it really was that I felt quite lucky when I took that share [in a horse] and then got up to the yard to see things that I'd never seen as a racegoer. It opened my eyes to how much goes on behind the scenes. There are so many people involved. It's funny, it's hard work, it's heartbreaking at times. And actually I felt that that's the sort of stuff that people should be seeing. And yeah, I think my original thought process was that I'd like to be able to tweet what I'd like to see as a race fan. And that's where we were aiming from. I think some of the jokes and things came in later.

“There were a lot were lot of accounts run by trainers or people within the stable, which obviously knew a huge amount of stuff about the horses and racing but weren't conveying it that brilliantly. Or there were some obviously PR-led ones which were beautiful but didn't give you a huge amount of insight into what was actually going on. And the aim was to try and get somewhere in between the two. I did wonder early on in this whether people would get fed up.”

In fact, the opposite has happened, and in the seven years that Gillson has been tweeting for O'Brien, the stable's account has accrued 55,500 followers, and counting. On occasion, followers will suggest to the trainer that the unofficial social media manager needs a pay rise.

“He'll say 'you can have a hundred per cent raise', because he's paying me nothing,” says the doctor with a laugh.

With some of his tweets, his wry humour has sailed a bit close to the wind and the Twitter overlords have suspended the account on occasion.

He adds, “The most embarrassing one I got banned for was Covid misinformation because I made what was very obviously a joke based on a professor who was on TV a lot at the start of the pandemic who kept saying that everything will be all right.”

As we all know, not everything is all right all of the time. We all need a break from the norm sometimes, and for people who love racing but do not have the level of access of the sport's daily practitioners, social media has been invaluable in transporting people virtually, or sometimes in the case of O'Brien's open-door policy, actually to the heart of the action. Gillson is not immune to its benefits either.

“I enjoy doing it and it's a welcome release from my day job,” he says. “Don't get me wrong, I have worked in much more stressful environments, but still it's nice to have something which is completely different.”

The post The Doctor Will Amuse You Now appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Blackbeard The One They Want To See’ – Young Sires Drive Stallion Trail Crowd

Whether it was Bayside Boy (Ire) at Ballylinch, Minzaal (Ire) at Derrinstown or King Of Change (GB) and Dubawi Legend (Ire) at Starfield, one of the main takeaways from this year's Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail was that the pedigree buffs and bloodstock fans love nothing more than getting a glimpse at the new stallions this country has to offer. 

“Don't dream of putting a picture of that lad up on Twitter otherwise I'll have Eddie O'Leary tweeting that it's not the only pig down in Ballyhane,” – Joe Foley.

Few young sires generated as much chat as Blackbeard (Ire), who will embark on his stallion career with Coolmore Stud at €25,000 and a lofty reputation to match that fee, being a dual Group 1-winning juvenile by No Nay Never.

If you hadn't been aware of Blackbeard's antics before his races last season, you could be forgiven for thinking he was a model pupil as he stood quietly in his stable while Coolmore's Mark Byrne explained how the majority of the 1,000 visitors to the stud on Friday and Saturday came to see the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. winner.

Byrne said, “Blackbeard is the horse that everyone wants to see. We've been open to the public today and yesterday and, of the 1,000 or so people who have visited us, most of them were particularly keen to see Blackbeard. He almost had a cult following on the track and it's easy to see why-he's a beautiful-looking horse, was an expensive foal, has a great walk and an excellent race record and pedigree. 

“It's a really important thing for every stud in the world to keep new stallions on the roster and thankfully we've got an exciting young sire by No Nay Never who I think is going to prove to be really good value.”

He added, “It's not only been Irish visitors over the past two days, we've also welcomed a lot of French and English people. It's kudos to everyone involved in the Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail as it provided everyone a chance to get out and see these horses over the course of two days. A lot of business will be generated from the Trail, even if it is not carried out over the two days, as we had a lot of breeders here on the Trail. You also have people who are lifelong fans of different horses so they get the chance to meet their heroes as such. It's lovely to be a part of that.”

With one of the leading sires in Europe, a new Group 1-winning stallion prospect to add to the roster for 2023 and one of the best lunches going on the entire trail, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see parking spaces at a premium at Ballylinch Stud. 

Similarly to what Byrne reported at Coolmore, Ballylinch was abuzz with the majority of the visitors keen to cast their eye over Bayside Boy, who Bloodstock and Nominations manager Eoin Fives revealed to be going down a bomb with breeders. 

He said, “We've been seeing the footfall here ever since we announced Bayside Boy. We've been mad busy showing the stallions here but in particular with Bayside Boy. Everyone is keen to see him. He has been very popular. We set aside a certain amount of shares to be sold and they have all gone. We've already got over 100 mares booked into him so we are delighted with where he is. We envisage him covering a nice big book. He will cover 15 of our best mares this year which will ensure he will get off to the best possible start.”

Fives added, “We've had a good mixture of people here over the past two days. There have been shareholders in stallions who are very tied into the Ballylinch model and we've sold nominations here today and yesterday as well. A lot of people have just come to see the stallions and it's great to have everyone and even better to have people engaging with this part of the industry because I suppose the breeding side of things can be a little bit esoteric for a lot of people.”

If bloodstock poses as a riddle wrapped into a mystery for some people, a trip down to Ballyhane Stud might do more harm than good, as the first beast to hog the limelight is not Dandy Man (Ire) or the up-and-coming Soldier's Call (GB), but a pig the size of a small car. 

“Don't dream of putting a picture of that lad up on Twitter otherwise I'll have Eddie O'Leary tweeting that it's not the only pig down in Ballyhane,” Joe Foley says, only half-joking. Of course, his request falls on deaf ears. 

The pig, who happens to be Dandy Man's best friend, set a high bar in terms of entertainment but the five stallions on the rock-solid Ballyhane roster for 2023 stole the show, in particular Soldier's Call. 

It was on Friday when the TDN Europe team visited Yeomanstown Stud, where Rob O'Callagahan was bullish about Invincible Army (Ire)'s claims for first-season sire honours, but Foley described himself as extremely happy with his own dog in that particular fight. 

He said, “We have the old stalwart Dandy Man, who has been such a friend to us down through the years, and he was the champion sire of sprinters in Europe yet again last year, as he was the year before. He's the pillar of our team here. We've got four younger horses here including Elzaam (Aus), who is doing great, and then the three younger horses–Soldier's Call, Sands Of Mali (Fr) and Space Traveller (GB).”

Foley added, “Soldier's Call has his first crop of 2-year-olds this year and we are very hopeful about them. He was a very fast horse himself and his stock looks to be very fast as well. We've got a bunch of them in pre-training and they are going really well. The first foals by Sands Of Mali were very well-received last autumn and the new recruit, Space Traveller, is the highest-rated Bated Breath (GB) and is out of a Galileo (Ire) mare who is out of a Kingmambo mare and is from a great family. He's a beautiful horse and has been wowing the crowds who have been here today and yesterday.”

Just a few fields away from Foley's Ballyhane base stands Jukebox Jury (Ire), Fascinating Rock (Ire) and Sea Moon (Ire) at Burgage Stud. All three have been making waves with their National Hunt runners, none more so than the Irish St Leger winner Jukebox Jury, who could have a big year ahead of him with his first Irish 4-year-olds set to run between the flags and under rules. 

Ger O'Neill's Castlefield Stud is a further 10 minutes away and offers a trio of accessible stallions for National Hunt and Flat breeders. Australian Group 1 winner Mirage Dancer (GB), who boasts a good Juddmonte pedigree, catches the eye and is joined by fellow National Hunt stallion Hunting Horn (Ire), best known for his Hampton Court success at Royal Ascot for Aidan O'Brien. 

But Alkumait (GB) could be the ace in the Castlefield Stud pack. A son of Showcasing, he confirmed himself a high-class 2-year-old when winning the Mill Reef S. and, being a half-brother to leading 2000 Guineas hope Chaldean (GB) (Frankel {GB}), his pedigree could be in lights later this spring.

Part owner of Alkumait, Jerry Horan, said, “The Stallion Trail was the bee's knees and it was noticeable how many people travelled over from England and even further afield. The Stallion Trail has become a date in people's diary. The team at Castlefield did a great job and the stallions looked fantastic. Alkumait was late coming to Castlefield last year because he wasn't long out of training when we got him but he has let down into a fine stallion now. It's lucky for the Alkumait syndicate that the Chaldean came along and, more recently, the half-sister made 1,000,000gns at the foal sales so the future is bright. It's a proper pedigree and we're very excited by him.”

Three stallions who caught the eye on the Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail in 2023

First things first, like every good Irish wedding, let's acknowledge those who couldn't be with us, or in this case, those we didn't get to see. Of the 35 studs who opened their doors to the public, the TDN Europe team got to visit 11, and here are a few observations from those studs. 

Ghaiyyath (Ire). A beast. One look at Ghaiyyath and it's easy to see why his foals sold so well last autumn. A top-class racehorse, he has all the right attributes to make it as a stallion and one would venture that the team at Kildangan Stud are quietly optimistic about the future with this fellow. Although we didn't get the ruler out, Ghaiyyath could conceivably be 17hh, which is funny given he is a son of Dubawi (Ire) and his dam was the diminutive Nightime (Ire). Fellow Kildangan-based sire Earthlight (Ire) also catches the eye. A flashy chestnut, he boasts pure unadulterated power and adds to what is a strong roster at Kildangan Stud. 

Space Traveller. A horse who wasn't on the radar prior to visiting Ballyhane Stud, Space Traveller deserves consideration for his walk alone. The G3 Jersey S. and G2 Boomerang S. winner walks for fun and should be a big hit with breeders if passing that on to his stock. Fellow Ballyhane resident Soldier's Call does exactly what he says on the tin and should get fast horses which would stand him in good stead with a view towards the first-season sire championship. 

Jukebox Jury. If he's good enough for Colin Tizzard and John Nallen, who are understood to be big fans of the stallion, then Burgage Stud's Jukebox Jury is likely to make waves this year with his first crop of Irish 4-year-olds. To his credit, he has already made a splash with his runners thus far but the best should be yet to come from the Irish St Leger-winning stallion. Mirage Dancer is another interesting National Hunt sire and ticks a lot of boxes standing for just €3,500 at Castlefield Stud.

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