Ed Harper Q&A: “What Excites Me Most Is Our Horses Winning On The Track”

It has been a big year for Whitsbury Manor Stud. From a landmark result with homebred Chaldean going on to win the 2,000 Guineas for Juddmonte, his half-sister Get Ahead selling for 2.5m gns at public auction and the continued rise of superstar stallion Havana Grey, 2023 has been the gift that keeps on giving for Ed Harper and his team.

There is plenty, still, to look forward to next year, with fellow Whitsbury-based stallion Sergei Prokofiev set to be represented by his first crop of runners and Dragon Symbol taking up his position on the roster. 

From all things Whitsbury to reflecting on the breeding stock sales, the ever-engaging Harper makes for required reading in this week's Q&A.

You must look back on 2023 pretty fondly with Whitsbury Manor Stud homebred Chaldean winning the 2,000 Guineas for Juddmonte?

We wouldn't have a lot of runners in Classic races because of the types of stallions we stand but, obviously, we use a few outside stallions every year. When you use the best stallion around [Frankel], you hope to provide yourself with a chance to step up on quality. It couldn't have worked out any better with Chaldean winning the 2,000 Guineas. 

Where would that rank?

A great milestone. It ranked very highly but I don't feel as though it was a whole heap of hard work that produced the result. For example, producing a stallion like Showcasing or Havana Grey, that takes five or six years of hard work from every team member pulling in the same direction. A result like Chaldean is a piece of good judgement in the sales ring to buy the mare by Dad, which isn't to be underestimated, but even he would admit that there is a lot of luck involved. So, you get yourself a diamond mare in Suelita, what are you going to do with her? You're going to send her to a diamond stallion. It's brilliant, and it's fantastic, but it's not comparable to the whole Whitsbury machine working together for years to make a stallion. I see the two things very differently. 

You must have got a lot of pleasure at seeing Chaldean's half-sister Get Ahead, a talented mare in her own right, selling for 2.5m gns to Ian MacAleavy's First Bloodstock? 

I'd have rathered if we didn't have to sell her! We have to remind ourselves that the function of Whitsbury is not to have a small, uber broodmare band sending mares to the best stallions on the planet. Our job is to keep small breeders alive in England because, without them, there is no breeding industry in this country. If we can sell Get Ahead and support the business in areas that help, such as the grassroots by making stallions, then that's our job. Effectively, weighing up the sale of Get Ahead, we can't be everything to everyone. You can't be brilliant at everything. It doesn't work like that for anybody. So weighing it up, we ask ourselves what our priority is. Is it looking out into the paddock and seeing the occasional super mare going to the super stallion or is it making the next stallion? We effectively prioritised the buying of Dragon Symbol over keeping Get Ahead. That's the choice we made. 

I'll go on to Dragon Symbol in a second but, when you mentioned Whitsbury supporting the grassroots players in England, I just wonder how you would look back on the breeding stock sales on a personal level taking into consideration how many smaller breeders took a kicking?

The most satisfying thing for us this year was the 20 to 30 smaller breeders who really benefited from Havana Grey. That means that some of those breeders can reinvest and possibly step up the next rung up the ladder, which is great, or, on a slightly scarier level, it means some will survive another two or three years. Without stallions like Havana Grey, that doesn't happen. I'm not pretending to have the answers as to why this is but, culturally, when smaller breeders in England stop, they stop for good. They don't come back. When small breeders in Ireland stop because, say there's a dip in the market or maybe there's overproduction, for whatever reason, they seem to have the ability to come back when times get better. I feel like we have to be the lifeboat throwing the vests out to keep some of the smaller breeders alive and, when you get it right and you help a load of people, it's very satisfying. Obviously, we're trying to run a profitable business as well, we're not a charity, but we need a thriving industry and we have to provide our clients with a chance to make money. It's very satisfying when it happens. 

Did you listen to this month's Jamie Railton podcast where Roger O'Callaghan was the guest? Roger singled out Whistbury for high praise. A lot of people would say there are similarities between how Whitsbury and Tally-Ho Stud is run. What would those similarities be?

I listened to it, yes. There's lots of other places in England who had good years, so we don't have a monopoly on that. But what do we do similar? For starters, we don't really worry what other people are doing and Tally-Ho certainly don't worry either. The one thing that we would agree on is that we need to see success scattered around the business from time to time. It can't be for one outfit all the time because that's not how a sport works. I've a few friends and connections who have never been involved in the breeding industry who have started to ask me questions about getting involved for the first time. I've known some of these people for 20 years and they've never asked me that so it's nice to think we have just pricked the interests of a few new players because we can't just have people going out of the market. We need new people as well. 

For me, one of the stories from the mares sale was your neighbour Katrina Yarrow getting 52,000gns for Havana Grey foal with the first mare she ever bought.

Exactly. And that was someone who was brave enough to listen to us when we recommended the mare. Fair play to Katrina for giving it a go. You're only ever going to find out by giving it ago and, if you don't risk too much and keep top of what you are prepared to invest, it can be a lot of fun.

Getting back to the Railton podcast, when Roger said that some breeders need to look themselves in the mirror over some of the poor results in the ring, rather than blaming the game, did you think that was fair comment?

Yea, I would agree with Roger completely. We're all good at seeing the difficulties in our game but the skill is figuring out how to combat it. Sending back the same mares, who are a year older, year after year, and then saying, 'oh, it hasn't happened for me,' is not the approach. If you asked that same person what they have done to give themselves a chance, what have they actively gone and done, they often don't have any answer for you. Some will say, 'oh, well I can't go out and buy a new mare, I had to play it safe because the foal sales didn't go well or the yearling sales didn't go well.' Well, the answer to that is no, when the foal or yearling sales don't go well, that's when you have to go out and buy a new mare! You almost have to be more active when things aren't going well. People tend to almost go back into the shell when things aren't working for them. Everyone should be trying to improve all the time. I mean, I read Emma Berry's piece with Peter Kavanagh in the TDN on Tuesday, and he made some excellent points. The bit I would completely agree with is that, part of the puzzle, and the piece of the game that we rarely talk about, is horse husbandry. It's arguably the most important part of the puzzle. From choosing stallions, to buying mares or even sending horses into training, it's all completely irrelevant if the horse husbandry hasn't been good enough. That is the area that is slipping in Britain; the horse husbandry is going the wrong way a lot of the time. Obviously there are plenty of people doing a good job but, in general, the slide is in the quality of husbandry, and that's difficult to get around. When husbandry slides, the rest of it becomes irrelevant. 

What are we talking about here? Just poorly presented foals at the sales with regards to lack of bone, poor feet etc?

Everything. The quality of the land, management of the pasture, the attention to detail on the stock, general care of the stock; it's everyday stuff. Thinking that you can just turn out horses and forget about them, be it mares, foals, whatever, horse husbandry is an everyday job. If you are not on it every day, it slips. 

I was at the pinhookers panel at Tattersalls on the evening before the foal sales where you came out with a great line when referencing a conversation you had with your accountant. I think he was questioning one of your decisions and you said something along the lines of, 'you don't get to have a say, you just keep the score!' With that in mind, and I know you won't mind me saying this, but I would say there were a few people questioning the decision to stand Dragon Symbol at Whitsbury. Lucky you don't care what other people think!

We had the same reaction with Showcasing and Havana Grey. When we bought Showcasing, I was told that the Gimcrack wasn't a stallion-making race. You had to go back to Mill Reef when a Gimcrack winner became a good stallion. What a load of rubbish that was. With Havana Grey, people were saying, why are we getting excited about a son of a stallion who was standing for eight or 10 grand, or whatever it was at the time. That made no sense to me either because, first of all, Havana Gold had already proved himself as a bloody good stallion and, also, you could give 10 examples in about three seconds of horses who were more successful than their sires. In terms of Dragon Symbol, he's very easy to defend. He was five pounds a better racehorse than Havana Grey ever was and it's about standing a quality racehorse at the end of the day. To be first past the post in a Commonwealth Cup, with himself and Campanelle six lengths clear of the rest, and to then go and be beaten just a neck behind Starman in a July Cup as a three-year-old, those are serious performances. I happened to think Cable Bay was a bloody good stallion as well. He just didn't have the rub of the green in terms of fertility and soundness, in that he had one or two issues that held him back, which was nobody's fault. He got eight black-type two-year-olds in his first crop which is better than ninety per cent of stallions and that allowed them to double his fee to 15 grand, which nobody batted an eye over. He absolutely deserved it. 

Dragon Symbol (right) | Racingfotos.com

Is it extra special bringing Dragon Symbol back to where he was bred or does it even matter?

The answer to that is I couldn't give a monkeys who bred him! It's a nice thing to talk about but it had zero influence on the decision. In fact, I think it could have the opposite effect as people might get the wrong end of the stick in thinking Dragon Symbol was a vanity project when the reality is that it couldn't be further from the truth. We're far too business-minded and commercial to worry about that sort of thing. 

And what's the vibe ahead of Sergei Prokofiev's first runners next year?

I don't even want to hear things from trainers in February, let alone December, but all I would say is that the Sergeis are very easy customers to deal with. They are relaxed and compliant. As we were saying earlier, sadly with the staffing in the industry, we don't have the time to deal with difficult horses compared to back in the day, so having a stallion who produces even-tempered and nice horses is a step in the right direction. 

We almost got to the end of the conversation without waxing lyrical about Havana Grey. I know you find it boring to continue to heap praise on him but even you must have been punching yourself over the continued support behind him at the foal sales?

It's fantastic but my pulse doesn't raise much at the sales. When we're selling our own stock for good money, we need to do that to keep the cogs turning in the right direction and to reinvest in the industry, but it's not something I get excited about. What excites me most is watching our horses win on the track. I do get nervous watching a two-year-old we thought a lot of make its debut. Even if it's a Class 5 at Wolverhampton, I'll be far more nervous about that than a horse going through the ring. The other thing that makes us happy is trying our best to help and advise people and, when it works out even better than what we'd hoped it would, that is very satisfying. Celebrating the result of our clients is more satisfying. 

 

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Almost 30 Million Guineas Spent On Foals At Tatts But Figures Take A Dip 

Tattersalls chairman Edmond Mahony acknowledged the weakness of the lower end of the market as the Tattersalls December Foal Sale concluded on Saturday with a 125,000gns Showcasing (GB) filly leading the way. 

Almost 30 million gns was spent on foals this week at Tattersalls while Friday saw the most expensive foal sold so far this year–a St Mark's Basilica (Fr) filly–in Europe and North America at 575,000gns.

However, the aggregate of 29,842,902gns was down 15% on last year while the average dropped 6% to 44,608gns. The clearance rate was more or less the same, dropping 1% to 75%, while the median dropped 19% to 21,000gns.

Mahony commented, “Sustained demand for quality foals has been the feature of the four days of selling at Europe's premier foal sale. In addition to the highest price for a foal in Europe and North America this year there have been a record 29 foals sold for 200,000 guineas or more and a healthy diversity of buyers in all sectors of the market.

“The cream of the British and Irish foal crop has attracted buyers in abundance not only from Britain and Ireland but also from throughout Europe and the Gulf region as well as China, Japan and America. The overseas demand has had a significant impact on trade which, although not matching last year's record levels, has remained robust with the exception of the lower end of the market which we must all recognise has been challenging.”

He added, “The pinhookers will always be the backbone of any Tattersalls December Foal Sale and as ever they have worked tirelessly, but the contribution from so many significant owners is becoming an increasingly important and regular feature of the sale. When a sale consistently produces racehorses the calibre of 2000 Guineas winner Chaldean (GB) and the unbeaten Group 1- and 2-winning two-year-olds Vandeek (GB) and Ghostwriter (Ire), it reflects the quality of the stock presented by the consignors and it is clear that their confidence in the sale has been reciprocated by many of the world's most successful racehorse owners.

“Another positive to come out of this year's December Foal Sale has been the overwhelmingly favourable response to the break in selling on the Thursday of the sale which allowed buyers valuable extra time to view the Friday and Saturday foals. The change was introduced in response to feedback from vendors and purchasers alike and as well as being well received it is notable that the clearance rates for both Friday and Saturday have improved significantly on last year's record-breaking sale.

“With a solid Tattersalls December Foal Sale behind us we now look forward to welcoming buyers from every continent in the world to Park Paddocks for another quality renewal of the Tattersalls December Sale which features some spectacular fillies and broodmares, many of them showcased in the elite Sceptre Sessions which take place on Monday and Tuesday.”

The Saturday topper (lot 1203) was consigned by Daymark Stud and went the way of Ciaran 'Flash' Conroy. The Showcasing filly is a sister to the stakes-placed Fourth Way (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}) and will be offered for resale next year. 

Conroy commented, “Let's hope she is a top lot next year! She is a lovely physical, I like the stallion – he is a very good sire of fillies. She is a really good individual, very balanced, a very good walker. She is a Book 1 individual, and from a young operation so good to see young breeders having a good result.”

The sale capped off a solid day's trade for Daymark Stud with four foals selling for 263,000gns. 

“It is a sigh of relief! It has been incredible, we are very lucky, we are a very small operation,” the stud's Josh Cameron said. “I have done every hand walk with every single foal and some days I think 'Oh maybe I should get someone to help', but I do think it helps the foals in the end. I am not sure my girlfriend has loved living with me over the last eight weeks!

“But we got there in the end and thanks to the little syndicate who own the mare Messalina for their support. Two mates bought her out of Archie Watson's yard and sent her to me, and just said, 'See how you get on!' Her first foal by Havana Grey (GB), who we sold here last year for 46,000 guineas, is going to Kevin Philippart De Foy and this year she has produced this amazing Showcasing filly, who has not missed a beat all week. She is a real athlete and for someone like Flash to buy her is unreal.”

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Daughter of Music Show in Line for Newcastle Bow

Observations on the European Racing Scene turns the spotlight on the best European races of the day, highlighting well-pedigreed horses early in their careers, horses of note returning to action and young runners that achieved notable results in the sales ring. Saturday's Insights features Noisy Music (Ire), the daughter of G1 Falmouth S. heroine Music Show (Ire) and is the lone filly in a nine-runner field.

12.15 Newcastle, £9,950, Mdn, 2yo, 6f (AWT)
Jaber Abdullah's NOISY MUSIC (IRE) (Showcasing {GB}) is a Kevin Ryan-trained daughter of G1 Falmouth S. heroine Music Show (Ire) (Noverre). She is the lone filly in a nine-runner field and her eight rivals include Fiona Carmichael's Altmore (Fr) (Showcasing {GB}), a €360,000 Arqana August half-brother to two black-type performers produced by Listed Prix Dahlia victrix Keegsquaw (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}), representing the in-form William Haggas stable.

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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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