“The dream is to produce a champion,” Farrell Set for Breeze-Up Season

Making headlines at a sale with big-figure results is all well and good, but any breeze-up consignor with their eye on the future understands that a more significant indicator of sustainable success is how those graduates go on to perform on the racetrack.

Cormac Farrell, a trainer and a trader of both breeze-up and point-to-point horses, is a firm believer in the concept. After launching CF Bloodstock in 2023, the horseman has ambitious goals in mind for his fledgling operation's future.

“I want to produce horses that go on and become good racehorses,” Farrell said. “The dream is to produce a champion. You see these guys like Willie Browne, Con Marnane, Norman Williamson and Eddie O'Leary. I can't name them all, but they've produced Group 1 winners. You want to see your horses go on and fulfill their potential at whatever level, but if we could produce a couple of champions along the way, that would be the dream.”

Farrell's new operation could hardly have gotten off to a better start last year when CF Bloodstock co-topped the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze-Up Sale with a €55,000 Tattersalls Ireland September Yearling Sale pinhook. The Zoffany (Ire) colt sold for 200,000gns to Richard Hughes and Ted Durcan. Now named Bracken's Laugh (Ire) and campaigned by Bernadine and Sean Mulryan, he was an auspicious debut maiden winner last September for Hughes and in his 3-year-old debut last week, claimed the Cardinal Conditions Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths.

Farrell said that he was always a believer in the colt and admitted that he had been a bit relieved when the horse got the job done in his first start last year.

“I had sort of built him up enough that if he wasn't any good, I was going to look a bit silly really because I was pretty bullish about him from the word go,” he said. “He was a big, raw horse and we did very little with him the whole way through because we were allowing him just to fill into his frame. We were rewarded with our patience because he came to hand in time to do a lovely breeze. Hopefully Richard has an unbelievable year with him and it'll be great for everybody.”

But Farrell is no rookie to consigning big-ticket horses. He previously formed half of Leamore Horses, which he ran in partnership with his ex-wife Anna Calder. Dancing City (Fr) (Feel Like Dancing {GB}) is the latest high-profile graduate from that consignment, having  just won a second Grade 1 novice hurdle at Aintree on Friday.

Since last year's breeze-ups, Farrell has been active not only in buying his next crop of pinhooks, but he also acquired a yard for his operation. Partnering up with his longtime associate, owner and breeder Douglas Taylor, Farrell took over the prolific Copper Beech Stables from trainer Michael Halford. The property located just a few minutes from the heart of the Curragh grounds has provided an optimal setup for Farrell to get the business off and running.

“I pinch myself every day with the excitement,” said Farrell. “I never thought I'd be in a place like this. Never. So for Douglas to be as supportive as he's been throughout it all and for the success we've had and everything, to be here right now is so exciting. Hopefully it's just going to keep going in the right direction. It's a lot of pressure. This place wasn't cheap and it all has to be paid for, but I think we've got an incredible bunch of horses this year.”

Farrell was represented by just over a dozen breeze-up horses last year and that number has grown to 30 for 2024. In addition to a handful of horses pointing for the racetrack, point-to-point trainees round out the roster. But Farrell said that the breeze-ups sales are where he hopes to concentrate his focus.

“I won't completely get away from the point-to-pointers because Douglas stands a couple of very nice National Hunt stallions and there is a lot of nice young stock coming through the ranks here,” he explained. “I'd be happy to train them because he's gone out and bought some fantastic mares and he's got some very good jumps stallions, but I prefer the global market of the breeze-ups. It's such a vast market and it seems to be very strong at the moment. Hopefully that relays into the breeze-up sales.”

CF Bloodstock will be sending seven juveniles through the ring at next week's Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale. Among the group, Farrell pointed out a Kameko colt (lot 121) out of stakes winner Miss Sugars (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) as well as a Sioux Nation colt (lot 123) out of the Street Cry (Ire) mare Mo Chara.

“I think they're a solid bunch,” he reported. “They're all very sound. They all X-ray clean and the scopes are excellent. Until they breeze and we get that out of the way, you don't know where you're going to land. All the homework is done now and I hope they all do themselves justice.”

Farrell's pinhook shopping takes him everywhere from Goffs and Tattersalls to Arqana and Keeneland. No matter where he's buying, Farrell considers conformation to be non-negotiable for his breeze-up prospects.

Bracken's Laugh sells for 200,000gns | Tattersalls

“If I had any amount of money to spend, I'd go for a gorgeous horse that is well put together before anything else,” he explained. “Then I think in terms of the breeze-ups, you need a bit of stallion power and then the pedigree nearly comes last. The Sioux Nation that goes to Craven is huge. I just felt that as a yearling last year he screamed 'racehorse' to me. He was a very mature yearling and now he looks like a 3-year-old. Funnily enough, last year Bracken's Laugh was also a very big horse and people probably didn't think he would be ready.”

“You have to think outside the box a little bit buying breeze-up horses because if everybody wants to buy the same horse, none of us would be able to buy a horse,” he added. “There's a lot of luck involved. We buy a lot of horses and some go right and some go wrong, but I look for a horse that catches my eye, that sort of tells me that he wants to be a racehorse.”

Of course the purchasing of the horse is oftentimes the easy part. The training is where the real work begins. Farrell, who has a background in eventing, cited that this area in particular is where he hopes his business garners a positive reputation.

“The way the horses are produced and their performance at the sale and going forward beyond the sale is a reflection on how we produce them,” he explained. “We do a lot of flatwork with them and they all ride very nicely. If you get them to clock fast and they turn out that they've been drilled to clock fast, that's not good for everybody. There is no point in getting a horse to breeze and then a trainer gets them and says that the horse is so rank that he's unrideable. That would be no good for business.”

Farrell applauded the many consignors he has known over the years who have had a hand in developing the breeze-up sales' track record for producing effective athletes.

“The people producing the breeze-ups horses are doing an incredible job,” he said. “The horses are all coming out and winning within weeks of the sale. It used to be months, but it's weeks after the sale now and they're super sound. They're conditioning them to race and they're standing up to training a lot better. Their longevity is a lot better. The breeze-ups are proven to be an unbelievable source of good horses and let's hope it continues to be that way. I'm excited to be a part of it and I hope I can live up to some of the people that have come before me and do as well as they have.”

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‘Hero, Legend, Dude’: Brave Emperor has the World at his Feet

With an increasing number of international stamps in his passport, the multiple Group winner Brave Emperor (Ire) (Sioux Nation) is fast becoming one of the most admirable horses in training.

Only twice in his 16 starts has the Archie Watson-trained four-year-old ever been out of the first three, but more impressive is that 10 of those runs have ended in victory – in five different countries, and counting. On Saturday, his 2024 debut resulted in a win in the Irish Thoroughbred Marketing Cup in Qatar, a local Group 2 staged during the HH The Amir Sword meeting. 

Brave Emperor, owned by the members of the Middleham Park Racing LX syndicate, held off the globally famous colours of Coolmore's Derrick Smith, carried by runner-up Cairo (Quality Road), with an equally renowned set of colours on the third horse, Godolphin's Real World (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}).

“I've run out of superlatives,” says Middleham Park Racing's Tom Palin of the horse who is a syndicator's dream. “I've described him in every which way I possibly can. Hero, legend, dude. I don't think we've ever quite had a horse like him, and I don't think many trainers or owners could ever dream of having a horse like him. He can go on good to firm or heavy, and he has won over five, six, seven, eight, and nine furlongs.”

This time last year, Brave Emperor recorded his first stakes success on his first foray outside the British Isles when winning the Listed Prix de la Californie at Cagnes-sur-Mer. He then set about clocking up points on the European Road to the Kentucky Derby, winning a qualifying conditions race at Kempton before finishing second in the final leg of the series at Chelmsford in the Cardinal S.

The Run for the Roses was probably sensibly ruled out, but Brave Emperor and Archie Watson's travelling team continued the globetrotting a little closer to home, with victory in the G3 Grosser Preis der Wohnstatte Krefeld next on the horse's agenda, followed by third in the G3 Stockholms Stora Pris. Royal Ascot and his run out the back in the G3 Hampton Court S. was really the only blip in an otherwise exemplary season, and he recovered from that to win four of his five subsequent starts, including the G2 Premio Vittorio di Capua, G3 Prix Daphnis and G3 Grosser Preis der Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf. Luke Morris has been Brave Emperor's regular partner in all bar three of this starts, and the pair could be off to Hong Kong next for the G1 FWD Champions Mile and a pop at superstar Golden Sixty (Aus).

“He's been invited out there at the end of April and that looks the route that we'll travel with him,” Palin confirms. ” It's a $2.5 million race. I think we probably have to finish about sixth or better to get our declaration fee back. And look, he's very versatile. We know Hong Kong can throw up varying ground states, so you wouldn't be going there terribly worried about whatever the underfoot conditions are. But obviously, it's a race Golden Sixty's made his own.”

He added, “That was a career best there on Saturday, so it feels a sensible race to be going for at this point. And we know he takes traveling very well. Obviously, it'd be a bit different because he's got the quarantine procedures to go through there for five days before and five days allowed on the track, so it'd be a bit longer than what he's used to, but if there's ever a horse you're just going to go, 'Look, he'll travel fine', it's him, isn't it?”

With Brave Emperor set to arrive back in the UK on Wednesday followed by a brief spell at Hillwood Stud, Palin outlines some of the key mile contests in Europe as possible targets after his potential Hong Kong voyage. The Prix d'Ispahan, Lockinge and Queen Anne S. are all under consideration during the first half of the European season. It's a bold call, but this is a horse who clearly thrives on his racing, as his 11 runs from January to November last year showed.

“I think he's just growing up with racing as well,” says Palin. “He's figuring out what the game's about. Obviously, Luke's been on board him for the vast majority of his career now and he feels he's getting faster, he's getting smarter about his racing, which is why I think even the [Prix de la] Foret, back a furlong at some point wouldn't be a bad thing with him. 

“Louis Wicks looks after him every day, he knows him inside out, and he says the horse is just so easy to do at home. That has to help with his consistency. He doesn't over-exert himself on a day-to-day basis.”

Palin insists that Brave Emperor's earnings, which have now exceeded £500,000, pale in comparison to the experience he's providing his loyal band of owners who have enjoyed some exciting foreign trips of their own. It also makes his yearling price tag of £19,000, when bought at Goffs UK by Rodrigo Goncalves and Robson Aguiar, look incredibly reasonable.

“We had 14 people over there in Doha on Saturday and they couldn't have looked after us any better,” he says. “Everybody had a fantastic time, and that's what it's all about, dinners and drinks with not just fellow owners, we've become friends, and all thanks to the wonderful Brave Emperor. That's the great thing about this game, you formulate great friendships. We have a couple of two-year-olds now with Archie and, sure enough, the money Brave Emperor's earned his owners has now paid for their shares in the others. They're rolling the dice again into them.”

Palin adds, “I can't take any credit really for any of the placement, it's all been Archie. He's placed him to a tee, superb. And obviously the team who travels him around – Louis has been great.”

Brave Emperor is a member of the first crop of Sioux Nation, Coolmore's son of Scat Daddy who has perhaps been a little overshadowed when it comes to recognition. He was of course in the same graduating year as Havana Grey (GB) and was behind him in both the first- and second-season sires' championships of the last two years. It's nip and tuck between the pair when it comes to comparing stakes performers, however. In 2023, Havana Grey's offspring were headed by the dual Group 1 winner Vandeek (GB), one of his 16 black-type winners overall, compared to 13 for Sioux Nation. But it is Sioux Nation who is ahead when it comes to Group winners, with nine on the board to Havana Grey's seven.

Thanks to the exploits of Brave Emperor, Sioux Nation currently heads the list of European third-crop sires by worldwide earnings at this early point in the year, and he has Matilda Picotte (Ire) flying the flag for him and Ireland in Saturday's G2 1351 Turf Sprint at the Saudi Cup meeting. She is also a Group 2 winner, in the Challenge S. at Newmarket, where she also won the Listed Bosra Sham S. and was third in the 1,000 Guineas. Her stakes wins are completed by the G3 Sceptre S. at Doncaster. 

Last year's G3 Acomb S. winner Indian Run (Ire) is a potential Classic challenger for this season, while in the TDN on Monday Kieran Lalor outlined plans to send Group 3 winner Ocean Jewel (Ire) to race in America for Al Shira'aa Farms.

Of course, Sioux Nation's achievements have not exactly gone under the radar, and his fee in 2024 of €27,500 is more than double his starting point at stud, but it will be interesting to follow his progress, especially if he can come up with horses as tough as Brave Emperor. The sire can't take sole credit for the 10-time winner, however. A first foal, Brave Emperor's 55-rated dam Roman Gal (Ire) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}) was nothing to write home about as a racehorse but she is a half-sister to the G1 Coronation Cup and G1 Prix Jean-Luc Lagaradere runner-up Salouen (Ire) (Canford Cliffs {Ire}), and her granddam Asterita (GB) (Rainbow Quest) won the Lingfield Oaks Trial. Further back again the family includes some prolific black-type earners in champion miler Keltos (Fr) and his half-siblings Krataios (Fr), Loxias (Fr), Iridanos (GB) and Kavafi (Ire). Together the quintet notched 38 wins between them from 97 starts. That hardiness, with more than a dash of talent, is echoing down the line.

 

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“She Has A Huge Chance” – Matilda Picotte Bids For Big-Race Saudi Riches

Trainer Kieran Cotter says that he is optimistic his stable star Matilda Picotte (Ire), a filly he has continuously turned down big-money offers for, will put her best foot forward in the valuable Group 2 Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint on February 24.

The daughter of Sioux Nation developed into a high-class three-year-old last season, finishing third in the G1 1,000 Guineas at Newmarket before landing the G3 Sceptre S. and G2 Challenge S. in the autumn.

The 1351 Turf Sprint will be the filly's first start of the new campaign and the trainer says he couldn't be happier with her ahead of the valuable contest.

Cotter said, “She obviously had a busy three-year-old season, so we've given her a nice break over the winter so far, but she's 100 per cent tuned up for this. You can't turn up to a race like this and only be 95 per cent. What she has done for us is immeasurable to be honest. To say you've been involved in a superstar, which she is to us, is very special.

“She's brought us to a place that we could never have dreamed of going, it's mind-boggling. As for the race, I think she has a huge chance. With the greatest respect about all the well-regarded challengers in the race, our filly couldn't give a hoot about them! It's great to know that we've got a horse who will be giving 100 per cent and you can't ask for much more than that.”

Matilda Picotte caught the eye of the racing world last season, not least some big owners, and Cotter revealed he's fortunate to still have the horse in his care.

“There are around 10 who own shares in Matilda, which is lucky, as if it was just one there was probably enough money on the table from prospective buyers for them to be tempted,” he said.

“We've been offered some serious, serious [sums of] money for her, so full credit to the owners who are sticking with her and rolling the dice. The prize-money in Saudi is obviously a big draw, so hopefully we can get some of it.”

Three-time champion Flat jockey Oisin Murphy is two-from-two on the filly and is set to be in the saddle once again.

“Oisin has been fantastic with her and he can't wait to get back on board again, so he'll definitely be travelling over for the ride,” added the trainer.

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Havana Grey Tops Profitability Index Calculated By Weatherbys

Havana Grey (GB) was the most profitable British- and Irish-based yearling sire of 2023 according to the newly-published Weatherbys Bloodstock Sales Review.

Havana Grey topped the standings with a profitability index of 10.75, comfortably ahead of the next best stallion, Sioux Nation, on 6.61. Those figures were calculated by dividing each sire's 2023 yearling average by their covering fee of 2021, when the offspring in question were conceived.

It was another hugely successful year on the racecourse for the progeny of Havana Grey, with the G1 Prix Morny and G1 Middle Park S. winner Vandeek (GB) emerging as the star of his second crop of two-year-olds. The sire's burgeoning reputation was later reflected at the sales where his 65 yearlings sold for an average of 90,951gns/€107,914, a significant return on their investment for any breeders who sent mares to him in 2021 when his fee was just £6,000. His fee has been increased to £55,000 (from £18,500 in 2023) for his sixth season at Whitsbury Manor Stud in 2024.

Sioux Nation has also been given a fee increase by Coolmore (from €17,500 to €27,500) having built on the success of his juveniles in 2022 when he was second only to Havana Grey among that year's first-season sires. Several members of that crop became Group winners in 2023, headed by G2 Challenge S. heroine Matilda Picotte (Ire), and those who invested in one of his 30 yearlings to sell last year will be hoping for more of the same. They made an average of 55,676gns/€66,060 having been conceived at a fee of just €10,000.

Cotai Glory (GB) and Twilight Son (GB) both operated at basement fees in 2021–€5,000 and £5,000 respectively–and there was certainly value to be had for those breeders who took advantage. Tally Ho Stud resident Cotai Glory had a 2023 yearling average of 25,914gns/€30,747 from 54 lots, giving him a profitability index of 6.15, while Cheveley Park Stud's Twilight Son wasn't far behind on 6.00 having seen his 25 yearlings make an average of 28,595gns/€33,928.

The top five was completed by Sergei Prokofiev (Can), who joined Havana Grey at Whitsbury Manor at a fee of £6,500 in 2021 and will be represented by his first runners in 2024. Those two-year-olds shouldn't be underestimated if the way they performed at the sales last year is anything to go by, making an average of 34,624gns/€41,081 from 84 lots sold.

With a profitability index of 5.59, Sergei Prokofiev was one of only two first-season sires to make the top ten along with Ghaiyyath (Ire) on 4.68, the multiple Group 1 winner who stood at the much higher fee of €30,000 when covering his first mares at Kildangan Stud in 2021. Big things are expected from his first runners in 2024 after his 65 lots caught the eye in a big way at the yearling sales, fetching an average of 118,457gns/€140,549.

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