Prime Equestrian's €150,000 Arqana August graduate Secretive (Fr) (Justify–Media Mischief, by Into Mischief) backed up a debut success at Deauville last November with a comfortable three-length tally on sophomore return in Monday's Prix du Chateau over one mile at Chantilly. The daughter of $550,000 Keeneland November mare Media Mischief (Into Mischief) is entered in both May 14 G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches and June 18 G1 Prix de Diane, with trainer Yann Barberot stating the former is on the agenda after taking in one more run next month.
2nd-Chantilly, €28,000, Cond, 3-13, 3yo, f, 8f (AWT), 1:41.67, st. SECRETIVE (FR) (f, 3, Justify–Media Mischief, by Into Mischief), a €150,000 Arqana August yearling who accounted for a trio of subsequent winners when annexing her Nov. 29 unveiling over 7 1/2 furlongs at Deauville in her only prior start, was swiftly into stride and accepted a tow in a comfortable second for most of this sophomore bow. Inching ahead at the quarter-mile pole, the 1-2 favourite was shaken up passing the furlong marker and kept on impressively under mild coaxing in the closing stages to easily defeat Dark Zel (Fr) (Zelzal {Fr}) by three lengths. “I am delighted to see her win so nicely as she is one of my best fillies at home,” reflected trainer Yann Barberot. “The form of her first race is very strong and she had come to hand nicely this last week, but she is not yet at her peak and will come on for that. The plan is one more start in April before going for the [May 14 G1] Poule d'Essai des Pouliches [at ParisLongchamp].” Secretive, who also boasts an engagement in this track's June 18 G1 Prix de Diane, is the second foal and scorer produced by a daughter of GII Buena Vista H. and G3 Prix du Bois winner Media Nox (GB) (Lycius), herself kin to three stakes performers headed by MGSW G2 Prix de Malleret victrix Bonash (GB) (Rainbow Quest). Media Nox also threw three pattern-race winners, headed by G1 Prix de Diane and G1 Prix du Moulin heroine Nebraska Tornado (Storm Cat), and her descendants feature last term's G1 Irish Derby victor Westover (GB) (Frankel {GB}). The February-foaled bay's dam Media Mischief was a lucrative proposition in the sales ring and changed hands for 250,000gns at Tattersalls' 2017 December Mares and $450,000 at Keeneland's 2019 January Mixed sale. She was also a $475,000 RNA at the 2018 Keeneland November Foals and Mares sale. China Horse Club International forked out $550,000 for her, carrying Secretive, at the following year's fixture while her 2019 filly Vaccine Of Hope (Pioneerof the Nile), herself a $260,000 Keeneland September graduate, notched two wins in 2022. Unfortunately, her 2021 colt by Siyouni (Fr) died last year. Sales history: €150,000 Ylg '21 ARQAUG. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, €27,500. Video, sponsored by TVG.
O-Prime Equestrian SARL; B-China Horse Club International (FR); T-Yann Barberot.
Five years ago this week, Katie Walsh took Relegate (Ire) from going nowhere to the Cheltenham Festival winner's enclosure when galvanising the mare to come from last to first to take the Champion Bumper in pulsating fashion.
Little did we know at the time, but that Cheltenham success was to be Walsh's last, as she bowed out on a winner at her beloved Punchestown Festival the following month.
A lot has changed in those five years since. Along with her husband Ross O'Sullivan, a prominent trainer in his own right and just about the friendliest person you could meet in any walk of life, Walsh welcomed daughter Stevie [three] and son Ted [one] into the world.
Like her own father Ted and more recently her brother Ruby, Katie has proved to be a dab hand as a broadcaster and is now a regular contributor–along with her 2010 County Hurdle hero Thousand Stars (Fr)–on RTE's television coverage of all the major festivals.
And then there are the breeze-ups. That same competitive spirit that saw Walsh win the Irish Grand National and three Cheltenham Festival races in total has been channeled into producing belters of breezers.
There was a time where Walsh hummed to a very different tune. A helter-skelter soundtrack that came to a crescendo in the second week of March for over a decade. The buzz that comes with riding a Cheltenham winner will never be replaced but new dreams abound for the 39-year-old who will swap the Cotswolds for preparing her horses for the Dubai Breeze Up Sale this week.
“It was crazy at one time,” says Walsh on a morning borrowed from the depths of winter at the family yard in Kill, County Kildare.
“When I was riding and doing the breezers, I would be riding at Cheltenham this week for example and then try and manage everything that was going on at home with the breezers.
“Or, if I was riding at Aintree, you'd be straight into the car and driving down to Newmarket to the Craven afterwards. I'm still working at the big festivals but it's different to what it was.”
She added, “Back five or six years ago, the breeze-up business at home was getting going and the whole thing was getting bigger. I came to a stage where it made sense to retire.
“Part of me wasn't ready to stop but it made sense. I wanted to have a family and it came to a choice between this or keeping on riding. And for what? Another two or three years at best? Driving all over the country to ride was great craic when you were younger. But that went.”
Katie Walsh with Relegate after winning the Champion Bumper in 2018 | Racingfotos.com
One chapter closes and another begins. Stevie, who was named after Nicks, not Wonder, and inspired Jamie Osborne to name a horse he bought off Walsh precisely that, arrived just in time for the yearling sale season in 2019. Not ideal timing you could say. But typical of Walsh, she made it all work regardless.
“I had Stevie in September and obviously missed a lot of sales that year. I went to Doncaster and then Arqana in October that year and even that was hard. Stevie is used to it now but, at the start, I did find it quite difficult to leave her. But that's the way this industry is and that's the business I am in.”
She added, “The great thing about this job is that it's seasonal. I am gone from a lot of September through to October but then I'm at home for the rest of the year. Okay, Dubai is next week, but that's only a couple of days.
“It's definitely more challenging with two small kids around. At night you find that your work is never done but I'm not the only mother in the country who is trying to organise kids and work. It can be difficult at times but I have great help and support. Mam, Dad and my sister Jennifer are brilliant.”
Concentrating fully on the breezers must be made easier when you have a track record like Walsh does. From these famous gallops, where Ted's war horses Commanche Court (Ire), Papillon (Ire), Rince Ri (Ire) and this year's Grand National contender Any Second Now (Ire) have all been trained off, Walsh has blooded her own big names.
Casper Netscher (GB) was the first to put Greenhills Farm in lights and, according to Ted, it was his sale that underpinned the success that followed.
“I'll tell ya how things turn around,” he started. “A good few years ago, we had what I thought was a nice horse and he worked well. We weren't getting enough for him at the sales so we brought him home. He ended up being a grand horse but he didn't go on and be a good horse. We'd have been as well off to have sold him.
“The following year, we had a nice horse and I said to Katie, 'unless you get a good price for him, don't sell him because he's a good horse.' She says, 'we're selling him no matter what because I'm in the business of buying and selling. I'm not keeping any of them.'
“We arrived at the sales anyway with this little bay horse that I thought was too small but who Katie liked. By God he could fly. She got 65,000gns for him. Who did he turn out to be? Casper Netscher. He won the Gimcrack, the Mill Reef and the German Guineas. He was a great little horse and while she only got 65,000gns for him, she did the right thing in selling him, as it got the word out that she was a seller.”
After Casper Netscher there was Breeders' Cup runner-up East (GB) (Frankel {GB}), G2 Richmond S. winner Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) and last year Walsh broke the record for the highest price ever achieved at the Tattersalls Ireland Goresbridge Breeze-up Sale when her Saxon Warrior (Jpn) filly sold on behalf of James Hanly to Stephen Hillen for €520,000.
But for all the smiles this game generates, Walsh knows that the scowls can be just as plentiful, given the unpredictable nature of working with horses.
Walsh with her record-breaker at Tattersalls Ireland | Racingfotos.com
“I'm realistic,” she says. “I have been in this game for so long and I know the disappointments. Between horses getting injured, breezers going wrong and different things, that's just the way it is and I'm okay with that. I don't lose sleep at night over it. I understand the game and know the way things go. I've seen it my whole life with racehorses not going the right way or not working out as you hoped they would. Breezing horses is very easy compared to training them.”
She added, “I always had an interest in the breeze-ups. I just got the bug for this from the start and loved it. Okay, the next few weeks will be crazy again, but then I am at home with the kids for the summer. Ross won't be. He'll be heading off to Kilbeggan and Ballinrobe. That's why I said, training horses is much harder than doing the breeze-ups.
“There's absolutely no let up as a trainer. You need to be a certain type of person to make a trainer. Ross is a very likeable fella and has a good bunch of owners there. I'm not saying I wouldn't handle it, but I do know that I wouldn't have the same patience as other trainers. I have built up a reputation with the breeze-up horses and have a good bunch of people here and some great staff as well. I have no problem calling a spade a spade and owners either like that or they don't. If a horse isn't good enough I'll tell the owners and I wouldn't be putting cherries on top of it either.”
“I'll never come out and say that I think I've an aeroplane. That sort of talk rubs me totally up the wrong way,” – Katie Walsh
What you see is what you get with the Walshes. They don't suffer fools nor do they care too much about what other people think. It might not be everyone's cup of tea but they've gotten this far just fine and Katie is a chip off the block.
“I'll never come out and say that I think I've an aeroplane. That sort of talk rubs me totally up the wrong way. I'll never really believe it until they go and do it on the track. When you think a horse is going to breeze well and it doesn't, nine times out of 10, that horse will always let you down. But when a horse breezes better than you expected, that's the one who will always deliver for you.
“I think it's so much easier to keep expectations lower than start calling horses good before they have done anything. At the back of my mind, I might be thinking, 'this can bloody rubber,' but I'll never say it. You are on a hiding to nothing if you go telling people a horse is good until it goes and breezes well. If it clocks, well then you can say, he's after breezing like I thought he would, he's a good horse. It's only then that you can stand behind them because you know they are a good horse.”
With that in mind, it might be best to concentrate on what Walsh doesn't say about her Dubai Breeze Up Sale horses, colts by Into Mischief and Tonalist. She got well-paid for an Exceed And Excel (Aus) colt at the inaugural running of this sale 12 months ago and this year's representatives were bought specifically to go back to Dubai.
“They are very big horses so you are just giving them every chance you can. But you are not under as much pressure in Dubai because there are no clocks. The season finishes out there the following week at the Dubai World Cup meeting so that makes it easier. You want them to look the part and go up there in a nice style and, off the back of John Cullinane's Tapiture colt [Go Soldier Go] winning a Listed race at Meydan last week, he only cantered up the straight at the breeze-up. He is a fine big colt and clearly needed all that time. They are the types of horses that they seem to want over there. Obviously, you can bring a bigger, scopier horse to Arqana but you wouldn't be bringing a Craven or a Donny type of horse out to Dubai. I don't think anyone goes to the Craven with a horse for next year. The Craven is where you try to sell the Royal Ascot dream and Doncaster is the same.”
Regardless of how well this year's batch of breezers sell, nothing will come close to the days of Poker De Sivola (Fr), Thousand Stars, Relegate and Thunder And Roses (Ire), horses Walsh will forever be associated with.
“It's very hard to replace the kick you get riding winners. If you have never experienced it, you don't know what you are missing. To ride a winner, wherever that may be, that buzz is unbelievable. When that stops, you look for something to replace it. I'm not saying it's the same buzz but I do get a great kick out of the breezers. I love finding out which ones are good and bringing him to the sales and for them to behave and breeze the way they should. Regardless of their ability, I take pride in the fact that it's professional. That means a lot to me. Listen, I'd love one of those horses of my own to go and make €500,000. That's the dream and who knows? Maybe some day it will happen.
She added, “I always hoped and envisioned that it would grow to be as big as it is. I hope it gets bigger. I'd like more horses of my own. This week revolved around Cheltenham for a long time. I was lucky enough to be riding as an amateur for Willie [Mullins] and the whole thing snowballed from there really.
“Every year, it was all about Cheltenham and trying to get a ride in the bumper and the amateur races over there. I was lucky enough to ride a few winners there, I'd great luck, but now it's different and things change. It's the same for Ruby, who's flat to the boards now with ITV and Racing TV, so it's been a big change for us all over the past few years.”
For all of the change the Walshes have seen in recent times, the results Katie has achieved through her Greenhills Farm operation remains a constant.
Jamie Codd is an amateur jockey in name only. One of the finest National Hunt riders that Ireland has ever produced, Codd can count 10 Cheltenham Festival winners to his name, and has strong claims of adding to his tally next week.
But it's not just about the action on the track with Codd. In his role with Tattersalls Ireland, Codd will put in many hours behind the scenes to ensure the smooth running of the Cheltenham Sale, of which Gold Cup livewire Bravemansgame and Brown Advisory Novice Chase hotpot Gerri Colombe are graduates.
In this week's Starfield Stud-sponsored Q&A, Codd talks about his Cheltenham Festival rides, his interests outside the saddle and much more.
Brian Sheerin: You have a good book of rides next week-what are you most looking forward to?
Jamie Codd: When you are riding for Gordon Elliott, he's one of the best trainers in Cheltenham Festival history, so, to be in the lucky position to be riding for him in the amateur races, you are going to be in with a chance of winning races there. I'm not sure if I have a standout ride at Cheltenham this year but I do have five or six who have good chances. That's all you can ask for going into any big festival.
And what would those 'good chances' be?
There are a few in the bumper-Time To Wait is there and Better Days Ahead would be a very good ride in that as well. I'll be happy to ride whichever one Gordon puts me up on. Dunboyne will be a very good ride in the Kim Muir and Chemical Energy has solid claims in the National Hunt Chase although Gaillard Du Mesnil looks the one to beat in that. What Chemical Energy has going for him though is course form so hopefully we can make a race of it.
“If there is a horse to beat Delta Work in the race, I think Galvin could be the one,”- Jamie Codd
Do you ride Galvin in the cross-country?
A lot of people have asked me that! I'd like to ride him but I haven't been told I'm riding him yet. Galvin hasn't been running well all year but Gordon has tweaked a few things with him since Christmas and the horse has been freshened up, put on weight and he looks fantastic now. He seems to be in good form so, if he comes back to last year's form and with the way he's taken to the cross-country in his schooling, then he has a big chance. If there is a horse to beat Delta Work in the race, I think Galvin could be the one.
It was terrible news about Jack Kennedy not being fit in time to ride next week. Would you envisage yourself playing more of a role for Gordon next week in the handicaps etc?
I wouldn't have thought so. I'd say the cross-country and the bumper might be the only ones outside of the amateur races that I will have a ride in. But in Jordan Gainford, Gordon has a really good young rider. Sam Ewing is coming along as well and Davy Russell and Denis O'Regan will obviously ride plenty as well. Between them, they are going to ride the majority of them.
How real is the worry of losing a race at Cheltenham because of the new whip rules?
I'm not worried about losing a race because, with the new rules, you know the number. I don't think many people are going five, six or seven over the number nowadays. Riders are conscious of the number and I don't think we will see any disqualifications.
But it's not just going over the limit because Brian Hughes got done for using his whip over the permitted height.
This is the thing. They tried to bring in the change with the whip in the backhand and the forehand and then that got quashed. Now they are going hard on the height. I do think that, when things are slowed down on camera, it makes it all look way worse. In real time, it doesn't look bad. Introducing the number, that should have been it. They should have left it at that. They seem to be treating jockeys very harshly and, when the backhand and forehand thing got quashed, they should have parked it with a view towards revisiting it all at the beginning of the new season. It's going to be very hard on the Irish jockeys going over there.
It's not just about the action on the track for you next week. The excitement must be building for the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale.
Absolutely. It's a busy week and we're hoping to have between 25 and 28 horses for the sale on Thursday night. The sale has become so popular and, when you have the likes of Bravemansgame, Gerri Colombe, Love Envoi, Envoi Allen, graduates like that, it's pretty impressive.
I can imagine that it's a bit of a balancing act for yourself.
It's a brilliant week and you have to enjoy it. I'll arrive on Monday morning and the sales horses will start to arrive shortly after that. On Tuesday morning, I'll ride out for Gordon and we usually pull out at around half seven. I ride one or two lots for him and then it's back down to the sales horses to touch base with vendors and get ready for the vetting process the following morning. All the horses get vetted on Wednesday and then the viewing will commence on from then right through to Thursday. It's a bit of a juggling act between riding out and in the races and then working at the sales but it all fits together. It's nice to be in a position to be able to juggle it all.
These boutique sales have taken on a life of their own. Did you ever think you'd see the day where National Hunt horses were regularly walking into a half a million at public auction?
When I started off point-to-pointing, there wasn't as much emphasis on those younger maidens but then you had your few people who were selling, the likes of Wilson Dennison, who was strong up north. The Costellos and Liam Burke were also very strong at the time. But the current era of point-to-point handlers have stepped into the market and started with the August Sale-type horse, you know, buying the 15-grand horse and trying to turn him into 30 or 40 grand. They did that quite successfully and kept building the thing up. Now they are operating at such a high level. It's amazing even the way training set-ups have progressed. The Flat operators have experienced something similar with the breeze-up sales. The breeze-ups and point-to-point handlers are almost pre-training and half-trying these young horses for the trainers. It's a longer wait if a trainer or an owner buys a yearling or a store. By paying more money for a horse who has come through the point-to-point system, you are hoping that you are getting a Bravemansgame or a Gerri Colmobe. That's the key thing.
That's it. And not only that, you don't have to buy as many yearlings or stores when you are buying the ready-made horse. That's probably factored into the thing.
One hundred per cent. When Gigginstown came into it, they bought a lot of stores-between 30 and 40 a year. Now, it did work but they went through a lot of horses. They have reined it back in and seem to be buying the form horses now and just the odd store horse as well. Everything evolves and this has gone to a new level with the point-to-point handlers pushing on. It has created a market that is viable and strong. Everybody wants a good horse, so maybe that's the only worrying thing, that the middle market might fall at some stage. But at the minute, we're going very well and there's plenty of good owners out there who are willing to spend the money.
Sean Doyle touched on the middle market when I was down with him-he said that the middle market is in many ways being propped up by the strength of the horses-in-training sales on the Flat. Gone are the days where a trainer can go and buy a few horses with a nice rating off the Flat to go jumping with. They've turned to the placed horses in point-to-points and even those who are winning the older maidens instead. Not only that, but Anthony Bromley said recently that, because France has become so expensive to buy out of, he's turned to buying the placed horses from the Irish points more and more as well.
Nail on the head. Guys like Sean Doyle and Anthony Bromley, they know the industry and the Flat market has gone extremely strong, largely driven by the demand for horses in the Middle East. The likes of Gordon, he'd to pay 225,000gns to buy Pied Piper, a good horse from off the Flat. So that's the level you have to go to if you want to compete with the foreign market for the good Flat horses. People find it easier to buy a point-to-pointer and they know what they are getting.
And what about the private market?
I think the strength of our sales drives the private market and that's a testament to what we have done. People want to go in and try and buy these horses privately but, ultimately, I think the sales ring prices them very well. Sometimes vendors would prefer to sell horses privately, and that may be to keep a relationship going with a trainer, but they all know that, if they have a good one, the sales ring is where they will make the most money. Walter Connors for example, he would sell a lot at home, but every now and again he'll throw one into the ring. He threw Envoi Allen into the ring and he made £400,000 and he got big money for a No Risk At All gelding recently as well.
Everyone knows you for being one of the best amateur jockeys of all time but what would you like to go on and achieve outside of the saddle with Tattersalls.
I don't know where the ceiling is in Tattersalls as it's a big company and there are a lot of layers to it. I am a representative for Tattersalls Ireland and I spend a lot of time on the road and do a lot of work at the racecourses and at the point-to-points. I look at the stores, the yearlings on the Flat and, while I don't know what the next step is, I am very happy with what I do and it allows me to have my racing and trade a little bit from our home place at Churchlands Stables. Tattersalls have opened up a lot of doors for me and they are a great company to work for and I enjoy it.
How many horses do you have at home and what's the breakdown?
I try to buy five to eight foals every year and then sell them on as stores. I could buy a Flat yearling to try and store as well. I could even buy a 3-year-old and put it in training with one of the lads, the likes of Denis Murphy for example, so I'm not tied down to one thing. I like to buy my foals and rear them and basically try and get a twist out of every horse that I buy.
And would you have any opinion on what is popular on the jumps side of things?
It's a hard time for a National Hunt stallion to get going in Ireland right now. We are probably quick to judge a stallion after his first year and then we can jump on the train when they do start to get results. The breeders know that the pinhookers are trying to get these horses on the select stores sales so they are breeding to the stallions who will do that. They are breeding to supply the pinhookers and the pinhookers are buying the horse who they feel will make as much money as possible at the store sales. It's a funny time but I do believe that a good stallion will always come through and Stowaway is a good example of that. It did take him a while to come through but he did come through. Blue Bresil and Walk In The Park are a good age now. It takes a while to make a stallion over jumps and some of those younger stallions, if they can get the results in the first three years, there's always a chance they can come back into fashion. Yeats for example, he's a bit of a forgotten horse, but his results on the track have been good. It is becoming a bit polarised but the pinhookers have driven that.
Is there anything under the radar that you have cottoned on to?
I'm a trader and will try to find value at whatever level. I could buy a foal from a thousand to 40 thousand. As long as I get my five foals every year, I'm happy enough. Once I see an angle in that horse, I'm happy. The game has become a bit fickle but there are stallions there who are covering big books-Affinisea and even Workforce is coming through now-and then the Coolmore stallions seem to be going well as well. Order Of St George and Crystal Ocean are doing good numbers. I don't know if I could nail down one and say that it is the second coming because I don't think anyone knows!
And away from your own interests at Cheltenham, what would you say you are most looking forward to next week?
I'm most looking forward to the Gold Cup. It's the pinnacle of the week and I think it's going to be a brilliant race. There are so many horses there with chances. You want Galopin Des Champs to be a superstar but then you have A Plus Tard, Conflated, Bravemansgame, Noble Yeats-there's so many. There is a list of seven or eight horses who I genuinely believe could win the Gold Cup. It's going to be a brilliant race and I'm really looking forward to it.
There has been a change to the treatment of point-to-point performances in sale company catalogues, the International Cataloguing Standards Committee (ICSC) European sub-committee announced on Friday.
Currently, winning British and Irish point-to-point performers are classified as runners, but not as winners in either the subject horse detail or the dam summary line. For all National Hunt sales from April 2023 onwards, if the progeny of a dam has won a point-to-point in Great Britain or Ireland but the same animal has not won under rules the point-to-point only, winner(s) will be referenced as point-to-point only winners in the dam summary line and/or produce summary.
Progeny that have won both under rules races and in a point to point will continue to be described as a winner as currently. Sale catalogues which are designated 'Flat' will continue to not treat winning point-to-point performances as wins and not reference any progeny which were point to point winners only.
Tattersalls Ireland's Simon Kerins and Nick Nugent of Goffs jointly said, “This rule change gives greater clarity around the presentation of form in National Hunt catalogues. It addresses the clear anomaly whereby catalogues have listed any point-to-point performers to be runners for the dam, but do not consider a winner of such a contest to be relevant for the mare.”
