Tag: Yeomanstown Stud

‘The Past 12 Months Have Not Been Easy But Minzaal Has Provided A Buzz Again’

Out and about on the opening day of the Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail

One of the early highlights of the year for pedigree buffs and casual observers, the Irish Thoroughbred Stallion Trail, got underway with a bang on Friday with heavy footfall reported at over 30 of the stallion farms taking part in the two-day extravaganza. 

The TDN Europe team were out and about in the Kildare area on Friday and visited Kildangan Stud, The Irish National Stud, Yeomanstown Stud and Derrinstown Stud before venturing further south on Saturday. 

Don't let the sunny snaps fool you, Friday was another bitterly cold day, but Night Of Thunder (Ire) warmed the cockles followed by emerging forces Earthlight (Ire) and Ghaiyyath (Ire) at Kildangan Stud. 

In fact, such was the quality on show at Kildangan Stud, nominations manager Eamon Moloney described the current collection of stallions on offer at the Irish arm of the hugely-powerful Darley operation as the best he's seen during his time at the helm.

Moloney said, “We've had good horses here in the past but we have a mix of stallions who are operating at the top of their game, like Teofilo (Ire) and now Night Thunder climbing his way to the top-and you don't know how far he might go-right through to Ghaiyyath, Earthlight and Blue Point (Ire) with his first runners this year. I don't think we've ever had a more exciting roster. “

It was not just the seasoned breeders who turned out in their droves, either, on Friday. Moloney reported a good mixture of industry stakeholders and families searching for an alternative day out to be coming through the gates at Kildangan and predicted Saturday to be even busier. 

He said, “The Thoroughbred Stallion Trail is a very important initiative. It provides you with an opportunity to showcase your new horses and gives everyone a chance to see them in the flesh. A lot of breeders have been here already but they love coming back to see the stallions a second time. There's also a social aspect to the whole thing and the amount of new people who come through the gates for the Thoroughbred Trail-we've even attracted clients who had never been involved in this industry prior to the initiative, so it's very important. “

It won't take a genius to sell Ghaiyyath to breeders. He may be a Dubawi (Ire) and his dam was no giant, but this boy commands attention wherever he goes, with his giant stride and powerful makeup clearly capturing the attention of those in attendance on Friday. 

Moloney commented, “I don't think we had one negative comment on a Ghaiyyath or Earthlight foals. Not one. The Earthlights are just so sharp and strong. I really think they have a huge chance. With Ghaiyyath, people seem to stop and stare at him in silence. His foals are the same-they are very athletic. I think we are in very good shape, to the point that Ghaiyyath will cover his biggest book of mares in his third season, which isn't the normal trend. He's not your typical Dubawi-he has this big walk and has great presence. Those great horses seem to have presence.”

He added, “We've had a good mixture of breeders who are going to be sending us mares and families who are making a day of it viewing the stallions. There are plenty of racing enthusiasts as well, and they love coming to see the horses up close in the flesh, so there's a great mix. It's brilliant.”

“We're very pleased and it has provided us all with a lift here at Derrinstown. He's a Group 1-winning sprinter and was an absolute flying machine as a racehorse so we're all very excited about him,” – Joe Behan. 

Geographically, Kildangan is just over 10 minutes from the Irish National Stud, and many of the same faces made the short journey to see Invincible Spirit (Ire), Lucky Vega (Ire), Phoenix Of Spain (Ire) and more. 

Lucky Vega | INPHO/Morgan Treacy

At 26 years young, Invincible Spirit has been there and done that and is widely recognised as one of the best producers this country has to offer. But standing on the opposite side of the long row of boxes at the beautiful Irish National Stud could be the heir to Invincible Spirit's throne, the powerhouse that is Lucky Vega, who has done extremely well since he retired from racing and is letting down into a bull of a stallion. 

Lucky Vega showed top-class form at two, including when carrying the colours of Yuesheng Zhang to victory in the G1 Phoenix S., and his owner's pursuit of top-class broodmares to support the young stallion was one of the major stories to emerge from 2022. He certainly won't lack for support. 

Nor will Minzaal (Ire). Derrinstown Stud manager Joe Behan admits that the past 12 months have not been easy for anyone working with the operation after the man he affectionately refers to as 'the boss,' Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum, passed away. 

However, Group 1-winning sprinter Minzaal is proving a beacon of hope at Derrinstown and is understood to be oversubscribed already such is his popularity among breeders.

Behan explained, “Minzaal is going down very well with all the breeders. There has been nothing but positive comments on him today and he's taking everything in his stride. He's a good model, very correct and makes great use of himself. He has a great walk and has a nice bit of length and scope to him as well. 

“We're very pleased and it has provided us all with a lift here at Derrinstown. He's a Group 1-winning sprinter and was an absolute flying machine as a racehorse so we're all very excited about him.”

He added, “There is a buzz around the place. The past 12 months have not been easy since the boss passed away so, to get that buzz back and have everyone rowing in behind Minzaal now, it means an awful lot. It's great.”

Great, too, is the confidence behind Invincible Army (Ire) at Yeomanstown Stud. Dark Angel (Ire) is still very much the daddy of them all at Yeomanstown but, despite the fact they are facing into one of the hottest years one can remember in terms of the fight for first-season sire honours, the O'Callaghans are predicting big things from Invincible Army this year.

Rob O'Callaghan said, “We're very confident with Invincible Army. He's got great stock coming through and has a lot going for him with over 130 2-year-olds this year. They are well-bred horses and they've got the strength, the action and they have gone to the right homes as well. Karl Burke, Richard Hannon, Ger Lyons, Richard Fahey and Clive Cox have all bought yearlings by him and he's got as good a chance of any of the first-season sires to make a big impression this year. You've got to remember that he was a top-class racehorse and was a Group winner at two, three and four.”

Friday was the only day that Yeomanstown opened their doors to the public and O'Callaghan labelled the initiative as a success before pointing to the fact that many breeders visited with a view towards getting a glimpse at some of the younger sires the stud has to offer. 

He added, “Technically, this is our only day on the Thoroughbred Stallion Trail but we are open every day of the year. We've plenty of shows booked in for tomorrow [Saturday] and the past few weeks have been very busy with showing. We'd a busy morning today with a lot of people starting the Trail here and working their way on to other studs. 

“It's been a good day and we've had a good mixture between breeders and casual visitors. We're glad to have them and it's good to see people enjoying their day. When you have a new stallion it's always busier. Also, a lot of people like to come and see a stallion in his second year at stud to see how they have progressed during the summer.

“These stallions change so much from year one to year two. It's amazing and I think it's important for breeders to come back to see a horse in his second year at stud to get a proper viewing. It's hard to judge a horse straight out of training because they are fit and go to stud off the back of a hard two or three years galloping. When they have had that first year's covering and a summer of grass under their belt, they change a lot.”

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First Reported Foal For Supremacy

The G1 Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire) sired his first reported foal on January 4 at Yeomanstown Stud. The dark bay colt is out of Majestic Endeavour (GB) (Shamardal).

Also a winner of the G2 Richmond S., Supremacy, from the first crop of Mehmas (Ire), covered a book of 187 mares in 2022, which included 75 stakes performers or producers. He stands for €10,000 at Yeomanstown Stud this year.

 

 

 

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Yeomanstown Team Hope Shaman Can Lay Down Marker At Goffs

Dark Angel (Ire) and Invincible Army (Ire) may not be the only exciting stallions at Yeomanstown Stud with David O'Callaghan outlining his hopes that Shaman (Ire) can lay down a marker at Goffs this week when some of the Group 2-winning son of Shamardal's first foals go through the ring.

A colt foal by Shaman fetched €22,000 at the inaugural Tattersalls Ireland Sapphire Sale on Saturday and O'Callaghan thinks the best is yet to come from a sire who is due to have 22 foals go through the ring over the next four days at Goffs. 

It was at this sale last year where Yeomanstown enjoyed a fruitful start with Invincible Army. The Group 3-winning juvenile, whose first runners will hit the track next year, averaged a respectable €34,350 for 20 foals sold. 

Top of that list was Ballyduane Stud's colt by the sire who was knocked down to top judges Peter and Ross Doyle for €85,000. That same colt was then re-sold at Book 1 at Tattersalls last month for 100,000gns to leading breeze-up handler Robson Aguiar. 

O'Callaghan is hoping for a similarly fast start with Shaman, and said, “Goffs is always an interesting sale for the first-season sires-it's where they get to lay down a marker. We'll get an idea into how the progeny of the first-season sires will be received for the rest of the year this week. We have some very good Shaman foals at home and I hope that the ones at Goffs are similar. If they are, it will set a good benchmark. I think people will like them.”

He added, “Last year, Invincible Army had a good sale at Goffs. One after the other, they were like peas in a pod. People seemed to fall in love with the idea of using Invincible Army and followed them the whole way through to the yearling sales this year. We'd be hoping that something similar can happen with Shaman. He breeds nice horses so hopefully he can get the ball rolling.”

Shaman was bred and raced by the Wertheimer family. He won five times in France for Carlos Laffon-Parias, the highlight coming in the Group 2 Prix d'Harcourt at ParisLongchamp where he had Way To Paris (GB) and subsequent Arc winner Sottsass (Fr) behind him. 

He also showed enough precocity to win his maiden over seven furlongs on debut as a juvenile and won a Group 3 and was twice a runner-up at the highest level as a three-year-old. 

For those reasons, O'Callaghan says that he thinks Shaman, who will stand for €5,000 next season, has been priced fairly and is backing him to be a success. 

“He covered over 100 mares in his first crop. People bought into the idea of him. He went in at small money, standing at just €6,000, but he is a very good-looking horse by Shamardal and won a Group 2 over a mile-and-a-quarter and is multiple Group 1-placed.” 

O'Callaghan added, “He has an excellent pedigree. He was just shy of being a top-class racehorse and was priced appropriately. Between his physical, his sire and his damsire, and his race record, there's no reason why he won't make it. He ticked an awful lot of boxes without winning a Group 1. He has a lot going for him so fingers crossed.”

With El Kabeir sold to join the stallion ranks in Italy, Yeomanstown's four-strong roster for 2023 is completed by G1 Middle Park S. winner Supremacy (Ire), whose first foals will arrive next year. That's not to say that the O'Callaghans have not been trying to add to that roster.

O'Callaghan explained, “El Kabeir was literally just sold last week. It's very hard to buy stallions. The reason is not just got to do with the marketplace but also it comes down to who owns these top-class horses. The way it worked out this year, Shadwell and Godolphin had control of pretty much all of the stallion prospects. On top of that, the Aga Khan had Vadeni (Fr) (Churchill {Ire}) and it was a rare year where Coolmore did not have any top three-year-olds to retire. They had Luxembourg (Ire) but he is staying in training. It was a rare year with nothing in independent hands.”

He added, “You could say that we are somewhat victims of our own success at times. It's important for us that there is a strong market when it comes to selling yearlings but, when the big boys buy these horses, like Shadwell and Godolphin have been doing for years, then they are the ones who get to reap the rewards with the stallion prospects. They breed a lot and they buy a lot. The big outfits have control of all the top horses and they deserve to because of all the investment that they put into the game. It just means that there are less and less of these potential stallion prospects to go around for independent stallion farms like ourselves. We are always looking but there was nothing on our radar this year.”

One stallion the O'Callaghans will be hoping can continue for many more years to come is Dark Angel (Ire), who at the age of 17, sired his first Classic winner this season courtesy of French 1,000 Guineas winner Mangoustine (Fr). 

“God bless him. He has quite a lot of foals in the next couple of weeks and we'll buy a few of them ourselves. Hopefully they sell well for their breeders. He's had another great year with a top five finish in Europe and he's just uber-consistent. He's been in the top five sires list in Europe for the past eight years and hopefully he will keep going that way. 

“He's rock solid and gets good two, three and four-year-olds, sprinters, milers, colts and fillies, it doesn't really matter. He's just a great sire. He is 17 years of age but looks better than ever. He doesn't shuttle and he's very fertile so he has an easy life. He spends his summer out in the field with the cattle and comes in at the end of October to get ready for the season.”

Dark Angel will be represented by 21 foals at Goffs this week while fellow Yeomanstown Stud-based sire Invincible Army has a massive representation of 30. The sale kicks off at 10am on Monday. 

 

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Yeomanstown’s Star Sire Dark Angel Stays at 60k

Leading sire Dark Angel (Ire) will remain at €60,000 for 2023 as Yeomanstown Stud released fee details on Friday. 

Battaash (Ire) and Harry Angel (Ire) flew the flag for Dark Angel at the highest level in recent seasons and the 17-year-old broke new ground with French Classic scorer Mangoustine (Fr) this term. 

First-season sire Invincible Army (Ire) remains at €7,500 while Supremacy (Ire) has been dropped to €10,000 from €12,500. Shaman's (Ire) first foals sell this autumn and he remains at €5,000.

Gay O'Callaghan said, “Dark Angel has had another sensational year at stud, proving himself once again as the Group 1 champion sprinter-miler sire for the third consecutive year and a champion two-year-old sire. 

“He is now the sire of 13 individual Group 1 winners, including his Classic-winning daughter Mangoustine, a decisive winner of  the Poule d'Essaie des Pouliches.”

“It's been exciting watching Invincible Army's yearlings sell this autumn. The exceptional son of Invincible Spirit (Ire) was a Group winner at two, three and four and his progeny have been well supported in the sales ring by trainers, agents, and owners alike who were impressed by the excellent quality of his stock which share his attributes of strength and class. In total he had 57 yearlings sold at auction for an average of €57,680.”

He added, “We look forward to the first foals of Supremacy to be born this spring.  As a Group 1-winning son of champion sire Mehmas (Ire), he is an exciting prospect and a wonderful-looking individual who showed a high level of ability and toughness on the track.  

“Shaman had his first foals in 2022 and produced an exceptional first crop, so we are looking forward to seeing them in the sales ring this winter.”

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