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The Tuesday Take: The Daddy Of Them All

What is the thing you can do in horse racing that can have the most tangible impact? For my money, it’s not having a horse in training, it’s not breeding a foal and it’s not landing that accumulator. It’s standing a stallion.

You don’t need to read Horsetrader (the best horse racing book ever, which recently became available in audiobook) to know Northern Dancer changed horse racing forever. His progeny was so genetically superior that he made the world come to Keeneland in search of his legacy, creating a bloodstock boom that has yet to be repeated almost fifty years later.

I think we get lost in the glamour of the Norther Dancer story and miss the real story. We dwell on the blinding light created by what a coveted nomination would fetch – $1m in the early 1980s – and you didn’t even get no foal, no fee terms. However, lost in the mist of time is how modest were the beginnings of the Northern Dancer story. He didn’t sell as a yearling at a price of $25,000 Canadian dollars. He was a complete midget and I really mean this – they said he was 15.2 but looking at photos I would say he was 15 hands on his tippy toes (they even had to build a ramp for him to cover mares). He was a May 27 foal too, the equine equivalent of being 12 and being asked to go out and play under 16s. Even after defying these odds, and winning both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, his initial stud fee was just $10,000 Canadian dollars. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to suggest that if Norther Dancer was sold today, he could have been owned by Syndicates.Racing.

The unsellable tiny yearling, through his sons, has been unwaveringly dominant ever since. Northern Dancer (1961) is the sire of Sadler’s Wells (1981) (leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland 14 times). Sadler’s Wells is the sire of Galileo (1998) (leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland 11 times). Galileo is the sire of Frankel (2008) (leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 2021 and 2023).

It’s the greatest reminder. The breed shapers might not be in Ballydoyle, they might be circling the ring without a bid and that’s what makes our sport so brilliant. That’s why I love trying to buy new stallions each year. In the words of the national lottery, it could be you. However, we’re very much the plucky underdog. Far Above started at €6,000, Fifty Stars at €3,000 and Bouttemont, this year, at €5,000.

So how does David beat Goliath? I think it’s about building a movement behind a stallion, not sitting back awaiting breeders to come knocking on your door. Take Bouttemont: his racing career was beyond frustrating in our colours. This is a horse of brilliant speed – no stallion son of Acclamation has ever recorded a faster time for instance. But, we got dealt a monsoon at the Curragh, a closed door at Longchamp and a missed start in Dundalk. Another bounce of the ball, his initial fee might have doubled. However, the fog of frustration of those minor blips, after an already fully formed race record, masks the excitement I have in the movement behind him.

We bought 15 mares specifically selected for Bouttemont. They number Dubawi stakes winners, dams of Coventry winners, even Group 1 winners. We sold 25 breeding rights giving a bedrock of support from Ireland’s leading commercial breeders. He’s standing in one of Ireland’s leading stallion making farms, Rathbarry Stud under the guidance of the Cashman family, one Irish breeding’s finest.

Look, I don’t know where we’ll end up but what is amazing about racing is that, with any horse, we never do. What I know for sure is we should never underestimate what might be possible. It could be Far Above, it might be Bouttemont, it could be written in the Fifty Stars but somewhere a twist of faith will happen for us or for you and the impact a that a stallion can have on the people who believe in him is unmatched.

Racing gods. Hold me closer, tiny Dancer.


Jack’s Pick of the Week

State of Joy (Joseph O’Brien)

The question we get most at this time of the year? Jack, what will be your first runner so I can a piece in them. Look, you’ve broken me Tuesday Take readers and I’ll finally admit it. We travelled to the Hill on Saturday to see our Starspangledbanner filly, State of Joy, with Joseph O’Brien and I think it might just be her.

We bought her at Tattersalls October Sale and sent her direct to Joseph to give the best possible education with a view to having her out as early as possible for her owners. That investment has paid off judging by her progression on Saturday. She didn’t turn a hair as she went between stalls and cantered up the famous hill with her friends. We think she’ll be ready for an auction maiden in April or May all going well. You can listen to Joseph below outline the plan ahead for this very exciting filly.

We only have 20% remaining after our Open Day. If you wanted to take a punt and asked me for one that just might give you a chance of a thrill very soon, taking 5% of this filly for €2,750 upfront might be just the ticket. You might just find yourself in a State of Joy in more ways than one.

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