Tom Gaffney, Churchtown House Stud
Alcohol Free (Ire), 2018 f. by No Nay Never out of Plying, by Hard Spun
TOM Gaffney sold Alcohol Free, a daughter of No Nay Never, as a foal to Jeff Smith’s Littleton Stud in Goffs. A debut winner at Newbury, Alcohol Free then ran second in the Group 3 Dick Poole Stakes at Salisbury. She further increased her value by multiples when capturing the Group 1 Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes.
Alcohol Free started this season with victory in the Group 3 Fred Darling Stakes, was fifth in the 1000 Guineas, and she posted a career-best effort when winning the Group 1 Coronation Stakes. Her four wins in six starts have netted Smith more than £410,000.
Equally pleased with the Royal Ascot victory was Martin Cooney in Jossesstown Farm in Tipperary. He purchased Plying for €21,000 (she cost $200,000 as a yearling) two days after Alcohol Free sold as a foal.
Having almost doubled his money with the sale of the Starspangledbanner filly she was carrying, he sold the next offspring, a colt by Dandy Man, for €80,000 last year, and this spring welcomed a filly by Gleneagles. Plying is in foal to Lope De Vega
Alcohol Free is the best runner in four generations of the family, but it is a family that consistently produces useful performers. Alcohol Free is one of two stakes winners from the three-time winner Plying, the other being French listed winner Alexander James.
Plying is out of Nasaieb who was stakes-placed at two, her only season to race. At stud she had 10 foals, and all but one of them won.
Tony O’Callaghan, Tally-Ho Stud
Campanelle (Ire), 2018 f. by Kodiac out of Janina, by Namid
CAMPANELLE gained her first Group 1 success in the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot, and thus recorded her second success at the royal meeting, having won the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes last year.
That win 12 months earlier was a stepping stone to a juvenile Group 1 win in the Prix Morny, earning the Wesley Ward-trained filly the title of best two-year-old of her sex in France and the joint-best in Europe.
Bred by Tally-Ho Stud, she is a daughter of their best sire Kodiac, and one of his five Group 1 winners. This is a family that is improving with each generation. Campanelle’s third dam Spout House bred four winners and the best of these was Lady Dominatrix. From her sire Danehill Dancer’s first crop, she was bought by the late Nerys Dutfield who trained her to win four races, including at Group 3 and listed level.
Lady Dominatrix went on to breed five winners, one of which was successful at stakes level. Janina sold for 40,000gns as a foal and was a profitable pinhook, costing Shadwell 110,000gns as a yearling. She only raced five times, won twice, and one of these successes was in the Listed Marygate Stakes at York. Janina bred three winners for Shadwell before being sold for 39,000gns to Tally-Ho in foal to Exceed And Excel.
Covered by Kodiac, she produced Campanelle who sold for 190,000gns as a yearling to bloodstock agent Ben McElroy. Carrying the colours of Stonestreet Stables, Campanelle has more than repaid her yearling sale price.
Jim Bolger
Poetic Flare (Ire), 2018 c. by Dawn Approach out of Maria Lee, by Rock Of Gibraltar
THE only person to win the Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year twice, Jim Bolger has been nominated more times than almost any other for the breeder of the month competition, and here he is again among the final four.
After seven seasons at Kildangan Stud, where he started out at a fee of €35,000, the champion European two-year-old and leading miler Dawn Approach moved this year to stand privately at Jim Bolger’s Redmondstown Stud. Jim trained him and his sire New Approach (Galileo). His devotion to Dawn Approach was rewarded this year when Poetic Flare won the Group 1 Qipco 2000 Guineas, ran second in the Irish equivalent, and at Royal Ascot brought his winnings to £550,000 with victory in the Group 1 St James’s Palace Stakes.
While Poetic Flare is his sire’s first Group 1 winner, it was only half a length that denied another son, Madhmoon, victory in the Derby at Epsom. This is a female line that has the Jim Bolger’s fingerprints embedded on it.
He actually sold the dam of Poetic Flare to Clarecastle Stud for €65,000 in November 2018 and she now has a yearling filly by U S Navy Flag, a colt foal by Magna Grecia and is in foal to Camelot.
Maria Lee is the dam of Poetic Flare, and the best of her siblings was Fiscal Focus, a Grade 3 juvenile hurdle winner. Their dam was a winning half-sister to the classic trial winner Speirbhean, the dam of Teofilo.
John Magnier, Coolmore
Joan Of Arc (Ire), 2018 f. by Galileo out of You’resothrilling, by Storm Cat, and Love (Ire), 2017 f. by Galileo out of Pikaboo, by Pivotal
IT was a magical month of June for Coolmore and partners thanks to Love at Royal Ascot and Joan Of Arc’s success in the Group 1 Prix de Diane. Both fillies are top drawer and complete a near clean sweep among this month’s nominees for breeders of fillies.
Love took her tally of Group 1 wins to five with her victory in the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, adding to successes in the Moyglare Stud Stakes at two, and the 1000 Guineas, Oaks and Yorkshire Oaks at three. She has still only run 11 times and earned more than £1.1 million.
Joan Of Arc’s victory in France was a notable moment in the history of thoroughbred breeding. She was crediting her dam with her fourth Group 1 winner, thus making You’resothrilling only the ninth mare ever to breed four or more Group 1 winners. Just two have produced five.
Joan Of Arc is a full-sister to Gleneagles, Happily and Marvellous, all winners at the highest level, while her three other winning siblings, Taj Mahal, Coolmore and Vatican City, were Group/Grade 1 placed. What a record.
You’resothrilling was herself a smart racemare, a group winner in Ireland and England. She is a full-sister to six-time Group 1 winner and champion sire Giant’s Causeway, while their placed own-sister Pearling is the dam of three-time Group 1 winner and now Irish National Stud stallion Decorated Knight.