BRENDAN and Olive Gallagher left a mark on many aspects of the equine business here in Ireland, whether it was transport, breeding, stallions, buying and selling, and more. Now a part of the Irish diaspora that have made their names in the USA, the couple have enjoyed lots of success at their Frankfort Park Fark.

They are best known for the multiple Grade 1 winner Monomoy Girl. That daughter of Tapizar (Tapit) was bred in partnership with Michael Hernon, and foaled in 2015. She was champion filly at three in the USA and the champion older female two years later. With winnings of more than $4.7 million, Monomoy Girl retired as North America’s fifth highest-earning female on dirt behind Midnight Bisou, Zenyatta, Beholder and Royal Delta.

Monomoy Girl showed promise at two, winning her first three races before being narrowly beaten in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes. The following spring, she took the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes and the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes, before winning the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. She followed these up with wins in the Grade 1 Acorn Stakes and Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks, but was demoted to second for interference in the Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes. She rebounded at the season’s end to capture the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff when facing older horses for the first time.

Champion

The champion sophomore had to sit out the 2019 racing year after suffering a bout of colic. At five she was undefeated in four starts, including the Grade 2 Ruffian Stakes, Grade 1 La Troienne Stakes and a second Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff. She was sold at the end of that year at Fasig-Tipton for $9.5 million. Her new owners, Spendthrift, decided to keep her in training, and she began her six-year-old campaign by winning the Grade 3 Bayakoa Stakes, and was beaten a nose in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Stakes.

Unfortunately, she had to be retired in September 2021 after sustaining an injury in training at Churchill Downs. Monomoy Girl delivered her first produce, a colt by top North American sire Into Mischief (Harlans’s Holiday), in February 2023.

Brendan and Olive Gallagher can be proud of another Grade 1 winner they have bred, this time on their own, and while Carson’s Run is now a dual winner at the highest level, it is safe to say that he is likely to win many more fans, and Grade 1 races, as time goes by. The son of Cupid (Tapit) is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Steven Bouchey, and is named after Carson Yost. That man is afflicted with the disabling genetic disorder Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, the same disease that Cody Dorman, the inspiration for naming Cody’s Wish, suffered from.

Summer Stakes

Last year as a two-year-old, Carson’s Run landed the Grade 1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine on just his third start, having been runner-up in the Grade 3 With Anticipation Stakes at Saratoga. In so doing, he became the first, and to date only, Grade 1 winner for Cupid, formerly of Ashford Stud and now standing for $8,000 in Maryland. In addition to Carson’s Run and Monomoy Girl being grandsons of Tapit (Pulpit), both are out mares by Henny Hughes (Hennessy).

On his final start last year, Carson’s Run took his chance in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, a bonus for winning the Summer Stakes. He was beaten less than four lengths and finished ninth.

On his seasonal reappearance he was fourth (but demoted to fifth) in the Woodhaven Stakes, and then got back to winning ways in a stakes race at Monmouth Park. On Sunday, he showed that he was back at the top of his game, taking the honours in the Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational Stakes. Carson’s Run has won more than $700,000 in just seven starts.

The three-year-old colt owes nothing to anyone involved with him along the way. He washed his face when he sold for $35,000 as a foal at Keeneland, made a small profit when realising $67,000 as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton, and did very well when he sold for $170,000 at Ocala as a breezer.

First foal

The chesnut Carson’s Run is the first foal out of Hot N Hectic, a minor winner in the USA at four, having made just a single start at two and at three. Offered for sale by the Gallagher’s Frankfort Park Stud in 2019, she failed to reach her modest reserve and was retained.

Last year she had her second produce, a colt by Violence (Medaglia D’Oro), and he is due to be sold at the upcoming Keeneland September Sale. This year Hot N Hectic produced a filly by Maxfield (Street Sense), and in a major upgrade, she was covered by Flightline (Tapit) and is safely in foal.

A first dual Grade 1 winner in what is a solid female family for some four decades, Carson’s Run is out of a half-sister to eight winners, the best of which is Rated R Superstar (Kodiac Kowboy). Eight of his 13 wins have been in stakes races. Though many were minor stakes, three were at Grade 3 level, coming at Keeneland, Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park and his earnings are very close to $1.85 million. He was placed once in a Grade 1 race, at the age of two.

Tapit has worked with others in this family, and Hot N Hectic’s four-time-winning half-sister, Share The Sugar (Heatseeker) bred the 2020 US stakes winner Steph’sfullasugar (Tapiture).

Hot N Hectic is a daughter of the Gold Case (Forty Niner) winning mare Wicked Wish, and that mare was among 10 sons and daughters of juvenile winner Holy Wish (Lord At War), four of whom won stakes races.

Longevity and success go hand in hand in this family, with the best of those four stakes winners being Wishful Tomcat (Tactical Cat). He won 18 times, from two to eight, and the Grade 3 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct was the highlight of his seven stakes wins.

Significant contribution

Though she earned no blacktype, a half-sister to those four stakes winners has made a significant contribution to the family. Plinking (Talkin Man) won four races, bred three stakes-placed winners, and she is grandam of Speech (Mr Speaker). That filly won the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes in 2020, and in the same year was placed in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

You have to go back to the fourth dam of Hot N Hectic, Papal Decree (Noble Decree), to find the next Grade 1 winner. That mare bred the juvenile Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes winner Papal Power (Miswaki).

Carson’s Run is from the third crop of Cupid, who covered last year at Ashford for just $5,000 (he cost $12,500 in each of his first two seasons).

Other smart performers by the grey include Desert Dawn, winner of the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, runner-up in the Grade 1 Clement L Hirsch Stakes twice, and third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Cupid has sired seven stakes winners.

A Grade 1 winner of $1.7 million, and successful from a mile to 10 furlongs, Cupid gained his biggest win in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, which he won by more than three lengths, while his victory in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes was achieved in a time faster than that recorded by such stars as American Pharoah, Curlin and Will Take Charge. He was also a wide-margin winner of the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby.