IT is a well-worn adage that while it is far from essential, pedigree goes a long way with people as well as horses in the thoroughbred industry. That has been particularly emphasised over the years on the racing side, with the Mullins clan perhaps the foremost dynasty. There are many more of course, including the Walshs, Carberrys, Harringtons, O’Briens and Geraghtys.
The bloodstock end of the industry is even more family-oriented. In the past on these pages, we have profiled the history and enduring success of people like Ken Parkhill, William Flood and Maurice Burns, who are continuing traditions that go back generations at Castle Quarry, Boardsmill and Rathasker Studs.
From the time Royal Pom arrived in 1935, after Paul Cashman had taken the plunge and purchased 159 acres in the equine heartland between Conna and Castlelyons, not far from Fermoy, Rathbarry Stud has been synonymous with quality service and producing high-class horses. It is no coincidence that many of their clients have links with the earliest days and that repeat custom bulwarks the operation.
Paul’s son Liam took over the Towermore Lower operation in time and along with his wife Catherine, established a global reputation for quality. Liam’s decision to invest in a stallion to breed potential champions on the flat was central to this and Hungerford Stakes winner Kampala went on to sire subsequent Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Tony Bin, who himself enjoyed a successful stallion career in Japan.
Taufan followed and had a hugely successful career. Among his progeny was the Group 1 winner Tagula, who is carrying on his family tradition back at Rathbarry, as sire of the Classic-winning five-time Group 1 victor Canford Cliffs and dual Group 1 winner Limato.
Purchasing Barathea to stand at Rathbarry for €5 million was a tremendous coup and testament to the shrewdness Liam became famous for, as he made the deal before Sheikh Mohammed’s Irish 2000 Guineas winner prevailed in the Breeders’ Cup Mile.
By 1991, the demand for the National Hunt stallions had become too much for one location, so the Cashmans established Glenview Stud just up the road to cope with the influx of mares. Strong Gale and Good Thyne flourished in the new environment.
As Acclamation has become the flagship of Rathbarry – he produced 17 blacktype winners last year and his offspring won more races in Ireland, Great Britain and Europe than any other sire - so it is with Presenting, who has sired two Gold Cup winners, four Grand National winners and is a multiple champion NH sire.
LOVE OF THE HORSE
A business that started because of a love of the horse and its role in country life, because of a passion for the speed, character and regal nature of the equine beast, is now known in the four corners of the world.
Liam passed away in 2010 but Catherine remains at the helm, “the backbone of the place” according to daughter Niamh. Niamh and Paul have worked in Rathbarry and Glenview as long as they can remember, Paul also enjoying a good career as an amateur jockey primarily between the flags before concentrating on training and producing young stock.
Niamh is married to former NH jockey Francis Woods, who is best known for his association with Klairon Davis, who he piloted to success in both the Arkle and Champion Chases at Cheltenham, and for bagging a pair of Irish Grand Nationals. Where Paul concentrates on Glenview, her focus is primarily on Rathbarry and it is a way of life.
“I don’t’ think I had any choice but to be involved,” Woods laughs. “I didn’t have any other aspirations really – I think I wanted to be an archaeologist at some stage and I was told I’d have to be working in a bog in the middle of Ireland so I said it might be easier working with the horses!
“We’re all getting that bit older. Paul has a little boy, I have a little boy… the generations are flowing along. We’d all love for the kids to be involved in some shape or form and hopefully they will. My grandfather, my dad, that’s why they laid the groundwork for us and it’s for us to keep things going and hopefully lay down a good groundwork for our children to be involved at some stage.”
While those on the outside looking in might take it for granted, it is an ongoing challenge to remain relevant. The first crop of yearlings for Moohaajim and Xtension will be appearing at the sales this year, while Ajaya and Kodi Bear have been added to the stallion roster at Rathbarry for 2017.
“We’re trying to ensure now that everything is going well with them and that they get mares in foal. When you buy them you can’t test for their fertility then. The only test is covering the mares in season. So you’re hoping. That’s why first-season stallions are insured for fertility. It’s very expensive mind you. It’s really a case of fingers crossed and pray they got off on the right foot and they start getting mares in foal.”
The demand for precocity in flat racehorses has grown significantly in recent years and that trend is mirrored in Rathbarry.
“On the flat it’s all about speed. That’s the fashion. You can see it from the sales returns. A lot of the horses that are attracting the most books are speed-orientated. So you have to stand sprinters and you see that with our two new horses.
“Ajaya is a Gimcrack winner by Invincible Spirit out of a Hennessy mare; lovely pedigree from the family of Bated Breath and Redoute’s Choice. It’s a very happening pedigree. You have Kodi then, who has raced up to eight furlongs but he’s by Kodiac. So there’s plenty of choice there but I suppose Acclamation, who has bred sprinters, is the jewel in our crown. Tagula is sprinter-orientated too, with Limato. We have a Cape Cross horse, Moohaajim, whose stock were very well received last year at the foal sales. It’s all that ilk.”
SMALL POOL
Freshening up your roster is important but is easier said than done.
“Every year you’d love to have a new horse but it just doesn’t work that way and especially now. You’ve got Coolmore, you’ve got Darley, you’ve got the Qataris… it’s a very small pool now that you can go shopping in. The cost involved to try and buy these horses – number one to pinpoint them and number two, to try and go in.
“You follow horses and try to get in as early as you can but it does mean going on a lot of faith and every box has to be ticked. The horse could break its leg out the gallops the following morning after shelling out a lot of money. That’s just part and parcel of it. But to try and find that horse is very tough.”
It is, Woods notes, very difficult to get a new horse going on the National Hunt side of things but Cheltenham 2016 suggests that there is little need to change anything at present as Glenview celebrated a Gold Cup-Champion Hurdle double, as well as the victories of three other horses at the festival that were conceived at the stud.
What’s more, those successes came courtesy of four different stallions – Don Cossack (Sholokhov), Annie Power and Minella Rocco (Shirocco), Vautour (Robin Des Champs) and Yorkhill (Presenting).
“Sure you couldn’t write that! It was a dream. It was fantastic and gives the horses a huge boost. It’s great publicity. You’re talking about the Olympics of the National Hunt world and in that regard, it was massive for them. We rode the crest of the wave with it but unfortunately, a lot of them aren’t coming back this year. In this game you go with the flow and you have to take what you’re given. It tends to go full circle.
“When you get the results on the track, it’s the proof of the pudding. And if they do it at Cheltenham, you can’t get better. The breeders are all there, the owners, the trainers, the agents. It’s massive.”
The Tattersalls Ireland Cheltenham January Sale broke all sorts of record, with the headlines going to Alan Potts’s €480,000 purchase of Colin McKeever’s Oldtown maiden winner Flemenshill. It was a trip to remember too for the Cashmans, as Paul’s On The Blindside, coming off a maiden win in Kilfeacle, was knocked down to Highflyer Bloodstock for €205,000.
“Paul had paid 20 grand for him, which is good money for a foal. He had him as a pointer for Mum and then a couple of local lads he went to school with and went hurling with took shares in the horse as well for the craic.
“He won first-time out in Kilfeacle. They were all there with their families and they were over the moon. They took him off to the sale last week – a couple of lads went over – and it was brilliant. They were thrilled to bits. He’s a lovely big scopey horse.”
Both flat and NH sales have been producing phenomenal figures at the top end at least, giving the impression that everything is dandy but this is not the case. The most common concern, particularly when there is a bit more money around again now, is that broodmare owners should be a bit more discerning. Overproduction is the worry.
“Absolutely but I think people really woke up when they saw the foal sales last year. At Goffs, there were five days of foals, starting on a Sunday and bloody hell, it was a long week. The weaker foals were at the start of the week and lads got crucified. You felt so sorry for them but the sales companies have a job to do and they’re going to grade the mare accordingly. They’re gonna look at the pedigree, look at the sire –and people got crucified.
“In National Hunt it exists too but on a lesser scale. At any sale they’ll tell you there’s plenty money for the right horse but it has to be the right horse. It has to be a sexy sire, a lovely individual – it doesn’t have to have a nice page but it certainly does help. That’s the way it’s gone.”
ON THE PULSE
Having the finger on the pulse, being sensitive to fashion, finding the right horse at the best price and giving clients what they need have been at the core of the Cashmans’ success.
“We’ve been very lucky. We’ve had a great base of clients who have always supported us. We’ve always tried to provide a nice horse for them. Our motto is ‘service to breeders’ and we try to provide the best service we can. Nine times out of 10 it works. Sometimes it doesn’t work but that’s the business we work in.
“We’re lucky we’ve a great team behind us here and we couldn’t do without them. They’re a huge plus. There’s a lot of hard graft in this game and you have to be able to deal with clients. Our lads are great, they know their clients, how to talk to them and to deal with them. That is so important. So is staff that know how to handle horses, mares, foals. Hugely important.”
Staffing is an acknowledged problem for trainers and finding people can be difficult for studs too but again, Rathbarry and Glenview’s history in the region has helped them in this regard.
“A lot of lads are gone from horses. A lot of lads found it difficult to make ends meet with them. I would have known a good few lads that would have worked here on their holidays that have gone to Australia looking for a better future. It’s a hard life, a tough life – really you have to do it because you have a passion for horses.
“The younger generation are not as big into the horses as us growing up would have been. So to try and get them attracted to the industry as a place you can move forward in is important, that when it works, the rewards are fantastic. And if you have the love of the horse, which you really need, the enjoyment is huge.
“The majority of our lads are all local. We have a couple of foreign lads who have been in Ireland for many years, with their work visas and everything else. We’re in better shape than some of the trainers. A lot of the trainers and people doing breezers are really finding it hard to get lads in to ride out. We have our local lads that have been in with us during school breaks and half-terms and what have you. They’ve come through the system that way.”
LOOKING AHEAD
As for the future, they will always be on the lookout for the next Acclamation and Presenting, aware of how difficult that will be. The focus will continue on providing the service and at the base of it all will be that everyone at Rathbarry and Glenview loves being around horses.
“You’re always looking for the next nice horse to come along and we’re all in the same boat. The competition is massive. All you can do is keep the head down, keep trying and if you come across something, fantastic.
“For us, it’s been Acclamation – a huge servant on the flat – and Presenting in Glenview. They’ve been huge servants but they’re not getting any younger so you have to keep trying to get something exciting for the breeders. If you don’t have what they want they won’t come to you.
“It’s getting more and more difficult now to source them. If you don’t have a sexy sire, if you don’t have a sexy foal or yearling, it’s very tough to sell. But if you do, everybody wants you so you make hay while the sun shines.”
“In the flat world, if your sire doesn’t perform in the first season, people don’t want to know. Years ago, every sire got a chance. Now it’s ruthless. You work so hard for everyone to try and make it work and when it doesn’t it’s gut-wrenching. That’s why you are always looking for the next one that will tick all the boxes.
“At the end of the day, you do it because you love to do it. You hope to strike gold with the next sire you have and that’s why we all do it. It’s why we’re all invested in this game. You do it because you love the horse. You would never want to do anything to harm the horse. There are loads of regulations now, and you need regulation, but you’re never going to do anything to put your business and livelihood in jeopardy anyway. But at the core of it all is the love of the horse.”