Proven Sires For Moyglare Queens

The Haefner family's Moyglare Stud outside Maynooth in County Kildare has been a bastion of Irish breeding and racing now for half a century, and the farm's black-and-white bodied silks have become part of the furniture of Irish flat racing. The stud's association with Dermot Weld must be one of the longest- running in racing at the moment and despite the lack of a Group 1 winner since Free Eagle (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}) landed the G1 Prince Of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot in 2015, such is the quality of the broodmare band that surely it can only be a matter of time before another top-level winner emerges from the Moyglare production line.

The continued use of a stallion such as Galileo (Ire) will also surely give Moyglare Stud every chance of unearthing another star and, according to Moyglare's bloodstock advisor Fiona Craig, that is who Free Eagle's dam Polished Gem (Ire) (Danehill) will visit this year. It will be a case of sooner rather than later also as the 16-year-old, who is also the dam of MGSWs Custom Cut (Ire) (Notnowcato {GB}) and Sapphire (Ire) (Medicean {GB}), is empty this year having been rested in 2018. Another mare penciled in for a date with Coolmore's perennial champion is Discreet Marq (Discreet Cat), a $2.4-million purchase by Moyglare at Fasig-Tipton in November 2014. She had won the GI Del Mar Oaks for previous owner and breeder Patricia A Generazio and was given a chance by Moyglare to add to that tally under trainer Christophe Clement. A Grade III win and a third in both the GI Matriarch S. and the GI Just The Game S. followed before retirement to the paddocks. All her matings so far have been with Galileo and she is due to foal in April. “Discreet Marq's first foal is now a 2-year-old, a Galileo filly and she is training away in Dermot Weld's and she is a nice filly,” Craig said. “We saw enough quality in the 2-year-old to keep the link with Galileo and have a lovely yearling colt out her also so it made sense to go back again this year.”

Another American Grade I winner in the Moyglare broodmare band is Switch (Quiet American), who landed an elite double when winning the GI La Brea S. and GI Santa Monica S. at Santa Anita in late 2010 and early 2011. The 12-year-old is one of three Moyglare mares due to Galileo this year but she will be covered by Invincible Spirit (Ire) this season.

Sea The Stars (Ire) is the choice for two of Moyglare's black- type mares in Carla Bianca (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and Joailliere (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}). Carla Bianca won three stakes races in a row for Dermot Weld in 2014 and added to that tally when landing the G3 Meld S. in 2015. She was covered by Dubawi (Ire) for her first two seasons as a broodmare and is due this month. “Her first foal was a grey Dubawi filly which is always a positive for us and she is due to foal another Dubawi any day now,” Craig said.

Joailliere was well-placed by Weld to gain her stakes win in a listed race at Dortmund in Germany in 2016, having been third in two Group 3s at The Curragh earlier that season and is expecting to Frankel (GB) and is also due this month.

Only one mare on the farm is currently carrying a Sea The Stars foal and that is the great producer Es Que (GB) (Inchinor {GB}), the dam of four stakes winners including G1 Hong Kong Vase winner Dominant (Ire) (Cacique {Ire}) and last year's G2 Prix du Conseil de Paris winner Listen In (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Es Que is one of two Moyglare mares who will visit Tally-Ho Stud stallion Kodiac (GB) this year, the other being former Ballymacoll Stud mare Liber Nauticus (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}). The G3 Musidora S. winner was purchased out of the Ballymacoll dispersal for 425,000gns in 2017 and since then her second produce, the 3-year-old filly Miss Celestial (Ire) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}), has gotten the mare off to a good start winning twice as juvenile last year for Sir Mark Prescott and achieving a rating of 90. Liber Nauticus is currently carrying to Muhaarar (GB) and is due the middle of March.

Apart from those going to Galileo, four other mares are also Coolmore-bound, with Group 3 winner Afternoon Sunlight (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a half-sister to G1 Tattersalls Gold Cup winner Casual Conquest (Ire) (Hernando {Fr}), booked into Camelot (GB), while the recently retired Chateau La Fleur (Ire) (Frankel {GB}), a winner at Dundalk in December, will have Fastnet Rock (Aus) as her first partner.

Knowing You (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) continued to race last year while in foal to Mastercraftsman (Ire), but she didn't manage to add to her two wins achieved the previous year and she will be covered by Zoffany (Ire) this year while Colour Bright (Ire) (Dream Ahead), a half-sister to Tha'Ir (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), will be tried with Starspangledbanner (Aus) as soon as she delivers her Nathaniel (Ire) foal.

Other Irish studs to receive Moyglare support include Ballylinch Stud with Sorelle Delle Rose (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a winning full-sister to the remarkable Sovereign Debt (Ire), visiting Lope De Vega (Ire) and Derrinstown Stud, whose Tamayuz (GB) has been chosen to cover the multiple winning flat stakes performer and dual Grade 1-winning hurdler Unaccompanied (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}).

Eight mares are scheduled to travel abroad to either England or France to be covered and they include Majestic Silver (Ire) (Linamix {Fr}), the dam of Carla Bianca and Joailliere. The 13-year-old was rested last year and will be covered this year by Dalham Hall lynch-pin Dubawi (Ire). Also Newmarket-bound are Rose De Pierre (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and Terrific (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who are booked into Juddmonte's Kingman (GB). Rose De Pierre, a stakes-winning daughter of the great race mare Profound Beauty (Ire) (Danehill), is carrying her first foal by Siyouni (Fr).

Former Coolmore mare Terrific (Ire), a stakes-placed full-sister to Group 1 winners Jan Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Together (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), was bought by Moyglare Stud for $1.9-million at Keeneland November in 2015. She was in foal to War Front at the time and that subsequent produce, a now 3-year-old colt called Tranchee (Ire), made a debut full of promise when third to G1 Vertem Futurity S. winner Magna Grecia (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) at Naas last September and holds an entry in this year's G1 Investec Epsom Derby and G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas. Terrific was covered last year by Fastnet Rock (Aus) and the timing of this interview was perfect.

“Terrific actually foaled a lovely filly at 6.30 a.m. this morning,” Craig revealed on Tuesday. “We have been trying for ages to get a Fastnet Rock but we've had some bad luck up to this so we are delighted,” she added. Terrific also has a Dansili (GB) 2-year-old filly to hopefully represent her on the racecourse this year. Her name is Lilli Milena (Ire) and is the subject of a good homework report from Rosewell House.

Both multiple stakes winner Mad About You (Ire) (Indian Ridge {Ire}) and her winning daughter Malinka (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) are also heading across the water with Mad About You scheduled to visit Muhaarar (GB) when she delivers her Dark Angel (Ire) foal. Meanwhile Malinka, who is due to Kodiac will, go to Whitsbury Manor stud to be covered by Showcasing (GB).

Espoir D'soleil (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), a half-sister to Afternoon Sunlight, will be covered for the first time this year and the Moyglare team have chosen leading French stallion Siyouni (Fr) to start her off. Moyglare Stud also keep a number of mares in America and among some familiar names who will be covered there are Tocco d'Amore (Ire) (Raven's Pass). The 2015 Goffs Orby Yearling Sale topper obviously had her training issues, having run only twice, but she undoubtedly was talented as she went unbeaten in those two starts including in a listed race at Naas. The granddaughter of Flame Of Tara (GB) (Artaius) is being sent to War Front for her first cover while a return visit to the Claiborne stallion is the plan for G2 Ribblesdale S. winner Princess Highway (Street Cry {Ire}) who was also covered by War Front last March.

“It was hard to find the right cover for Tocco d'Amore here as she is out of a Sadler's Wells mare so we thought War Front might suit as she is a big staying type of mare,” Craig said. “We've been short of a star or two the last few years but we have retired some really nice mares in recent years that will hopefully be capable of producing some proper group winners. Unlike a lot of studs we are happier when we have filly foals as they are the future of the stud. We had some nice backend juveniles emerge last year like Mia Maria (Ire) (Dansili {GB}) and Kiss For A Jewel (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) and we are hoping they may develop into group-class fillies this year, as that's really what we are trying to do here.”