'We Thought She Could Be Special And That's Where The Name Came From'

He may hail from a family that will forever be associated with one of Ireland's most famous jumps horses but trainer Pat Foley has been making a name for himself on the Flat of late and sent out the well-named Special Wan (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}) to record an emphatic debut success at Leopardstown last week. 

That performance put Special Wan slap bang in the shop window and, while Foley admitted that she is likely to continue her career for new connections eventually, he also revealed that his owner Jim Browne could be tempted to up the filly in class before agreeing to sell. 

He said, “There have been plenty of phone calls since Leopardstown, plenty of interest. I'm not one hundred per cent sure if there is a deal done or not but we could run her in the Platinum Stakes at Cork if she's not sold. I'll leave that up to Jim. He is in the business of selling but he could be tempted to run this filly in the listed race before letting her go.”

A light went out in Irish racing when Foley's father Tom, one of the game's true gentlemen, passed away at the age of 74 in 2021. Tom trained the legendary jumper Danoli, who became the people's horse in the 1990s by winning 17 races all told, many of which were at the big festivals and in front of jam-packed stands full of his adoring fans. 

Pat's first victory since taking over the licence from his father was achieved with Special Wan's half-brother Yermanthere (Ire) (Fast Company {Ire}) and he also sent out the half-sister Yerwanthere (Ire) (Markaz {Ire}) to win on debut at Leopardstown before selling to Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners for Joseph O'Brien

The family has been good to Foley and Browne, who operates under the banner of Kilnamoragh Stud, and has clearly found a diamond in the rough with the broodmare Fast Jazz (Ire) (Frozen Power {Ire}).

Foley said, “She has been a fantastic broodmare for Jim. Fast Jazz has produced three winners for us and none of them have been by the most fashionable sires so the mare is definitely putting plenty of ability in them. They are a very straightforward family to train and they all have a great attitude on them. We've been very lucky with them.

“Jim only has a few broodmares but he does very well with them. He bred Tango Flare (Ire) (Fulbright {GB}), Simply A Breeze (Ire) (Casamento {Ire}) and Bounce The Blues (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}). He has a lovely setup at Kilnamoragh Stud.”

He added, “Fast Jazz has a lovely 2-year-old filly by Bungle Inthejungle (GB). We broke her last year and she's due back to us next week with a view towards possibly running her at the back end but we could always wait until she's three. She's a big scopey filly. He has a yearling colt by Profitable (Ire) and the mare is in foal to Blue Point (Ire) so there's plenty more to come from her.”

Foley is no different to the majority of trainers in Ireland in that selling potential stars like Special Wan is a necessity to keep the business in lights. While his first big-race win was recorded over jumps when stable stalwart Rebel Gold took the Dan and Joan Moore Memorial at Fairyhouse this year, Foley endeavors to maintain a Flat arm to this famous nursery of National Hunt talent. 

He said, “The yard is full at the minute, thank God. We have a mixture of everything and all of the winter jumpers are back in and we have a team for the Flat as well. It has been a great mixture and we'll be hoping to have a few more Flat horses next year and have the yard 50-50 between Flat and National Hunt if we could. Even with a filly like Special Wan, there is an international market out there for horses like that. When it came to selling on the Flat over the past couple of years, we've had phone calls from America, Australia, Hong Kong, all over the place. It's very important to be dual purpose and you have to be selling one or two horses every year to keep everything going. From a training point of view, you'd love to be holding on to horses like Special Wan to show that you can do the job but unfortunately you need to sell for the whole thing to make business sense.”

Regardless of where Special Wan goes next, Foley says that he is convinced that the filly will live up to her name. 

He said, “Her work has always been brilliant. Even as a 2-year-old, she could have run but we were a little bit worried about the ground when it got very soft. Jim is a very patient man and, if he thinks there is any reason not to run, he would rather wait until everything is perfect. We are lucky that way and thankfully it paid off. 

“We liked Yerwanthere a lot but this filly was working even better as a 2-year-old. We thought she could be a bit special and that's where the name came from.”