Breeding Plans: Ballymacoll Stud

Few stud managers, in choosing partners for their mares, must strive for a balance quite as delicate as the one sought by Peter Reynolds at Ballymacoll. On the one hand, he has the sheer substance of its base bloodlines, weighted by generations of Classic quality and stamina. On the other, he needs to maintain sufficient commercial buoyancy to meet a brief of self-sufficiency since the death of Lord Weinstock, 13 years ago.

In disclosing mating plans for 2016 to the TDN, then, Reynolds notes the perennial need in County Meath to maintain a fresh lustre on the Weinstock family silver. Of the 16 mares nowadays on the roster, half a dozen apiece trace to the stud's two core families: one founded by Country House (GB) (Vieux Manoir {Fr}), including the likes of North Light (Ire) (Danehill), Golan (Ire) (Spectrum {Ire}) and Hellenic (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}); and another rooted in Sunny Valley (Ire) (Val De Loir {Fr}), a family tree that takes in Sun Princess (Ire) (English Prince {Ire}), Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}) and Spectrum (Ire) (Rainbow Quest). But sometimes Reynolds, in the service of Ballymacoll for over four decades, has to cut against the grain.

“We're still using horses that we believe can get you a Derby winner,” he stressed. “But if you want to produce a stallion for the commercial market then they've got to win at two. And if you're trying to breed mile-and-a-half horses, with families like these, you have to be careful that you don't end up with two-milers instead. You do have to inject some speed, hence we're using horses like Invincible Spirit (Ire) (Green Desert), Exceed And Excel (Aus) (Danehill) and Oasis Dream (GB) (Green Desert)–albeit he's one you wouldn't be too sure what you might get, in terms of distance potential, especially with middle-distance mares.”

Oasis Dream is scheduled for a reunion with Hellenic's outstanding daughter, Islington (Ire) (Sadler's Wells), the pair having already produced the 3-year-old Angel Vision (Ire).

“Angel Vision is now with Michael Dilger in America, and ran a very nice first race in New York the other day,” Reynolds said. “The aim is to get some black-type into her. Islington is expecting a foal by Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}) on Jan. 16. She's incredible, she has so far produced nine fillies out of nine foals–and I've no doubt this will be another filly, too. The whole family is that way, and it's difficult because you can't keep them all. You do what you can, but you have to be careful in case you end up with a bunch of old mares, a few breadwinners and no stars. As it is, some of them have been spread around to other breeders and are being well matched. At the end of the day, that can only help the family.”

This kind of external reinforcement of the Ballymacoll brand can sometimes prove at least as valuable as those immediate dividends required, simply to make ends meet, from the occasional sale of a mare.

“This time last year, for instance, we sold a mare called Long View (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to Claiborne,” Reynolds remarked. “And we sold Auld Alliance (Ire) (Montjeu {Ire}) the year before. And they're both in foal now to War Front (Danzig).”

Between them, these two daughters of Highland Gift (Ire) (Generous {Ire}) generated $1.65 million while granting access to Ballymacoll blood to American breeders with freedom to invest heavily in stallion fees. Sadly their venerable mother–whose first foal, by another Ballymacoll graduate in Spectrum, was Golan–died in April, aged 22.

“She'd had this enormous foal by Arcano (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}),” Reynolds explained. “A colt, sadly, but a most beautiful chestnut. Unusually, she lived 12 hours and then hemorrhaged. It was almost as though she wanted to check the foal was grand and then down she went. The colt was put to a foster mare.”

Daughters of Highland Gift still on the stud include Gift Range (Ire) (Spectrum {Ire}), a sister to the 2008 G1 Derby runner-up Tartan Bearer (Ire). She is slated to visit Invincible Spirit (Ire) (Green Desert).

“While he hasn't actually been that lucky for us so far, I think he's a very good sire,” Reynolds said. “And we're giving this mare every chance, because she was a good racemare and I do still feel it will come right with her.”

Invincible Spirit's son, Kingman (GB), will be receiving one of Islington's sisters in La Divina (Ire) after she has delivered her foal by Shamardal (Giant's Causeway); another, Olympienne (Ire), is an exception to the family's propensity to produce fillies but was barren in 2015 and tries her luck next with Sea The Moon (Ger) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). Their half-sister by Galileo, Justlookdontouch (Ire), is also pressing the Invincible Spirit angle hard: she is in foal to Kingman and next goes to Lawman (Fr). Reynolds noted that Abingdon, her 2-year-old by Street Cry (Ire) (Machiavellian), looks “very promising” after his debut fourth at Kempton a month ago.

Hellenic's grand-daughter, Desert Bloom (Ire) (Pilsudski {Ire}), is meanwhile going to Dark Angel (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}) in the hope that she might produce another son with the class of Fiorente (Ire) (Monsun {Ger})–albeit perhaps over rather shorter trips.

“She's in foal to Cacique (Ire) (Danehill), a stallion who's had fertility problems,” Reynolds said. “With her, the solution was to cover her three times in one day! I think he's worth the effort because he has a brilliant record with what he gets.”

Turning to the Sunny Valley family, Spring Symphony (Ire) (Darshaan {GB}) must be counted especially precious–being very closely related to Conduit (Ire) (Dalakhani {Ire}), who beat Tartan Bearer in the stud's historic one-two in the 2009 G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S. Unfortunately she has been difficult to manage at stud, having injured her pelvis in training, and was barren this year. She is to be given a fertile young partner in Camelot (GB) (Montjeu {Ire}) and hopes are high for the three offspring she will have in training next year–above all Arab Spring (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}), winner of five of his eight starts and just the type to come into his own with maturity.

“He got injured when just beaten in the G3 Brigadier Gerard S. at Sandown in May and had to have the summer off,” Reynolds said. “We might have been able to get him back for the autumn but decided to leave him alone and make a fresh start next year. Spring Symphony has already bred a Group 1 winner in Australia, Glass Harmonium (Ire) (Verglas {Ire}), so they're always trying to buy him–but I hope he can increase his value next year.”

Given that he has no choice but to cash in a valuable mare from time to time, it is inevitable that Reynolds will sometimes be left to rue his timing. A case in point is Spring Symphony's half-sister, Serres (Ire) (Daylami {Ire}), who was sold last year to Hesmonds Stud–shortly before the emergence of her daughter Thetis (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) to finish runner-up in the

G2 Rockfel S. in September.

“Her new owners are absolutely delighted, of course,” Reynolds said. “But I'm very happy too. I've still got her elder sister Liber Nauticus (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), a Group 3 winner, going to Golden Horn (GB) (Cape Cross {Ire}).”

And, of course, Thetis is now eligible to become a valuable broodmare in her own right.

“People were asking what she was doing, going to a race like that after winning her maiden at Carlisle,” Reynolds said. “But it was very simple. She's a very good-actioned filly and we were just chasing the ground up there. I think a mile and a quarter could turn out to be her sort of trip, but she's an exciting filly regardless because we don't tend to have 2-year-olds running in group races.”

Other mares representing the family include Scottish Stage (Ire) (Selkirk), whose 2-year-old son by Shamardal ran a promising fourth on his debut at Wolverhampton last month. She will return to Shamardal's son, Lope De Vega (Ire) after delivering his foal in the New Year. Eleanora Duse (Ire) (Azamour {Ire}), meanwhile, is in foal to Oasis Dream and next breaks with the stud manager's habits with a tryst with Gleneagles (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).

“I used not to use first-season sires,” Reynolds remarked. “I must be getting old!”