By Brian Sheerin
Glenn 'Bo' Bromagen has compared Penn Oaks winner and Goffs Orby graduate Poolside With Slim (Ire) (Churchill {Ire}) favourably to Concrete Rose (Twirling Candy), the Grade I Belmont Oaks winner and just about the highest-class racehorse that the American-based agent has been associated with.
The George 'Rusty' Arnold-trained import Poolside With Slim ran out a gritty winner of the $150,000 contest under Frankie Dettori at Penn National last week leaving Bromagen convinced that there are more fat cheques to be cashed with the progressive three-year-old.
“It's exciting-you can't help but get excited about where this filly could go,” he said. “A couple of years back we had a filly called Concrete Rose who was obviously as good as anything that we have ever had. I couldn't help but dream a little bit that Poolside With Slim could be another Concrete Rose.”
Bromagen continued, “We thought this filly was going to be a top-tier turf talent in America and we got aggressive in her campaigning because we needed to get her Graded Stakes earnings up in order to get into the Edgewood Stakes on Oaks day. That's really what our goal was.
“We got rail-drawn three times in a row–starting in the Florida Oaks at Tampa–and were pressed to go to the front, which may not have been her ideal running style. This time, being able to take her back a bit, I think that has really been able to show her to best effect. She has really been vindicated in what type of horse she could be.”
Asked what could be in store for Poolside With Slim next, Bromagen replied, “Early in the season, I thought maybe we could run in that Triple Tiara series in New York, but now we have pivoted a little bit. We're going to have to be smart about where we take her next and obviously there is some really nice racing in Saratoga. Kentucky Downs also has some incredible racing so, if we were lucky enough to take her down there and do something big, that would be incredible. California is even on the table. We learned a couple of lessons last year with her that we need to give her possibilities. We can't just be focussed on one spot or one circuit with this filly.”
At €110,000, it would be a stretch to describe Poolside With Slim as something of a bargain buy. But given the filly snuck in below the average [€121,337] at the 2022 Orby Sale at Goffs and then compare that with the massive sums of money being paid on the private market of late, it's hard to argue that Bromagen didn't sniff out a value deal.
“She was a little early in the sale, I think she was hip 21 or 22, and at any public auction, you tend to see people sitting on their hands early in the day. She was very nice-was physically correct and had a good pedigree. I think I just got lucky by jumping in that little bit early in the sale game. I think we got some value.”
He added, “You could see that she wasn't your typical two-year-old type and that she was going to need some time to come to hand. Maybe that gave us some extra value. But it's so hard to get the horse you want at the right price and sometimes you've just got to get lucky in the sales ring.”
Bromagen has made a habit of being lucky at Goffs. He's been talking up for the Irish sales house for some time, and prior to snapping up Poolside With Slim at Goffs in 2022, he told TDN Europe that the Orby Sale was “at the top of my list every single year”.
The filly's graduation to being a genuine Graded performer in the States is just as much of a vindication of Bromagen's eye for a good horse as it is his commitment to travelling to Ireland to source equine talent to race in America year after year.
He said, “I'm out here beating the drum for the Goffs boys. The horses that they raise in Ireland are really nice horses. The world is getting to be a smaller place as far as the thoroughbred market goes and the more international trade that can happen is only better for us all. The more people we can get over there and the more trade that goes on, the more exciting that will be for everyone.”
And Bromagen was back again last year.
“I talk about value the whole time and on my trip to Ireland last year, it looked like I was struggling to find anything to bring home,” he recalled. “That's why I jumped in with Ramiro [Restrepo] on a couple of horses. The first was a Kodiac (GB) colt [for €75,000], who is in training with Tim Donworth in France, while the second was an Earthlight (Ire) colt [€300,000] who is with Paddy Twomey. That horse was bought by me, Ramiro and Jason Taylor. I know that Ramiro was over to see the horse recently and all of the reports from Paddy are pretty positive. We're excited about both of those horses. I'm willing to partner up as well. I mean, shoot, it's more fun having partners in a winner's circle than doing it by yourself.”
While plans are somewhat in the air as to where Poolside With Slim could end up next, Bromagen is in no doubt that he has a filly capable of taking in some big targets over the coming months.
He said, “We're going to be shooting here. We're going to try and punch up and see what we can find. Rusty has done such a good job in training this filly and keeping her on the track that we thought she could be on. We were a little disappointed not to have hit the board on her previous two starts but, again, I think that was because we were at the mercy of the post draw.
“The way that Frankie rode her is more of her running style and that gives us some versatility, which gives us something to look forward to going forward. We're going to let Rusty do what he does best and learn about this filly as she develops. She's trending upwards, that's for sure.”
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