Classic Pedigrees the Focus at Knocktoran

Brendan and Anne Marie Hayes have been breeding Thoroughbreds with great success at their Knocktoran Stud in Limerick for more than 30 years. The couple reached the pinnacle of their breeding achievements to date when their homebred Precieuse (Ire) (Tamayuz {GB}), who they still owned at the time, won the G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches at Deauville in 2017. Precieuse was then sold to Peter Brant to continue her racing career in America, where she won the GIII Honey Fox S. at Gulfstream Park last year, but Hayes has no shortage of the Classic winner's family to keep the bloodline alive and active, including her 3-year-old half-sister Porcelaine (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), an impressive debut winner at Chantilly recently for trainer Fabrice Chappet.

“Porcelaine posted a quick time and it was an impressive display,” Hayes said. “She broke like a bullet which was a surprise given it was her debut and she showed a lot of natural speed and ultimately won eased down so we were delighted with her.”

Although early days, such a display has Hayes dreaming of a similar route taken with Precieuse. “Each race on her radar is a potential stumbling block but all being well she will run in a listed race on the all-weather at Chantilly on Mar. 13,” he said. “If that goes to plan we will then aim her at the [G3] Prix Impudence in April and if the dream is still alive by then it will be the [G1] Poule d'Essai des Pouliches after that.

“People have been saying, 'gosh wouldn't it be great if she was as good as Precieuse?' To which I've replied, 'wouldn't it be great if she was better?'”

Having accepted a good offer to sell Precieuse it is unlikely Hayes will be similarly tempted with Porcelaine, and one gets the feeling he still slightly regrets letting the former go.

“In all my years as an owner I've never gotten a phone call off a jockey but after he finished second on Precieuse in the [G3] Prix Sigy, Pierre-Charles Boudot rang me and said we must go for the [G1] Commonwealth Cup with this filly because she has so much speed. I thought to myself, 'how could we beat the likes of Caravaggio, Blue Point (Ire) and Harry Angel (Ire)?' so I stood my ground and despite both trainer and rider reckoning she would not stay I said, 'no, it's the Guineas next, and we'll find out there if she stays or not.' Thankfully, she got the mile well.”

Hayes is in the fortunate position of still having the dam of both Precieuse and Porcelaine, Zut Alors (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}), on the farm. The mare, who Hayes also bred, has just turned 16 years of age and is in foal to Gleneagles (Ire) with a 2020 cover by Lope De Vega (Ire) on the cards. Hayes had her 2019 Galileo (Ire) colt foal entered in the foal sales last year but had a change of heart and will wait until the autumn before offering him for sale.

“The Galileo has a smashing physique and is a super walker,” he said. “He is a chestnut with lot of white on him so I reckon he will certainly stand out. Galileo actually has a very good record with his chestnuts, when you think of the likes of Cape Blanco (Ire), Ruler Of The World (Ire) Australia (GB), Ulysses (Ire), Decorated Knight (GB) and Waldgeist (GB)–they're all chestnuts. Even the good juvenile filly last year Love (Ire) is a chestnut so they certainly do very well.”

The Zut Alors family is complemented at Knocktoran by the winning 9-year-old mare Peut Etre (Whipper), a half-sister to Precieuse who is currently in foal to Australia (GB) and is booked into Dark Angel (Ire).

“She has a Dark Angel yearling filly here who is very nice so we thought it was worth going back to that source,” Hayes said. Peut Etre was represented by her first winner in December when Hypothetical (Ire) (Lope De Vega {Ire}), a 550,000gns Book 1 yearling, sluiced home by five lengths on debut at Chelmsford for John Gosden and was introduced into the Derby betting on the strength of that display.

Hit The Sky (Ire) (Cozzene) has been another lynchpin of the farm and is still healthy and well at the age of 18. She has produced three stakes winners and her results in the sales ring have also been stellar with her daughter by Dubawi (Ire) fetching 720,000gns as a foal in Tattersalls in 2015. She is in foal to Saxon Warrior (Jpn) and will be covered this year by 2019 Arc hero Waldgeist (GB), who has retired to Ballylinch Stud.

“I like Waldgeist, he is well-priced and he is in the right farm to succeed,” Hayes said. “Hit The Sky is a very fresh mare and she goes well with the Sadler's Wells line so that is another reason we chose him.”

Hayes continued, “Besotted (Ire) (Dutch Art GB}) is one we are quite excited about here. She is a stakes winning half-sister to French 1000 Guineas winner Tie Black (Ire) (Machiavellian) and her first two progeny have been very nice. Her 2-year-old colt by Shalaa (Ire) sold for 150,000gns last year and is going to the Arqana Breeze Up in May for Willie Browne. Her second foal, an Oasis Dream (GB) colt that was really nice made 320,000gns at the sales last year. She is in foal to Pivotal (GB) and we are going to send her to Siyouni (Fr).”

Despite having turned 14-years of age, Go Lovely Rose (Ire) (Pivotal {GB}) is a Knocktoran mare that could well start making up for lost time. Although her first produce Game Zone (Ire) (Hurricane Run {Ire}) was stakes placed six years ago, it is her now 4-year-old son Roseman (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) who could bring the mare to a different level. The Roger Varian-trained colt, a €650,000 Goffs Orby purchase, won a listed race at Newmarket in November and is a horse that could develop further this year.

“I believe Roger thinks Roseman could win a group race this year so that would be fantastic if that happens,” Hayes said. “Go Lovely Rose has taken a bit of time but this could be a big year for her. She is in foal to Charm Spirit (Ire) and she will go to Dark Angel (Ire). She is a very good-looking mare and is a full-sister to Immortal Verse (Ire). We obviously did think about Kingman (GB) for her but we have to be very careful with those big nominations. If a couple of things were to go wrong you could find yourself in a hole fairly quickly. I'm lucky enough to have a share in Dark Angel so I won't have to write a cheque for that one.”

Like the majority of the Knocktoran broodmare band, Mayhem (Ire) (Whipper) did her racing in France where the daughter of the farm's blue hen Hit The Sky put together a classy CV, winning the G3 Prix Allez France at Chantilly in 2015 before finishing third to Treve (Fr) (Motivator {GB}) in the G2 Prix Corrida and her breeding career has gotten off to a flying start both in the sales ring and on the track. Her first foal Donnybrook (Ire) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) was bought by Godolphin for €900,000 as a yearling at Arqana in 2018 and got off the mark at the second attempt for John Gosden at Yarmouth last October. Before that the same buying team also acquired Mayhem's second produce, another filly, this time by Dark Angel (Ire), for €800,000 also at Arqana last August when consigned by Ballylinch Stud.

“Mayhem has gotten off to a fantastic start at stud with her first produce Donnybrook winning last autumn,” Hayes said. “The Dark Angel filly is with Charlie Appleby and the mare was due to Sea The Stars (Ire) on Feb. 4 so we are waiting patiently for the new arrival. She is booked into visit Lope De Vega (Ire) after that.”

Another French stakes winning mare by Whipper is Dolled Up (Ire), the speedy victor of the G3 Prix du Bois and Hayes is keen to match speed with speed with the 13-year-old. Darley's freshman Blue Point (Ire) has been chosen as her mate this year.

“She produced a very nice Lope De Vega colt a few years ago so we decided to use the Shamardal cross again. We also have a yearling colt by Frankel (GB) out of her that will go to the sales in the autumn, probably Book 1 at Tattersalls,” Hayes said.

Meanwhile Fou Rire (Ire) (Iffraaj {GB}), a dual winning daughter of Dolled Up, has also been retained for the team and the 5-year-old rewarded connections with a Starspangledbanner (Aus) colt recently and will be covered by Tamayuz (GB).

There are plenty of younger mares seeking to make a name for themselves at Knocktoran and nominating a few that could make their mark Hayes said, “Alors Quoi (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) is an interesting young mare being out of Zeiting (Ire) (Zieten) and is therefore a three-parts sister to Zut Alors. She is in foal to Tamayuz (GB) and she will be covered this year by Footstepsinthesand (GB). We usually start off a young mare with proven sires, and if you can get winners on the board early on or a black-type winner, you can introduce a more commercial type of stallion.

“Hug (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) is another young mare we are getting going here and is a half-sister to Besotted. She had a colt foal by Shalaa (Ire) and she is going to Night Of Thunder (Ire). Similarly Over The Moon (Ire) is a winning Invincible Spirit (Ire) 4-year-old mare out of Hit The Sky and she goes to Too Darn Hot (GB).”

Unusually for Irish breeders, Brendan and Anne Marie Hayes almost exclusively send their fillies to France to be trained, supporting the likes of Fabrice Chappet, Philippe Sogorb and Robert Collet.

Outlining their reasons for such a policy Hayes said, “It's for historic reasons mainly but we've become friends with the trainers and because they have been handling several generations of the families they know the progeny and it seems to work well. The prize-money is slightly better and Anne Marie is French also so it gives us an excuse to go over there on a regular basis. That said, we do have two 2-year-olds in England this year with Andrew Balding so we will see how that works out.”

It is hard to argue with any of the Knocktoran policies whether it is matings, stock rearing, training or even race planning and with such carefully managed pedigree foundations in place, it is a nursery that is likely to stand the test of time for generations to come.