'He's More Than a Horse': Regan Sings Praises of Freshman Sire Beckford 

As the saying goes, 'One swallow does not a summer make, neither does one fine day', but Friday at the Curragh will live long in the memory as one fine day for Maurice Regan of Newtown Anner Stud. His young stallion Beckford (GB) was represented by his first runner and now boasts a 100 per cent strike-rate after that debutant, Beckman (Ire), overcame some trouble in running to win in impressive fashion.

“It was a lot of fun,” says Regan, whose voice is notably hoarse as he recalls the race. “It's a little bit of a fairytale. I was watching it on the television last night and when I saw him coming through I started screaming. They thought I was having a heart attack because I was so excited. When you have the mares yourself, and now the stallion yourself, and you're following the whole story… the Beckford story we had when he was racing was a great story and with a little bit of luck he could have been a Group 1 winner.”

It would appear that the Beckford story is still full of running. A winner himself on debut at the Curragh when trained by Gordon Elliott, he then claimed the G2 Railway Stakes on his next run in the Newtown Anner Stud colours before finishing second in both the G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes and G1 Goffs Vincent O'Brien National Stakes. 

A son of Bated Breath (GB) and Whirly Dancer (GB), a half-sister to the top-class Poet's Word (GB), Beckford then contested the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, finishing fifth to Mendelssohn, and remained in America, joining the stable of Brendan Walsh, for whom he won the Williams Walker Stakes at Churchill Downs on his sole start at three. A fracture kept him off the track for more than a year and Beckford never really recaptured his smart juvenile form in a further six starts back in Ireland. He was retired to his owner's farm in Clonmel, which is home to 60 broodmares and their followers but is not technically a stallion stud. Or so we thought. 

Regan fills in a few blanks for the last four years. “God rest my father, but he used to say that Beckford would come into the house, sit down and have a cup of tea. That's why we kept him because he was kind, but he has a lot of character and a huge heart.”

That temperament, spliced to his good early race record and a pedigree that is improving year on year, provided the impetus for Regan to decide to breed a few of his own mares to his own stallion. That's how it always used to work, after all. Now, members of Beckford's first crop of five foals are in training with Ger Lyons, who struck with Beckman, Joseph O'Brien, Johnny Murtagh and Karl Burke. 

He continues, “We only covered some of our own mares as an experiment because Beckford has a secret: he's only 15 hands tall,” Regan divulges. “If he'd had a little bit of luck he'd have won a Group 1. He did win a Group 2 and was second in two Group 1s. He went to America and he got a fracture but he almost broke a track record, he came very close, and he had an unlucky trip in the Breeders' Cup. So luck didn't really fall his way racing.

“We were worried about his height so we bred him to a bunch of average mares. So we said that if his horses were small we'd have them as riding ponies that we could give away. But the horses he is throwing are 16 hands-plus. What everybody has said about them is that they have great minds and great bone, and what I always knew about Beckford was that he has a huge heart. It was all about winning for him; he would always give his best.”

Regan says of the feedback from his trainers, “Everybody says that they are going to win and that if they were by a well-known stallion that they would be looking at them differently. 

“Bill Dwan was out here looking at our yearlings, and we had horses in the field by Kingman, Lope De Vega and Sea The Stars, and his choice was the Beckford yearling.”

There is just one yearling from Beckford's second crop, and one foal from his third, but next season's crop of foals will be larger. 

Regan continues, “We didn't want to end up with a bunch of ponies. We have 60 broodmares here and we send them to proven stallions and we always try to put them in a good home if they don't work out. You have to be conscious that you're doing the right thing for the horses in the horse business. 

“But from what we saw in the yearlings being broken in at the end of last year we have doubled the amount of mares that we have covered with him this year. We've 10 mares in foal to him and I have already been getting calls from people saying could they send a mare to him next year.

“Joseph O'Brien, of all the two-year-olds he has in training for me, the Beckford is his choice. Karl Burke pretty much guarantees that the Beckford he has will win first or second time out. That is what gave us the confidence to go back with the mares this year. We're shocked by what we've seen. They're as good as anything you'd see at the sale.”

Beckman (Beckford) opens his account at the first time of asking with a 20/1 victory in the opening race of the @DDFRacing Irish Derby Festival @curraghrace 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/9h660SIxew

— Racing TV (@RacingTV) June 28, 2024

Beckford's relative Poet's Word is in his sixth year at Boardsmill Stud in Ireland and the King George winner's Group 3-winning half-sister Malabar (Ire) (Raven's Pass) is now the dam of this season's G3 John of Gaunt Stakes winner Tiber Flow (Ire) (Caravaggio). The Regans' dual Group 1 winner Fascinating Rock (Ire) has moved to Burgage Stud, having started his career at Ballylinch Stud, and Regan admits that, if more of Beckford's offspring win this year and the interest in his horse starts to grow, he will have to stand him elsewhere.

“If we have some more luck with these Beckfords I think we would have to do a partnership with a stallion stud,” he says. “We have a lot going on with the mares we have here and we don't have the experience for that so we'd probably leave that to the professionals.”

It doesn't sound like Beckford would be too much trouble, wherever he stood.

Regan continues, “We have a lot of horses but he is the king of the farm. He has his own paddock and he runs the show. He lives in the field with the teaser pony, so you have two stallions in the same field, no headcollars, and they are like complete pets. If you call him over at the fence, he'll come over to you and put his head on your shoulder; there's no badness in him. When the farrier is here he stands with him at the gate and they do his feet without holding him, without a headcollar. There's something about this guy – he's special.”

Beckman aside, it has been a good week for the Newtown Anner Stud team, with the Regan family enjoying a winner at Naas with the homebred Mr King (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), while their G2 German 1000 Guineas winner Darnation (Ire) (Too Darn Hot {GB}) ran second in the G3 Hoppings Stakes at Newcastle and is likely to return to Germany for the G1 Preis der Diana. On Sunday at the Curragh another homebred, Thor's Hammer (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}), is set to be ridden by visiting American Johnny Velazquez. The Irish-born Regan, who is based in New York City and also owns stud farms in New York and Lexington, is a close friend of the renowned jockey and is hoping to be able to provide him with his first winner in Ireland. 

He says of his Classic winner Darnation, “We wanted to see if she could go the extra couple of furlongs which is why she ran at Newcastle, but the surface wasn't ideal for her and it was a very strong race. I hope we'll have a bit more fun with her. The mare is in foal to Dubawi and we are looking forward to more good things coming from that family.”

It is clear, however, that it is Beckford who is the apple of Regan's eye. He adds, “He's more than a horse; he's got the character of a person.”