Kieswetters Enjoy A Lark With The Rise of Candleford

The victory of the William Haggas-trained Candleford (Ire) (Kingman {GB}) in the Duke of Edinburgh H. at Royal Ascot can be considered one of the outstanding performances during five days of top-class action. The 4-year-old, who was given a 13lb-hike in the weights for that six-length success, returns to the track at Newmarket this Friday, but his resounding win at the royal meeting will live long in the memory of his owner/breeders, the Kieswetter family of Barnane Stud, for a number of reasons.

“It's actually a really cool story because Candleford is the very first homebred winner that my family has had under the name of Barnane Stud since we took over the farm,” says Craig Kieswetter, the South African-born former England cricketer, who has now turned his sporting talents to golf as well as Thoroughbred breeding.

He and his parents Wayne and Belinda and brother Ross are not newcomers to the business, however. In South Africa they own the picturesque Ridgemont Highlands farm in the Western Cape, which is now home to the former Richard Hannon-trained five-time Group 1 winner Canford Cliffs (Ire). Formerly known as Highlands Stud, Wayne Kieswetter bought the property from Antony Beck in 2017.

His son continues, “We've had a lot of winners that we've bought, a lot of the time through the Doyle family who are very close friends. But Candleford was the first homebred here. He won his maiden at Windsor last August and then obviously he's the first homebred Royal Ascot runner and winner. So it's incredible.”

Following the Ridgemont Highlands purchase, the family acquired Barnane Stud, which is run by Patrick Wynn-Jones and Topsy Squarey and is based just outside Templemore, Co Tipperary. The farm is now home to around 15 European-bought mares, and acts as a satellite for visitors from South Africa.

“Barnane was set up to be dual purpose, really,” Kieswetter explains. “One aim was obviously to be a commercial operation, northern hemisphere. Also we sent over five or six mares that we breed to stallions on southern hemisphere time. We then send the progeny back to South Africa to try and either make a stallion or to bring in some quality-bred fillies to continue to strengthen the broodmare band.

“Barnane is a boutique farm and we are encouraged to start trying to expand. We've been having to look around to see if there's any land available.”

He continues, “Both farms are targeted to be commercial operations. The South African farm is much bigger. It has over 120 mares and we now have six stallions. Like most farms, we tend to keep the well-bred fillies to restock the broodmare band, but with more than 120 mares, there are plenty of foals and yearlings, so we have to sell some.

“We are very lucky that we've got a very experienced and very passionate team on both sides. It's fantastic when things come together for everyone because, as we know, this industry takes a lot of hard work. And you can take a lot of knocks as well.”

The lows in breeding and racing are inevitable, which is why celebrating the good days is of the utmost importance. Though their parents had departed England earlier in the week, brothers Craig and Ross were at Royal Ascot on the Friday to celebrate their biggest success in this part of the world.

“It was fantastic, just an incredible day,” Craig reflects. “It's just a real high of emotions. I think William [Haggas] is a genius and he knows what he's doing. The initial discussion he's had with our team is to target Candleford for the Ebor. At the end of the day, he's the genius and the trainer and we're just delighted to be on this exciting journey with him.”

That stepping stone towards Haggas's beloved York comes closer to home for Candleford on his local track at Newmarket in the 1 3/4-mile Bet365 Trophy, for which he is set to start favourite. The Kieswetters bought his dam Dorcas Lane (GB) (Norse Dancer {GB}) with him in utero at the Tattersalls December Sale of 2017 from Bjorn Nielsen. The 14-year-old mare, winner of the Listed Pretty Polly S. at Newmarket when trained by Lucy Wadham, was named after the postmistress in Flora Thompson's Lark Rise To Candleford trilogy. Her son is thus aptly named, and Candleford is the second Royal Ascot winner for Dorcas Lane following her Frankel (GB) first foal Atty Persse (Ire), who won the King George V H. for Godolphin in 2017.

The mare has a full-brother to Atty Persse named Postmaster General (Ire), as well as a Sea The Stars (Ire) 2-year-old filly Maman Joon (Ire) among her youngsters on the way through. Among her fellow residents at Barnane Stud is Urban Fox (GB) (Foxwedge {Aus}), who was bought at the same December Sale and went on to win the G1 Pretty Polly S. at the Curragh in the Barnane Stud colours, as well as finishing runner-up in the G1 Nassau S. and G1 Prix Jean Romanet.

“Urban Fox is doing well,” Kieswetter reports. “She visited Dubawi for her first two coverings and is now in foal to Frankel.”

Reflecting on his parents' long involvement with horses, he adds, “My father has been in horses his whole life. He used to ride as an amateur and work in yards. And then when my brother and I were young and at school, that sort of took a backseat. Then we both left home and mum and dad picked it up again. Mum got quite involved in dressage and eventing and the old man got back into the racing scene. It has always been a passion of his and mum's and it's something that's been very quickly picked up by Ross and I.

“It just kind of grew quite quickly really. We bought the farm in South Africa and our first purchase after buying the farm was Canford Cliffs from the Coolmore team. Then this farm [Barnane] came up and Peter Doyle showed mum, dad and Ross. The three of them went and looked and fell in love with it. And it has just snowballed from there really.”

Along with their Flat breeding interests, Barnane Stud also has a handful of jumpers in training in Ireland with Willie Mullins, including the Punchestown Grade 1 winner Echoes In Rain (Fr) (Authorized {Ire}) and the listed-winning hurdler My Sister Sarah (Ire) (Martaline {GB}).

Craig's introduction to National Hunt racing came during his cricketing days in Somerset, when he was introduced to David Pipe and his father, the legendary former trainer, Martin.

“I met David Pipe and Tom Scudamore at a cricket match and they invited me down to the yard with my brother, my old man and Craig Carey. Martin Pipe was there, showing us the yard and the gallops, and then he challenged me to a game of table tennis and said that if he beat me, I would have to buy a jumper.

“So obviously with my youthful exuberance, I thought, 'Well, there's no chance I'm going to lose to the pensioner'. Needless to say, I get beaten something like 21- 2, and then he sheepishly admitted that his best mate [Chester Barnes] was a six-time Olympic table tennis player, or something like that.”

The Pipe hustle ended in the purchase of Citrus (Fr) (Great Pretender {Ire}), who was later a winner in Craig's own colours over hurdles at Plumpton.

“Anyway, we kept our word,” he says with a laugh. “And now it's quite a diverse portfolio we've got. Willie Mullins, Richard Hannon and William Haggas are our trainers and we've set up a very good relationship with Connor Hoban in Ireland, who does a lot of work for us with the pre-training. It's a nice portfolio on the Flat and over jumps, and it's been successful so far. Now it's about keeping it going.”

And with that it falls back to Candleford, already a trailblazer in Europe for the Barnane Stud team, and a horse who looks to have a bright future in the staying ranks.