Kildaragh's Golden Hour Shines Brightly Ahead of Book 1

NEWMARKET, UK–For those of us of a certain age, for whom the years seem to flash by ever faster, that hill up to Tattersalls seems to get steeper every year. One family which has no trouble striding their way up to their draft just through the wrought iron gates is the Kavanaghs of Kildaragh Stud, and this week it's not just because, collectively, they have the longest legs in the business. On Saturday, the family enjoyed two terrific results, both as breeze-up consignors and breeders, when first the Tattersalls Craven sale-topper Vandeek (GB) (Havana Grey {GB}) won the G1 Juddmonte Middle Park S. at Newmarket followed half an hour later by the victory of the Kildaragh-bred Sea Silk Road (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the G1 Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp.

It's the kind of afternoon that anyone in the game dreams about, and on the rare occasion that the stars align, it naturally puts an extra pep in the step of those involved. In this case, too, Sea Silk Road's timing was immaculate, as on Tuesday, just a handful of lots into the biggest yearling sale of the year in Europe, her full-sister is set to waltz through the ring at Tattersalls.

The Kavanagh family is almost en masse at Park Paddocks, with the one notable exception on Monday being Antoinette, wife of Peter and mother of Roderick, Alice and Sophie, who all wisely agree that the matriarch is the one who really does all the work.

Roderick, whose Glending Stables, in partnership with Cormac O'Flynn, turned the 42,000gns yearling colt now known as Vandeek into a 625,000gns breezer earlier this year, says of the weekend's results, “It gives you great confidence that you can get your hands on those kinds of horses, and having one that was pinhooked and one that was bred just gives it a bit of balance.”

Though the breeze-up results, headlined by that dual Group 1-winning juvenile, have been impressive, the Kavanaghs' core business has always been breeding, and there are few in the business with a deeper knowledge of pedigrees and families than Peter. He and Antoinette bought Sea Silk Road's dam Oriental Magic (Ger) (Doyen {GB}) from her breeder Gestut Auenquelle in 2014 when she had a German Listed win and Group 2 placing to her name.

“We raced her with Christophe Ferland in France and she was stakes-placed for us along with her group placings in Germany,” says Peter. “We originally sent her to Siyouni before he got to the level he is now, so it's been good. With John Clarke we did a foal share to Sea The Stars and we bred this beautiful filly. We were very impressed with her from the outset. She was a lovely, square, strong filly.”

Through their late manager John Clarke, the Tsui family's Sunderland Holdings bought out the breeders at 190,000gns at the Tattersalls October Sale of 2020 and sent the filly into training with William Haggas in Newmarket.

Peter continues, “When we came here to Book 1, [John] was very impressed by her and we reassured him that we had confidence in her and that she had a very straightforward upbringing. When you are selling horses you breed, it gives you that confidence to recommend them to future purchasers. You know so much about them because you've been there since the day they were foaled, and you've planned the matings in a lot of cases. It's a long slog at times but when things work out well and you get a filly that wins a Group 1 on Arc weekend it's just phenomenal.”

Returning to the subject of the unbeaten Vandeek, Roderick adds, “We watched it together at home when he made his debut and there was so much money for him we thought they must be confident, then he reared in the stalls and lost three lengths at the start. And we all just looked at each other and thought, 'Right, well that's that anyway.'

But then he's just come through and has been really good. He looks exceptional. And who could predict that?”

Kavanagh Sr admits that there's “a lot of chipping in” when it comes to the family members expressing their opinions on business matters. Alice, a successful pinhooker in her own right, is at the forefront of the Kildaragh Stud drafts, while Sophie has temporarily left Ireland and the family to work for Johnno Spence Consulting, with Tattersalls, conveniently, being one of the major clients of that PR business.

Peter says, “Alice looks after the broodmares predominantly and foals a lot of mares. She does a lot of the early work with the foals and she has her own consigning business, which she does expertly as ever. It just gives everybody their own identity within the business, which is interesting too because they are not just being swallowed up by the main business. They can each show their skills in their own domain.”

Sophie adds, “I like to keep a hand in and keep an eye on what's going on at home. In my job, managing the Tattersalls PR account, although that's my primary focus this week, it's nice that where we are stabled as well it allows me a little bit of dipping in to see if everything is still in one piece down here, and to check that everyone is still getting along.”

Sophie won't have to do too much homework when it comes to the Kildaragh Stud draft, which has 11 yearlings through Book 1. Two of those are in the ring early as lots 4 and 5, with the second of that pair being Sea Silk Road's sister.

“She's very nice,” says Peter. “She's a May foal so she's not the finished article, but she has lots of quality. Sea The Stars is just one of the best sires we've seen in Europe in a couple of decades, and I think his fillies are going to have a major impact in the studbook for years ahead. They seem to mate with nearly anything they get sent.

“We're thrilled to have access to him, and to have him in Ireland. I think he's going to be a breed-shaper, both as a sire of sires and his fillies are going to be interesting broodmares.”

The Kavanaghs also have a weanling full-sister to Sea Silk Road at home, while Oriental Magic is back in foal to Lope De Vega (Ire), the sire of her current 3-year-old Indemnity (Ire).

“She's been good to us so far,” Peter says of the 12-year-old mare. “The 3-year-old was second on his first start, beaten a neck, and the 2-year-old is due to run next weekend at the Curragh for Dermot Weld, so there's plenty to happen.”