By Brian Sheerin
Tattersalls Ireland has rightly earned a reputation as being a place where the younger brigade can prosper and Conor Mahon could well be the latest to play a star role at the September Yearling Sale this week.
Under his own Archersgrove Bloodstock, one of the newest consignments on the sales circuit, the 30-year-old will offer a Space Blues (Ire) filly and a Make Believe (GB) colt who were purchased as foals for €26,000 and €10,000 respectively.
Archersgrove Bloodstock is already up and running for the year. A combined £46,000 was netted at the Goffs Premier Yearling Sale on colts by Earthlight (Ire) and Dark Angel (Ire) and a filly by Acclamation (GB). Nothing to pop the champagne about just yet, but that has been very much the theme of the year thus far for pinhookers young and old, and better is expected from the three-pronged pinhooking team of Mahon and the Irish National Stud's Conor Hyland and Stan Begley at Fairyhouse this week.
“Along with Conor and Stan, I have been pinhooking for the past three years and had always consigned the yearlings through other people but, with the way things worked out this year, we said why not be on the door ourselves this week and build relationships with people,” Mahon said.
“This year has been a good learning experience to say the least! It's very much been sink or swim at the yearling sales in Britain so far and hopefully that will change this week. It's not a case of just turning up and selling your horses–there's a bit more work involved in getting people down to look at your horses and it has been tough work at times.”
Luckily Mahon is not afraid of hard work. A full-time pharmacist, the Kilkenny native spends his days off either working the sales or tending to the yearlings at home at the team's base in Kildare. However, if it hadn't been for a moment of enlightenment at Tattersalls a few years ago, Mahon's working life would have revolved solely around horses.
He explained, “I came to a crossroads about three or four years ago. I had planned on working full-time in this industry, but I had a moment of realisation at Book 1 that convinced me to go down another path. A lot of the big vendors–Chasemore Farm, Cheveley Pak, Hascombe and Valiant, Staffordstown and Croom House Studs–have incomes and therefore some security outside of the industry. Because of that, they can afford to take bigger risks when it comes to sourcing horses. I just felt that I was in a fortunate position to be able to gain employment outside of the industry which has allowed me to pinhook horses on the side and, thankfully, both things seem to be complimenting each other at the moment at least.”
He added, “After qualifying in pharmacy, I wanted to have a proper crack at working in this industry and I was given the opportunity to work for BBA Ireland. It was unfortunate timing as, not long after taking up the role, Covid hit and I suppose things grinded to a halt on the trading front so I decided to do the Irish National Stud course. I met some great people on that course–friends for life–and, in actual fact, that's where I met Stan and Conor.”
Begley, who is the assistant breeding manager at the Irish National Stud, and Hyland, who fulfills the role as nominations manager there, do a lot of the practical work with the yearlings on a daily basis. With both men usually required at sales by the stud, as they are this week, it's Mahon who is on the door with the Space Blues and the Make Believe.
Explaining how the operation works, he said, “We all muck in together. John Heffernan, who is a neighbour of Conor's, has kindly allowed us the use of his yard this year on the proviso that we prep some of his yearlings for the sales. That has been a big help to us. Credit to Stan and Conor, they have done a lot of the hands-on work with the horses but, the beauty of the role that I am in at the moment means that I can pick and choose what days I work purely around the sales.”
The Space Blues and the Make Believe very much fit the Archersgrove brief. Along with Begley and Hyland, Mahon strives to source horses that are bred to stay seven furlongs or more and, in the case of the Space Blues filly, the three men achieved what every pinhooker strives for with the half-sister [Convo (Ire) (Kodiac {GB})] achieving black-type since her purchase.
Mahon said, “We try to buy horses that have resale value and aim to buy horses who are bred to run over seven furlongs plus. The Space Blues and the Make Believe fit that bill. We really wanted the Make Believe because the sire is one who lands on a lot of people's lists and comes within budget for a lot of yearling buyers. Physically, he was a forward foal and we just liked him a lot.
“There's a bit of a funny story behind the Space Blues in that we liked her a lot and were bidding on her in the ring but she went beyond budget. When she didn't sell, we decided that we didn't want to leave her behind and bought her outside of the ring for. Thankfully, there has been a very good pedigree update with her half-sister [Convo] getting black-type for Amy Murphy so we're quietly optimistic.”
He added, “At the moment, the focus is purely on consigning our own horses and there is no real push to get outside clients. In terms of building our own brand, we'd definitely like to build it and grow the quality of the operation every year. It's a bit of a cliche but the three of us just want to produce nice racehorses.”
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