For someone who is meant to be logical and methodical, I seem to have gone about sourcing broodmares in a rather haphazard way. Of my initial mares, I bought one in a bar; one at a dinner party; one after we watched her on tv; one via the internet; one in partnership after I had classified her as a ‘reject’; one on a whim; two as reserve choices at a sale; and three privately after they were unsold at auction – two of whom had actually returned home. Only one was my original first choice at auction, but she was only bought on other people’s advice when I didn’t really like her as much as I’d hoped. Oh, and two were purchased when we were on holiday. I don’t believe that Federico Tesio did things quite this way.
One of the ‘holiday purchases’ was Right On Target, or ‘Ellie’, her constant companion Back On Song (‘Belle’, who was sold in foal without producing any offspring for us) being the other. Both were bought at the Tattersalls August Sale in 2002, when Sandra and I were holidaying in Bray, south of Dublin, and decided to enliven the vacation by visiting Scarvagh House Stud in Northern Ireland and the Fairyhouse Sale en route.
At the time I wasn’t as well acquainted with the realities of commercial NH breeding as I might have been, for I was impressed by the fact that Right On Target was out of a half-sister to the good chaser EVERETT and from a decent Irish jumping family whose members included CAB ON TARGET. (Back On Song was also ‘out of a half-sister to’, in this case the Stayers Hurdle winner Trapper John, though from a much weaker family).
This relationship to a good horse looks close enough when you buy the filly unraced, but a lot more distant when you come to sell her foals later on if nothing has happened to strengthen the pedigree in the meantime, for everything is a generation further back.
In the case of Right On Target the pedigree did improve somewhat. Her sire, Presenting, at the time only a promising, very good-looking young NH sire, went on to produce two Gold Cup winners, War of Attrition and Denman, and for a time became the most commercially successful NH stallion around. In addition, the year after foaling ‘Ellie’ her dam, Owenageera, bred a gelding named Rathowen, who won two races and gained the all-important Black-Type when third by a neck in a Grade 2 Novice Hurdle at Haydock.
Right On Target didn’t do much herself to help her cause as a broodmare. We put her into training with Howard Johnson, who I met at Newcastle races when Alfie Buller of Scarvagh House Stud was hosting several tables of guests.
Howard retrieved my binoculars when I subsequently left them behind in the pub; and when I went to pick them up I asked if he wanted to lease two fillies for racing. He countered with the generous suggestion that he would train them for half fees in return for 50% of the prize money. In fact, the offer turned out to be that he would simply train them for half fees, because there was no prize money!
When she was almost ready to race, we were invited by Howard to see Right On Target train on his uphill gallop. He was encouraging about the work, but I was far from encouraged because the mare had to be scrubbed along to finish behind three not very talented work companions. She looked rather slow.
Sadly, the impression given by the gallop was not a false one. In two moderate mares-only novice hurdles she was never in the hunt and was pulled up both times, some way out. She didn’t just look slow; she was slow, although to be fair to ‘Ellie’ she never thrived in the environment of a racing yard and possibly suffered from ulcers. Having only one other broodmare at the time, and probably for want of anything better to do with her, we decided to breed from her.
At stud she improved on her own racing results, not least because her first four foals were all colts. Her first was by Luso, who at the time seemed to have made a most promising start to his stud career, with such as ‘the new Arkle’, Bannow Strand, to represent him. However, Bannow Strand turned out to be no Arkle, and Luso was no King’s Theatre; and early promise was as good as it got for him. Soon, knowledgeable Irish judges were saying of him that ‘he’s not just toast, he’s cremated’; he eventually finished up as a Sports Horse stallion.
The foal, Padre Eterno, was blocky and strong but not a great walker. He was sold as a three-year old for €13,000 and trained by Heather Main, wife of the vet James Main who was later suspended for a time for administering inappropriate race-day medication. It is a pity some wasn’t administered to Padre Eterno, because after running very promisingly in his first bumper, where he finished a close second, the horse clearly developed significant problems and his subsequent efforts read 7th of 13, 9th of 9, 17th of 20, PU, PU and 12th of 12.
Next the mare visited Beneficial, a much better stallion, producing a good-looking colt that unfortunately had problems as a foal in that some of the milk he suckled would come back down his nose. He brought €20,000 as a foal, although subsequent attempts by the new owner to sell him at a profit fared less well. Named Don’t Tell De Purdy, he proved a game but moderate chaser in Ireland, winning two small races.
Ellie’s Old Vic colt had problems as a foal too, this time more serious ones in that he contracted rhodococcus and only just survived. However, his recovery was such that he looked well when sent to Tattersalls November Foal Sale and we were offered in excess of €20,000 for him. However, one of the partners in the colt, who was at the Sale (not the one writing this) thought he was worth rather more; and one of our advisors (not the one who consigned the colt but his brother-in-law) concurred; so he came back home.
Unfortunately, he failed to grow as well as hoped and as a three-year old the most that could be extracted for him was €7,500, rather less than it had cost to keep him in the meantime. Named Frontier Vic he proved a consistent but moderate racehorse, winning three times over hurdles as well as placing in 10 of his 19 races, for a top RPR of 109.
The fourth colt foal was by Kayf Tara, and for a while he looked outstanding – so handsome and flashy that we nicknamed him ‘Ronaldo’ (Noisetine’s far less elegant colt in the same year was ‘Rooney’). However, as he grew, he seemed to develop slightly weak (‘cut away’) hocks and he was sold as a foal for €16,500.
Just as with the previous two foals, reoffering him as a three-year old brought little reward for the new owner, merely a notional profit of €2,500. Named Merrydown Black, he was unplaced in his only race under Rules at five, but was then off the track for 22 months. He eventually won two Point-to-Points and placed in the first four in 12 others.
After being rested for a year, Right On Target produced her first filly, by Midnight Legend; but there was a sad aftermath when what initially appeared to be a post-foaling colic turned out to be a ‘broad ligament rupture’ from which the mare died the next day.
The foal was initially raised by hand and then with a foster mare, but grew into a strong, good-looking filly. Sold privately to trainer John Groucott, she remained unnamed for two years before running unplaced in a bumper at Bangor-on-Dee under the soubriquet of MIDNIGHT TARGET, which perhaps hadn’t taken quite all the intervening time to come up with. However, rather better was to come…
MIDNIGHT TARGET (Click for more information)