I was very focussed on the Fairyhouse Sales in November 2015 as Peter Hockenhull and I had just purchased Telescope, and I was determined to buy some mares to support his first year at stud. The sale contained a number of possibilities, but some carried reserves I considered excessive. So did other would-be purchasers, for they were led out unsold.
The first I targeted seriously was Unika La Reconce, who had won just one race but had an Official Rating of 131 that qualified her for the TBA Elite Mares Scheme. She was by a good stallion, Robin Des Champs, from a decent family, with several youngsters to run from her siblings (one later turned out to be the good chaser Black Corton) with good animals such as Grade 1 winner Djeddah under her grand-dam.
However, it was not just her racing record and pedigree that most drew us to her but her looks. She was a big, scopey mare with good limbs and a good walk, plus distinctive white hairs at the base of her tail (so-called ‘Birdcatcher ticks’) – basically, there was nothing to dislike about her. In fact, she reminded me more than any other mare I have met of La Perrotine.
I valued her at €20,000 but encouraged by ‘She Who Must Occasionally Be Obeyed’ (but only when I think she might be right) I went to €25,000, my final bid. It was enough. Afterwards we were told by the lad who had brought her to the sale from Willie Mullins’ Closutton Stables that Unika had shown serious ability for Mullins, being ‘the only one who could gallop with Hurricane Fly’. This may or may not have been the case – though the story was told after we had bought her, not before – and on her one run in England, in which she went wrong, she was 7-4 favourite and beaten only 6¼ lengths when trying to give Polly Peachum 21lb in a Listed hurdle.
To date, Unika has proved a very reliable broodmare – in fact probably too reliable for her own good since she gets in foal easily and has produced strong. good-looking foals every year; so she is yet to have a break from foaling. She is certainly due the one we ensured for her by resting her in 2025.
Her first foal, a big 2017 filly by Telescope, showed a lot of promise in pre-training with Denis Leahy but then developed a soft palate problem. A purportedly expert specialist vet performed a soft-palate cauterisation and ‘tie-forward’ operation, but this failed to solve the problem, so it would not be possible to race her. Accordingly, we brought her home and trained her for show-jumping, in which she showed real promise, jumping 1.10m and 1.20m fences as a 5YO.
Then Dorte began to notice that she seemed to be struggling with her breathing when being exercised. We had her checked by a more expert local vet, who found that the operation in Ireland had proved disastrous. Some of the ties had broken and created abrasions on which sizeable cysts had formed, making it difficult for her to breathe. One of the cysts appeared to be malignant, and the prognosis was poor.
When we were aiming to race the filly we intended to name her ‘Candleinthewind’, but that seemed a bad choice of name for a horse with a wind problem; so we registered her as ‘Candela di Magica’. Sadly, the outcome for ‘Candle’ was far from magical.
Unika’s next foal was another filly by Telescope who we sold to Patrick Fennessy for £7,500 at the DBS January Sale as an early yearling. The buyer made a useful profit when he resold her for £21,000 to trainer Ben Case 30 months later. Named Unika Etoile, she showed promise in her first race early in her 5YO year, beaten only 8 lengths by the winner when 7th in a NH Flat Race.
Since Ben is a patient trainer, this was a good start. However, the mare suffered a setback after this race; but she seemed to have recovered after her her summer break, with Ben hoping to race her in the 2023/24 season. However, the problem resurfaced and she had to be retired from racing without running again. Unika’s first two foals didn’t give her the ideal start to her breeding career!
In 2019 Unika produced a big, handsome colt by Dartmouth, sold for €35,000 to Ben Case acting for Lady Jane Grosvenor at the Tatts Ireland November Sale. 30 months later he was resold at Goffs May Store Sale, looking outstanding but impacted by being declared a ‘weaver’, for £42,000 to go to trainer Nick Gifford.
Named Grand Sabre, he was well behind on his first run in the competitive DBS Bumper as a 4YO at Newbury in March, then ran very much better to be a good sixth of 13, at odds of 150-1, in another Newbury Bumper in November, gaining an RPR of 92. However, his results over hurdles and fences did not live up to this early promise, and no ratings approaching the 92 of his bumper career. Significant improvement is needed unless he is to be viewed as a serious disappointment.
Unika’s 2020 colt by Dartmouth again brought good money as a foal, fetching €24,000 from Lulham Bloodstock, who sold him on for £43,000 as a 3YO. Named Sogna In Grande (‘Dream Big’ in Spanish) he began with Irish trainer Cormac Doyle for the Monbeg syndicate, but eventually came to England where he first placed second in a Point-to-Point before winning one by 8 lengths and selling for £75,000. On his debut for Kim Bailey in November 2025 he showed great promise by winning a competitive Warwick Novice Hurdle, jumping very well, running on strongly and looking seriously handsome.
Unika’s next three offspring were all sold as foals, being a colt by Dartmouth (€8,000), a colt by Telescope (€10,000) and a filly by Logician (also €10,000). She has a 2024 chestnut filly by Logician who we have retained to race ourselves; and her 2025 filly is by Capri.
The initial €5,000 I paid over my budget for Unika has proved worthwhile in commercial terms, for to date returns from sales of her progeny have totalled just under €100,000 – all from stallions for whom I didn’t have to pay stud fees! However, more recent returns failed to match those from her first two colts, doubtless impacted by early setbacks for her offspring. Her ongoing commercial success will depend significantly on Sogna In Grande; and both he and those following him will need to step up considerably if my initial impression that Unika La Reconce could become ‘the new La Perrotine’ is not to turn out well wide of the mark.
Our defining aim in breeding thoroughbreds is not primarily commercial but to breed top-class racehorses whilst not going bust doing so. Unika has undoubtedly helped with the second element, but now I would very much like to see her contribute just as effectively to the first.