There was an excellent selection of NH broodmares at the DBS November Sale in 2002 and we intended to purchase at least one of them. Amongst the least affordable on my list were Native Bid (unsold at 44,000 gns, who later bred Black-Type Winners Beware Of The Bear, Mayfair Music and Stephanie Kate, along with Black-Type Placed Oscar Nominee) and Miss Orchestra (sold for 42,000 gns, later dam of BTWs Battlecry and Value At Risk). I bid on Hannigan’s Lodger and Deb’s Ball, though without much determination, and ‘bought’ Just Jenny (later returned as a ‘weaver’) after she was initially unsold.
Just Beautiful was on my original shortlist but was one of the first rejected. Even to my then untutored eye she had a plain head, long back and hocks that were well away from her. True, her dam and two half-brothers had been Black-Type Winners and she had proved sound enough to race 54 times (though fast enough to win only one of these). However, her conformation was such that any stallion chosen for her would have to compensate for too many problems, so she was out.
That was until later on, when Sandra commented that Alfie Buller had made a very good buy in paying only 12,000 guineas for her. She was carrying a foal by his stallion Exit To Nowhere, a very good-looking horse then showing considerable promise (later unfulfilled) of being a good NH sire. Surely, Alfie knew what he was doing? Reservations were overcome in the thrill of doing a deal; and I approached Alfie to ask if we could buy the mare from him but foal her at his stud, cover her again by Exit To Nowhere and share the proceeds from the foal she was carrying. Always happy to encourage naive new breeding enthusiasts, he agreed.
But Just Beautiful proved to be the one of the unluckiest broodmares we ever owned. Amongst her misfortunes were:
- Her first offspring, the colt by Exit To Nowhere that she was carrying when we bought her, was a very weak foal that struggled to get up for several days. He eventually recovered well enough to sell (back to Alfie Buller) for 8,500 gns at the Doncaster Foal Sale, but died as a two-year-old of a condition described by Alfie’s assistant, Caroline Kennealy, as: “Twas his brain.”
- Her third foal was a colt by Beat All that grew into a good-looking three-year-old that was entered for the DBS May Store Sale. One morning Juliet Minton, who was preparing him, called us to announce that: “We’ve had a bit of a drama here this morning.” The ‘drama’ was apparently that the horse had slipped, broken a hind leg and was no more. Interesting way to break the news!
- Her next colt, by Kayf Tara, was born with the weakest hind pasterns I have ever seen, requiring ‘ski shoes’ to prevent them scraping the floor. Eventually these, together with bandaging of the pasterns, helped nature effect her miracles and he grew into a big, healthy horse, but with far too much of his mother’s back and hock conformation to be attractive to prospective buyers. He was unsold as a store and, despite placing in his first two Point-to-Points when trained by Denis Leahy, brought only £18,000 at a Brightwells auction. Named Wicker Man, he moved smoothly through to lead five out in his first novice hurdle; but when shaken up to repel a challenge he stepped at the third last, fell and broke his neck.
- Her last foal was born without warning. ‘Beauty’ was in a foaling box but this hadn’t been covered in deep straw, since foaling did not seem imminent. One morning we found a filly foal that had been unable to get up but who, in struggling to do so, had badly cut her off-hind around the hock. The tendon in this area became infected so badly that it had to be removed. However, the filly was saved and was sold cheaply to the vet that saved her, who later trained her himself to finish second in her only race at four; but she didn’t race again until unsuccessful at the age of ten. Her owner was apparently more gifted in veterinary matters than in imagination, for being by Fair Mix she was named Beautiful Mix.
- In addition, ‘Beauty’ got in foal to Old Vic but was empty on October 1st; she produced a stillborn foal by Fair Mix, one of only two Sandra and I ever had; and a very nice filly foal by Tikkanen who developed severe ulcers and had to be put down.
Not much luckier was Beauty’s filly foal by Generous, named Super Generous. She was unplaced, though showing some ability, in three Irish bumpers but developed a wind affliction. She was not persisted with as either a racehorse or a broodmare.
The only one of Beauty’s foals to win any sort of race was her second foal, a filly by Exit To Nowhere named River Beauty, who brought only marginally more than the stud fee it took to produce her when she was sold as a foal, but then made 16,000 guineas more as a 3YO. River Beauty showed promise as a 4YO by placing in three bumpers, but then suffered tendon problems that necessitated almost two years off. Her first comeback run was another bumper placing, but after that the promise had clearly gone and she was sold on for only £500 at Ascot. For her new connections she later managed to win two Point-to-Points at the age of eight, after which her trainer described her as having ‘legs like glass’. As a broodmare, she produced four foals, with just one moderate winner (of a single race in 26 runs) by the worst stallion she visited, the somewhat inappropriately-named Aeroplane.
Increasingly suffering trouble from suspensory problems in her hocks, Just Beautiful was euthanised in October 2012. She was a tough, honest mare with a good temperament, but fate did not treat her offspring kindly.