Cover image courtesy of Sportpix

The Ingham - $2 million up for grabs

It's a big pay day for one set of lucky connections on Saturday with the running of the G2 Ingham at Randwick into its third year; a rebranded version of The Villiers which goes way back into the 1890s.

Four last start stakes winners make this a competitive race with the well-related Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto {USA}) favourite to make it three in a row on the back of dominant victories in feature contests at his last two outings.

Both times he did a good job from wide draws, well ridden by Tommy Berry who is once again aboard.

Gringotts was born in 2019 when the career of his close relation Winx (Street Cry {Ire}) was in full swing and it is a cross working well; he being by a son of Street Cry out of a granddaughter of that champ's grandam Vegas Magic (Voodoo Rhythm {USA}).

Private Eye (Al Maher) was back in stunning winning form in the G3 Festival S. last time out and looks a top chance make it two in a row. Port Lockroy (Better Than Ready) returns from a successful sojourn to Perth taking out the G1 Railway S. whilst New Energy (Ire) (New Bay {GB}) was tough winning the G3 Eclipse S. on Heavy going.

Steparty (Artie Schiller {USA}) has been racing in fine form of late and is due another win whilst Encap (Capitalist) was not far away behind Gringotts in The Gong.

Gallery: Some of the other high-class runners in The Ingham

Grand Prix S. - a Classic lead-up

An 1800-metre race for the 3-year-olds, the G3 Grand Prix S. at Eagle Farm has some rather nice horses on its honour roll, won by the likes of Balmerino (NZ) and his relation Surround (NZ) (Sovereign Edition {Ire}) as well as by the great Kingston Town (Bletchingly).

In the last couple of decades it has been taken out by the subsequent Group 1 winners Hawkspur (Purrealist), Sirmione (Encosta De Lago), Brambles (NZ) (Savabeel), Ice Chariot (Semipalatinsk {USA}), Distinctly Secret (NZ) (Distinctly North {USA}) and Half Hennessy.

Several of those horses enjoyed their moment in the Group 1 sun winning the G1 Queensland Derby, back when this race was run as a May lead-up to that race. Since its move in 2020 it has twice been won by horses who have gone on to enjoy Classics the following year; Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) and Gypsy Goddess (NZ) (Tarzino {NZ}).

Gallery: Horses that won the G3 Grand Prix S. and excelled in the classics the following year

Favourite to take the prize this year is the lightly raced and promising Moon Sweeper (Puissance De Lune {Ire}) who has looked good winning two of his first three starts for the Matthew Dunn stable. He has the services of Damien Thornton who won this race last year aboard Encoder (Encryption).

Apuntar (The Mission) led Moon Sweeper last time out and tried hard finishing second. He is as honest as the come, finishing first or second at each of his last four starts. Sun Worshipper (Sun City) was good to the line when third in the same race, the City To Surf at Doomben.

Squeezebox (Epaulette) also boasts a consistent record with James Cummings seeking his first win in a race won by his grandfather with Sirmione 17 years ago. Chris Waller meanwhile has won this race five times, most recently with Kovalica two years ago and he saddles up Bluepinot (Blue Point {Ire}) who comes off an easy Doomben maiden victory on Heavy going.

Group racing at Te Rapa - the Isuzu S., the J Swap Sprint and the Waikato Cup

It's a strong card at Te Rapa on Saturday with the first of the program's three Group races being the G2 Isuzu S., a 1600-metre weight-for-age contest for fillies and mares.

It is a race which has been won by the same horse only twice, a feat being contested by last year's winner Campionessa (NZ) (Contributer {Ire}) who remains in good form at the age of seven.

She is one of the main fancies, but she does face stiff competition in the shape of Snazzytavi (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) who has been in flying form winning her last two including the G1 Livamol Classic in which she did a great job from a tricky outside gate.

A Group 3 race over 1400 metres, the G3 J Swap Sprint sees four horses open at single-figure odds. Favourite is Jaarffi (NZ) (Iffraaj {GB}) who has built a good record winning four of 12 whilst also strongly fancied are Witz End (NZ) (Savabeel) who can be forgiven his latest unplaced run after working early and Karman Line (NZ) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) who found trouble in running when resuming.

The only last start winner in the race is What You Wish For (NZ) (Embellish {NZ}) who is up in class but coming along well.

Gallery: Some of the horses at single-figure odds, images courtesy of Kenton Wright (Race Images)

The G3 Waikato Cup, a 2400-metre contest with a history going back to the early 1900s, is an even race this year. So much so that seven of a field of 13 have opened up at single-figure odds.

Early favourite is The Odyssey (NZ) (Zacinto {GB}) who keeps racing well whilst Canheroc (NZ) (El Roca) and Enright (NZ) (Power {GB}) also boast consistent recent records.

Ess Vee Are (NZ) (Shocking) struck severe interference in the G3 Counties Cup and is capable of bouncing back whilst Testify Me (NZ) (Atlante) charged home late in the Listed Wanganui Cup. Outovstock (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) was good despite racing a touch keenly last time out and Blue Sky At Night (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}) comes off a tough win at Pukekohe Park.

R. Listed Inglis Nursery - a future Group 1 star?

This race for Inglis graduates may be a young race but it already boasts an excellent record, won by the subsequent Group 1 winners She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain), Extreme Choice and Wild Ruler.

Five of this year's 15 contestants have already raced, two of those coming off debut victories; the favourite Within The Law (Lucky Vega {Ire}) who won another Inglis feature at Flemington on Champions Day and Gobi Desert (Too Darn Hot {GB}) who took out the Max Lees Classic at Newcastle in mid-November.

Gallery: Two of the runners in the R. Listed Inglis Nursery coming off debut victories

Lucky Vega is one of the four first-season sires represented in the race, the other runners by up-and-comers being Telling (Graff) who comes off a Newcastle maiden debut third, Cobra Club (Cool Aza Beel {NZ}) who has been in the placings in two Randwick trials and Farset (Farnan) who was only just beaten in a Canterbury trial.

Gobi Desert and Farset are the most expensive horses in the line-up; the former a $600,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale graduate whilst the latter made his way through the ring on two occasions, fetching $180,000 at the Inglis Australian Weanling Sale and $400,000 at the Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale.

There are trial winners amongst the first starters, Imaginate (Written Tycoon) at Traralgon for Lindsay Park, Deep Affection (Street Boss {USA}) for John Thompson, Cantiamo (Too Darn Hot {GB}) for Kris Lees and Artistic Venture (Trapeze Artist) for John O'Shea and Tom Charlton.

Gallery: Some of the runners by first-season sires, images courtesy of Georgia Young Photography

O'Shea has already won the race on two occasions, with Irish Bet (Smart Missile) in 2017 and Saltaire (Star Turn) two years ago.

Magic Millions VIC 2YO Classic - plenty of good jump-out form

There is further sales company 2-year-old action at Caulfield, an 1100-metre event that used to be run on Ballarat Cup Day.

None of the 10 runners have won a race as yet with three having already faced the starter including the favourite Bacash (Cosmic Force) who was wide when fifth in Listed company at debut, improving into a G3 Maribyrnong Plate second on Melbourne Cup Day.

Bombay Boom (Spirit Of Boom) is one of the others to have raced, in the market at Rosehill late last month only to strike rain affected going.

Gold Decree (Farnan) and Wise Inlaw (Wootton Bassett {GB}) are the runners by first-season sires, the former a two-time Cranbourne jump-out winner whilst the latter has been unplaced in a Pakenham jump-out and a Traralgon trial but not asked for much.

Valle Di Luce (Castelvecchio), Invincible Woman (I Am Invincible), Zouclaire (Zousain) and Raison D'rose (Blue Point {Ire}) all have jump-out victories to their name.

Having been unplaced at debut, Maldini (Too Darn Hot {GB}) is the outsider of the field, but he has the distinction of being the most expensive of the runners; sold for $500,000 at the Magic Millions.

Listed Gold Edition Plate - a young race with a good history

First run as a Listed event in 2010, this 1200-metre 3-year-old contest has on 10 occasions been taken out by horses who have gone on to enjoy further stakes success.

Seven-time Group 1 winner Alligator Blood (All Too Hard) is amongst that tally as are Into The Red (Not A Single Doubt), Sold For Song (Collate), Zoustyle (Zoustar), Isotope (Deep Field), Whypeeo (I Am Invincible), Winning Rupert, Sizzling, Biggles (Jet Spur), Adebisi (Shovhog) and last year's winner Abounding (Rich Enuff).

The unbeaten Scripted (Written By) has opened favourite on the back of her two smart performances at Lismore and Doomben whilst also well-fancied is Kahlisee (Dracarys) who made the pace when second in the Listed Mode S. a couple of weeks ago.

Gallery: The most well-fancied runners in the Listed Gold Edition Plate, images courtesy of Trackside Photography

Another Hellbent in Hella Fast is two from two, both at Eagle Farm whilst She Ours (Merchant Navy) was a tough third in the Mode.

Socrazyinlove (I Am Invincible) was not far away when fourth in that race and the descendant of the great Eight Carat (GB) (Pieces Of Eight {Ire}) is the most expensive of these runners; topping last year's Inglis Premier Yearling Sale at $1.1 million.

Thoroughbreds are practically in Kiwi expat Sophie Titter’s DNA. When she was a child, her mother and brother worked for fellow Kiwi Paul Belsham, and it was here that Titter got her first taste for the horse world.

“Pretty much my earliest memories are of being a 4-year-old running around Paul Belsham’s stable,” Titter told TTR AusNZ. “I think everyone had to save me, more times than I was actually helpful!”

Titter grew up immersed in racing; her mother worked for the Queen Mother in England, and all manner of relatives from her grandfather to her brother were jockeys or rode trackwork. It seemed inevitable that she would become another family member to take to the saddle. At age 14, she started working for a trainer and quickly learned the ropes of racehorse care.

Over to Australia

When she was 16, Titter knew she wasn’t set on a conventional educational path and she made the leap across the Tasman to Australia.

“I definitely wasn't going to go to university,” she said. “I wasn't going to do anything like that. I knew that horses were going to be my career.

“I sent my CV over here, as where we were, there weren't as many stud opportunities, So I got into contact with a stud over here that was looking for workers.”

That stud would be Stuart Ramsey’s Turangga Farm, at the time a renowned racehorse nursery in the Hunter Valley. Over the years, the farm has produced many top level horses, including Hong Kong Horse of the Year Able Friend (Shamardal {USA}), Sun Stud’s late stallion Fighting Sun, and, in recent years, his G1 TS Smith S.-winning daughter Chain Of Lightning.

The stallion Trusting spent much of his career based at Turangga, followed by Better Land, a winning son of the late Amelia’s Dream (Redoute’s Choice). Titter wasted no time in taking up their offer - jumping on a plane and arriving in Scone within eleven days of taking the job.

Ultimately Titter stayed almost three years at the boutique operation, rotating between all areas of the stud as the season demanded. The small setup suited her well, building her skills across stud life from yearling sales to foaling down mares, and everything in between.

Downsizing and upsizing

In 2017, Turangga Stud was set to disperse as Ramsey downsized his operation as his son John set to establish himself more independently in the industry, and much of the broodmare band was sold, including Listed Gimcrack S. winner Brilliant Bisc (Elvstroem), who sold to Sir Owen Glenn’s Go Bloodstock for $600,000, smashing the previous record for public auction at Scone’s sale yards.

The staff also dispersed, Titter first went down the road to Toolooganvale Broodmare Farm, owned by Geoffrey Harris, for a year. The farm has produced the likes of Group 2-winning Savanna Amour (Love Conquers All), G2 Skyline S. winner Promitto (Divine Prophet), and Nothingilikemore (Husson {Arg}), a rare successful filly in Hong Kong who took out the Listed Hong Kong Classic Mile.

“It was another boutique stud, so you did everything,” Titter said, which suited her skillset and personality well. The following year, she spent a few months at Newgate Farm, when the operation was still split across three locations including Wakefield Stud. Capitalist and Flying Artie’s first foals arrived in her time working with the Newgate broodmares, among them G2 Ajax S. winner Democracy Manifest (Flying Artie) and Marine One, who now stands at stud at Mogumber Park.

“The reason I went to Newgate was just to try a bigger stud and see if it was the kind of thing I was wanting to do, whether there was a sector that I wanted to stay within,” Titter said. But it ultimately wasn’t the perfect fit for her - she craved the variety and rotation of a smaller operation.

So when John Ramsey approached her with a job offer, Titter pivoted back to racing. Initially she worked for Ramsey at Scone Racetrack - where the trainer prepared Never Listen (Trusting) to leap in one preparation from a Scone maiden win to running second in the G1 VRC Oaks to Miami Bound (Reliable Man {GB}) - until Ramsey sold his trackside stables in 2020 and returned to Turangga Farm.

“I really do enjoy the racing side of things,” she said. “It's different, but it's enjoyable, even though you've got your early mornings and you could be coming back from races in the middle of the night.”

“It's exciting. You get nervous, even though they're not your horses.”

Sea change

In July of last year, Titter made the move south to Two Bays Farm in Victoria, a far cry from the Valley where she had spent so many years establishing her. The offer of work at the boutique establishment came at the perfect time.

“Someone mentioned me to them, and then mentioned them to me,” Titter said. “I was looking to move out of Scone anyway because I’d been there since I was 16, and I hadn’t really seen too much of Australia.

“So it was kind of perfect - and the Mornington Peninsula is just amazing. It’s a small team, so there’s a lot of solo work, which suits me.”

Titter’s sea change came with a title change to assistant manager at Two Bays, and with it, a return to the holistic kind of stud life that she prefers. Established in 2012 by Ross Ferris, Two Bays Farm delivers around 10 foals a season, and offers boutique yearling preparation and broodmare agistment.

“We have had a really good season,” she said. “We had a really successful Melbourne Premier sale, and then our weanling sale knocked it out of the park.”

Two Bays achieved their greatest yearling price to date when they prepared and sold an Alabama Express daughter of Lucy’s Look (Lonhro) at the Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale this year, where Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, Kestrel Thoroughbreds, and Brad Mccarthy Bloodstock paid $370,000 for the filly. An incredible victory from a mare who was bought by her owners Manner Lodge Thoroughbreds for $8,000 in 2022.

Titter is excited to see the first crop of Two Bays foals that she has had a hand in bringing into the world arrive at the yearling sales next year. A Street Boss (USA) colt out of city winner Foxpack (Foxwedge) is a highlight of the 2023 foal crop for her.

“We sold him to Segenhoe at the weanling sales,” she recalled. “He was an absolutely cracking colt. He’s headed to (Gold Coast) Magic Millions, and I’m very excited to see him sell.

“It’s exciting to see a horse with our brand going up to Magics and hopefully selling well.”

A good teacher

The real highlight of her job, however, is inspiring and teaching the next generation. Titter was nominated for and received the Thoroughbred Breeders Victoria Stud Staff Support Line Rising Star Award at the end of the 2023/24 season for her hard work and dedication to teaching her staff.

“It was Rob (Carlisle), my manager, who nominated me,” Titter said. “They're an amazing farm to work for (in regards to) recognition - even just saying thank you and everything.”

Passing skills on is deeply important to Titter.

“I really do love being able to do hands-on teaching with people, and having that time to do it, because I find that gets lost in a lot of places that have a lot of staff,” she said. “Often no one (there) has the time to stand there and give someone a go at doing something, because it's just easier to do it yourself.

“The only way you can get somewhere is if someone has taught you or someone's given you the time and the opportunity to do it.”

While she also hopes that Two Bays can continue to flourish in the spotlight, her passion lies in ensuring the next generation of industry participants benefit from her experience and the opportunities that others have given her.

“I've been very lucky that people have given me a shot, and been willing to teach me and the people that I've worked alongside have been good teachers, but I know that's not the case everywhere. I just want to be one of those people that someone one day says, ‘They taught me a lot’.”

Cover Image courtesy of Yeomanstown Stud

Thirty-five years after setting up in the stallion business, Gay and Annette O'Callaghan's Yeomanstown Stud can look forward to an extra special Christmas celebration as the family toasts its homegrown hero Dark Angel (Ire), the 2024 champion sire of Britain and Ireland.

For anyone who has watched the tenacity with which Gay works the sales in tandem with his sons David, Guy and Robert, and often with Peter back over from America, it is easy to predict that the celebration won't last long. For soon there will be mares to be foaled, and mares to be booked, not least to the farm's latest recruit, the G1 July Cup winner Mill Stream (Ire).

Moreover, it is simply not the O'Callaghan way to sit around slapping each on the back. That said, there must be ample satisfaction in securing a first championship with a horse bred at the farm – from a mare sourced for just €12,000 (AU$19,700) – who went on to become a Group 1-winning 2-year-old and was later bought back for stud duties. Since the stallion wing has been in operation, based at the family's Morristown Lattin Stud but now branded solely as Yeomanstown, only Coolmore, Darley and Juddmonte have stood a champion sire.

A stranglehold from the major farms

Frankel (GB) broke the 31-year stranglehold of Coolmore when winning his first championship in 2021. Prior to that it had been passed between Sadler's Wells (USA), Caerleon (USA), Danehill (USA), Danehill Dancer (Ire) and Galileo (Ire), with Sadler's Wells landing 14 of those titles and Galileo 12. Frankel is now a dual champion, with Dubawi (Ire) having been crowned champion in 2022, meaning that the title stayed in Britain for three consecutive years after a long drought. This, then, is a significant achievement as the laurels return to Ireland, but to Kildare rather than Tipperary.

Dark Angel's rise to the top

“He did it the hard way,” says Gay O'Callaghan of his champion after being herded, along with David, Guy and Robert, into a meeting room at Tattersalls during the mares' sale. Separating these men from the sale ring is no mean feat, so Gay's next line makes this interviewer's heart drop a little, when he adds, “He did it and nobody else did it for him. That's all I can say.”

Encouragingly, though, he soon warms to the topic and is spurred on by his sons, the gang of four often completing each other's sentences, which is perhaps not completely surprising from a family which works as such a tight-knit pack.

“I think what's especially good is the fact that he's a sprinter-miler sire,” notes David. “Those 10, 12-furlong races generally have the bigger prizemoney, so to be able to do it, generally just between six furlongs to a mile, it makes it extra special.”

Gay adds, “You have to win twice as many races.”

Fortunately, one of the hallmarks of Dark Angel's offspring tends to be their durability. He was himself kept pretty busy as a juvenile, running nine times from mid-April, with his four wins including the G1 Middle Park Stakes and G2 Mill Reef Stakes. His disappearance from the track after that season was no reflection on his ability, more on the lack of opportunities for 3-year-old sprinters at the time. The racing programme has been enhanced in this regard in the intervening years, in part because of the consternation caused by Dark Angel's retirement to stud at the age of three back in 2008.

“They're very sound. And they seem to improve from two to three, three to four,” says Gay of Dark Angel's stock. “I mean, if they have a reasonable amount of ability too, they seem to progress and progress on a year-on-year basis.

“Take Charyn. From two to three to four, he got better and better. And I have no doubt if he raced next year, he would have won a Group 1 again.”

While they agree that they would have loved to see Charyn continue his racing career as a five-year-old, the O'Callaghans, perhaps more than anyone, are aware of the balance that must be struck when it comes to retiring a stallion at the right time to optimise his popularity with breeders.

“To rewind to the Dark Angel retiring at two for a second, it's a different landscape now, in so far as, within a couple of years, because of, say, Holy Roman Emperor and him – they were the two high-profile ones around the time – it forced a change in the racing programme,” says David. “The Sandy Lane went from a Listed race to a Group 2, the Commonwealth Cup was brought in, and all of a sudden there was a 3-year-old (sprint) program. Because what had been happening historically was the 3-year-olds got swallowed up by the 4-year-olds or the older horses for the season. And if they came out of it the other side, they could compete at four, but it actually was to their detriment, and trying to compete with those horses actually finished them.

“So, for all that we got criticised, there wasn't a 3-year-old program, and if you'd raced as much as Dark Angel did at two, what were you supposed to do at three? Usually, fellas just gave them one or two runs at three and waited until they were four. But we certainly weren't going to wait until the end of his 4-year-old career. We needed a stallion.”

Guy adds, “And with Dark Angel, obviously Gay had bred him, so we had a very close relationship with the horse, so he meant a lot to us, and it made sense in our minds straightaway. Whereas it shocked a lot of people at the time, for us it was just so obvious.”

Charyn has been a poster boy

Another horse close to the family's hearts, Charyn (Ire), has very much been this year's poster boy for Dark Angel, with a season that combined that trademark toughness – kicking off on the opening day of the turf season at Doncaster – and including Group 1 victories at Deauville, Royal Ascot and on Champions Day. He too was bred by the O'Callaghan family, under the banner of Guy's Grangemore Stud.

Charyn may now be ensconced at Sumbe's Haras de Montfort & Preaux, alongside another multiple Group 1-winning son of Dark Angel, Angel Bleu (Fr), but there should still be excitement to come from this particular family. Nurlan Bizakov of Sumbe also owns Charyn's 2-year-old sister, who commanded 850,000gns (AU$1.8 million) at Book 1 last year, while the price for the current yearling climbed even higher. She was sold by Grangemore to Godolphin in October for 2.9 million gns (AU$6 million).

Not many make it to the top

It may all look so easy now, with Dark Angel having bestowed much kudos on Yeomanstown in his tenure there, but as every stallion master will tell you, the only thing you know about stallions is that you don't know where the next good one will come from. The old maxim is that only one in ten makes it.

“One in 20, I'd say,” chips in Guy.

His father adds, “The first horse we ever stood was very successful, Common Grounds. Again, from a very humble beginning, covering 43 or 44 mares his first year because he raced in France, and there wasn't as much known about the French racing at that stage as there is now. So I know a few people went to see him, and they didn't like him.

“I remember the day we went to see him, we had to stand up in a dung heap and get him to walk around us to see if he could walk or not. But anyway, he wasn't a great walker. But he was quite successful.”

Bred by Stavros Niarchos, Common Grounds (GB), a son of Kris (GB), was France's champion two-year-old of 1987, winning the G1 Prix de la Salamandre and finishing runner-up in the G1 Prix Morny. He sired the Yeomanstown-bred Bad As I Wanna Be (Ire), who won the Prix Morny for Brian Meehan in 2000, the year Common Grounds moved to stand in Turkey.

“I suppose that would be the biggest mistake we ever made, I think, was selling him,” Gay reflects. “But you learn from these things, because to have got him to that pitch and to sell him was a monumental mistake. I know we were offered a lot of money for him and we had a nice purse but it was still a huge mistake.

“But, you know, he wasn't gone out the door when we knew it was a mistake, when we looked around to try and replace him. But anyway, that's history now.”

Indeed it is, and the stud business is largely about looking forward, to the next crop of foals, the next batch of runners, the longed-for star act. For Yeomanstown, there is plenty on the horizon.

Yeomanstown's other sires

Alongside Dark Angel stands the Classic-placed miler Shaman (Ire), by Shamardal, whose first 3-year-olds will be in action in 2025, while Dark Angel's fellow Middle Park winner Supremacy (Ire), one of the first sons of the rising star Mehmas (Ire) at stud, will have his first crop of juveniles at the track. Then there's Mill Stream (USA), who is about to embark on his first covering season.

With a number of the top horses each year already under the control of major owner-breeder operations, it is becoming harder for the independent stallion farms to recruit new talent. So just how early in a racehorse's career are they put on the watch list?

Gallery: Some of the sires standing at Yeomanstown Stud

“I suppose once they get their first Group win, and if they are by something good, you kind of follow along,” says Robert. “But you can't go buying a heap of maiden winners and Listed winners in the hope they're going to turn into something. You nearly have to wait until they actually win a Group 1. You can waste a lot of money quickly on promising looking horses that never do anything ever again. That's a high-risk strategy.”

David adds, “A prime example would be Kind Of Blue at the end of the season. A lot of people would have loved the idea of him. And he had been knocking on the door. Somebody came in and bought him (Wathnan Racing) and he went and won the Group 1 the next day. So, it's a great success, but in so many of those cases, a horse with a similar profile doesn't win the Group 1 and all of a sudden, you're left carrying the can. The horse is not worth anything like what you may have paid for him. So, you know, well done to them. But it's a very risky business, buying them just before they do it. Inevitably, in the long run, you're better off to wait until it's done, and it makes them harder to buy, but not all that much, as in, potential is always worth an awful lot anyway.

“So, it's so hard to get the balance right. But generally, once they have it done, at least there's no doubt. As opposed to, there's so many horses get close and don't quite get over the line.”

Gay speaks from experience when he notes, “I'd say the biggest problem is finding horses that will be sold, because there are two very big outfits that have huge power, and they inevitably turn up with a really good 2-year-old or 3-year-old. So, in that case, you're getting something that falls in the middle a little bit. Take Mill Stream – Peter Harris is a single owner and he's quite an elderly man now, so I thought he'd race him next year, and so did the trainer.”

Mill Stream to debut in 2025

Mill Stream, just like Charyn, has unquestionably had his best season as a 4-year-old, winning the G2 Duke of York Stakes and finishing third in the G1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee S. before his July Cup triumph. The most expensive yearling by his sire Gleneagles (Ire) in 2021 when sold for 350,000gns (AU$729,000) to Anthony Stroud by his breeder Jimmy Murphy of Redpender Stud, he was obviously a looker from the start.

David says, “Most people actually remember him as a yearling here (at Tattersalls), because he made a big price. He was a very talked-about horse at the sale.

“Gleneagles was a champion 2-year-old, he was a precocious horse himself and won two Guineas. He was always going to get a few fast ones and this horse is from a very fast family on the dam's side. So, you know, he actually fits into that mould, because he's a big, beautiful horse with strength and scope, so hopefully he'll get the same kind of horses as Dark Angel was getting: sprinters who will stay a mile. You wouldn't imagine he would be pigeonholed as a five-furlong, six-furlong sprinter.”

Peter Harris, who turned 90 in March, will also be returning to the breeding fold to support Mill Stream. The former trainer was also a highly successful breeder at his Pendley Farm, which boasts yet another Middle Park winner, Primo Valentino (Ire), as one of its star graduates for Harris.

Robert adds, “Since we bought Mill Stream, we've met Peter Harris a few times and his enthusiasm is just amazing. He has a genuine passion for the game.”

Mill Stream is out of the Hellvelyn (GB) mare Swirral Edge (GB), a winning 2-year-old herself who notched a notable double when her sons Mill Stream and the G2 Richmond Stakes winner Asymmetric (Ire) (Showcasing {GB}) won consecutive Listed races in Deauville on the same day in August 2023. The O'Callaghans picked up another member of her family at Tattersalls in July when buying Rare Jewel (GB) (Exceed And Excel), out of the mare's half-sister Fashion Queen (GB) (Aqlaam {GB}) and in foal to Shaquille (GB), for 125,000gns (AU$260,000).

“It's such a very good family,” says David. “A lot of very fast, good-looking yearlings came out of that family. It's been on the commercial breeders' radar for a long time, so hopefully they'll appreciate it. And we're well invested in the family now.”

Robert admits that, though the brothers may differ when selecting mares, foals or yearlings, when it comes to buying stallions they are “singing from the same hymn sheet”.

David adds, “Well, if we can't agree on what stallion to buy, how are we going to expect to get support from the breeders? It kind of needs to be a no-brainer. So it has to make sense on every level for us, and then it will make good sense for them.”

One thing that they can certainly agree on is that, no matter the flak they may have taken for it at the time, the best decision ever made by the Yeomanstown team was to bring Dark Angel back to the farm.

Gay says, “I suppose basically he did it with a common or garden mares. He didn't have the blueblooded mares at his fingertips the whole time. He was made by small breeders. He didn't cover a lot of mares the first year, about 65, I think it was. There were some articles written, saying that he shouldn't have gone to stud, and that hurt us at the time.”

Clearly still affronted by that response, he adds, “That did hurt. But he's 20 at the turn of the year, and he has earned it. He's been everything to us.”