‘There was fair weight on that filly's shoulders’ - Silent Beauty kick-starts another busy sales season for Mountarmstrong Stud

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Important winners have been arriving in a well-timed flurry for Mountarmstrong Stud as the finishing touches are put on the yearlings booked in for the forthcoming sales around Britain and Ireland.

The O'Callaghan family's farm in County Tipperary's Golden Vale had one of the best results in its history at last year's Goffs Orby Sale when a Night Of Thunder filly made a cool €1,000,000 to Amo Racing.

Silent Beauty was so desirable because she was a daughter of Mountarmstrong homebred No Speak Alexander, a winner of the Matron Stakes and third in the Irish 1,000 Guineas during 2021.

Her daughter has collected on two of her three starts and took last month's Ripon Champion Two Yrs Old Trophy in decisive fashion.

That Listed win followed other promising results from the likes of Eve Johnson Houghton and Kennet Valley's Night In Vegas, who scooped the lucrative Tattersalls Somerville Auction Stakes, and an arresting performance from Great Wish at Deauville.

Shane Foley celebrates success in the 2021 Matron Stakes on No Speak AlexanderCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

The well-travelled Scandinavian sprinter, out of another of the Mountarmstrong brood carrying the Alexander nomenclature in the 2014 Queen Mary winner Anthem Alexander, destroyed his opposition from the front to score by four and a half lengths in the Group 3 Prix de Meautry.

It has all been music to the ears of Rob Tierney, Mountarmstrong's stud manager.

"You're always hoping for these nice updates, but to come in the last few weeks and so close to the sales is fantastic," he said. 

"With Silent Beauty there was such a big price tag, so there's always expectation and sometimes the bubble is burst, they don't live up to it.

"There was fair weight on that filly's shoulders. We thought she was a real queen at home, particularly prepping her. Her attitude, her lunge, the way she moved; she had charisma in the way she went around the place. The good ones are always that little bit different. They've got a bit of swagger."

Book 1 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale is the destination of Silent Beauty's half-sister, who is by Wootton Bassett and is due to be offered as lot 141.

"No Speak Alexander was kind of the last big star in the [home] colours and Silent Beauty was the first runner out of the mare, so it was very nice to get her off to such a good start," said Tierney.

"The Wootton Bassett is a fabulous filly. She's quite different to Silent Beauty, who wasn't over-big but was a pure powerhouse. This filly is bigger and an elegant kind of filly. She's taking everything really well. I'd be very hopeful she's a very nice horse as well."

Tierney reports No Speak Alexander to have produced a "beautiful" Blue Point filly this year and that she is back in foal to Night Of Thunder.

He is clearly fond of the Shalaa mare, for all that she keeps him on his toes. 

"Any of the good ones I've come across are a bit diva-ish," he laughed. "She's a formidable character. A grand mare to have, but she'll let you know when she's not happy."

‘You have to trust the process’

Tierney has around 20 yearlings to educate before they head to the sales in what is a staggered process.

"I bring them in sale-by sale and try to work ten weeks back from each sale," he said.

"The Fairyhouse ones are good to go. The Goffs ones are nearly there, and the Tatts ones have a little bit more to go. When you look at them every day, you're panicking sometimes that they don't all look the same, but you have to trust the process.

"At the end of ten weeks they invariably end up how you picture in your mind's eye that they should do, for all that there can always be some that you struggle with."

Those furthest up the chain set for the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale in Fairyhouse include a pair Tierney suspects could feature toward the head of the standings.

"There's a Starspangledbanner colt out of a mare called Evina [370]," he said. "It's a lovely Tally-Ho family. She's a Kodiac mare Ted Durcan bought for us.

"He's her first foal, a big, strong horse. Hopefully he can stand out a bit in Fairyhouse, and then we have a half-brother to the Italian 2,000 Guineas winner Grand Son Of Dark, by Good Guess [301]. He's a very nice type. I'd expect both of them to do well."

From Fairyhouse, the attention switches to Kildare Paddocks and another quintet of prospects at the Goffs Orby Sale.

Tierney said: "We've a Wootton Bassett filly out of Roca Roma [230], who was a smart filly herself, and I'd be excited about a Modern Games colt out of Batz [383]. I think he's a top-class horse.

"The sire is a bit of an unknown at the moment, but I think they'll be popular, and he seems the sort that everybody would be on."

The squad at Tattersalls October is the largest and includes two other members of Book 1.

"We've a lovely Blue Point colt out of a young mare we have called Posidonia [179]," said Tierney.

"He's a classy colt. We got 600,000gns for his brother by Night Of Thunder last year at Book 1 and he's a similar mould, a big, strong horse who is typical of the mare but also kind of typical of Blue Point, who gives that fine horse with loads of power.

"Then on the last day we've got one of the nicest physicals for the whole year in a Starspangledbanner filly who is the first foal out of a young Galileo mare called Whisper Again [325]. She is a daughter of Fleeting, the top Group 1 performer. This filly is a bit of a showstopper and we'd be very hopeful with her."

Bonus payout from Vegas

Night In Vegas is looking a sales snip for 60,000gns last year, having earned close to four times that sum in the sales race at Newmarket last month and also collecting a third in the Group 2 Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood.

His dam, the unraced Rock Of Gibraltar mare Strait Power, has a Minzaal filly engaged this time as lot 1467 in Book 3. 

"The mare throws them all kind of the same and she seems another good, tough filly, a real runner," said Tierney. "Night In Vegas has gone out and done it, got a bit of black type, and seems a very good horse.

Night In Vegas has earned plenty of rewards as a 60,000gns Tattersalls graduateCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

"We've got three by Mehmas in Book 2, including a half-sister to Great Wish out of Anthem Alexander [1105].

"I actually think Great Wish could be a real contender on Champions Day. He was beaten only a couple of lengths at Royal Ascot and he absolutely bolted up the other day. To win a sprint by that distance is fair going. 

"The half-sister is a May foal, but you wouldn't think it – she's got strength and loads of size, typical of what that family produces. They're all fast and she's another one in that mould.

"There's also a nice Sioux Nation there out of Flawless Jewel [484]. He's a half-brother to the Marygate winner Pillow Talk and also to El Bodon, who was second in the Greenham. I think we've something for everyone there, even just in Book 2!"

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