Castlefarm Stud hope for more of the same after Shalaa and half-sister results

Six years ago Castlefarm Stud took two Invincible Spirit colts to the Tattersalls December Foal Sale. They went on to make 120,000gns and 100,000gns, the latter being named Shalaa and going on to win the Prix Morny and Middle Park and be Europe’s champion two-year-old of 2015.

Now a stallion for Al Shaqab at Haras de Bouquetot, Shalaa has his second crop of foals selling this week and Castlefarm Stud returns with nine foals, including a relative of Shalaa, but Aisling and Mark Gittins’ Narraghmore farm has moved on to another phase in its evolution.

Their Dubawi half-sister to Shalaa became their most expensive sale when making 700,000gns to Godolphin during Book 1 and took them to a higher plane.

“We had good yearling sales, especially with the filly, which was great because we specialise more in selling foals,” explains Mark Gittins. “We were delighted she ended up with Godolphin and I think Charlie Appleby is training her.

“To have a sale like that was great recognition for the team here, and all their hard work. It’s not easy to go to Book 1 and take on the major consignors and be successful, so for us to do that was fantastic.”

Ghurra, dam of Shalaa and the Dubawi yearling, has a Galileo colt who the couple have kept for next year’s yearling sale, and she is back in foal to Invincible Spirit, so carrying a full-sibling to the champion.

“We have a few nice mares retiring to the farm this year, which we’re excited about, it’s bringing new stock into the farm, different bloodlines and pedigrees,” adds Gittins.

Aisling Gittins, pictured with her famous father Mick KinaneCredit: Pat Healy

They have returned to more familiar territory this week, taking foals to Newmarket rather than yearlings. Part of Castlefarm’s evolution is visible in the sires used in 2018, with an eye on commercial realities. Dark Angel and Kodiac feature prominently along with young sires Gleneagles and Ribchester.

Starspangledbanner has enjoyed a brilliant comeback year with Millisle’s victory in the Cheveley Park Stakes crowning a great season. He is sire of lot 644, whose two-year-old full-sister was bought last year to race in Japan.

Gittins remarks: “She’s a very nice filly, is a good size and will be a very nice horse in future. It’s been a very good year for the sire, he has impressive stats with his runners and hopefully this filly will do well.”

She is out of The Last Sister, a Lord Shanakill half-sister to Lady Springbank, a daughter of Choisir who is also a member of the Castlefarm broodmare band. She was dam of the 120,000gns Invincible Spirit colt sold six years ago, who became four-time winner Alizoom, and foals out of the Group 3 winner have always been popular at this sale, and it should be no different for lot 1027.

By Dark Angel, who has enjoyed another highly successful season on the track and in the sales ring, the filly is a half-sister to three winners and received a timely update last week when her three-year-old Galileo half-sister Expressionism earned black type when placed in the Listed Eden Fillies’ Stakes.

“The Dark Angel filly is a different type to Expressionism, she’s much more a sprinter and looks a real racehorse,” says Gittins.

She is one of two fillies by Yeomanstown Stud’s leading sire that Castlefarm is consigning at Tattersalls this week. The first to go through the ring will be lot 981, a daughter of Rakiza who is a half-sister to the dam of Grade 3 winner and Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks third Lady Prancealot.

“She’s one of the picks of our consignment,” reveals Gittins. “She has loads of quality and walks very well. She’s a very straightforward foal, and there’s lots going on in the family.

“Rakiza is the dam of two Listed-placed fillies in Exactement [by Speightstown] and Skill Set by Mastercraftsman, and her Invincible Spirit colt Parfait, who was fourth in the Jersey, earned a Racing Post Rating of 111. She’s also the second dam of two Listed-placed juvenile fillies, out of her Invincible Spirit daughters Suite and Mowaajaha, and there is Lady Prancealot in there too, so there’s plenty in the family.”

Castlefarm also offers the grandchildren of two top-class mares, by sons of Galileo at different stages of their stallion career. First is lot 680 by the champion juvenile and top-class Group 1 sire Teofilo, a grandson of Prix de l’Abbaye winner Imperial Ballet, who was also placed in the race and in the Cheveley Park.

Gittins says: “He’s a half-brother to two winners and a lovely horse with good size and a great walk. He has a great attitude too, such a lovely, straightforward colt and he’s going to be really nice yearling. It’s a lovely family too with Group 1 winners Midnight Line, Together and Jan Vermeer on the page.”

Lot 983 is a daughter of Gleneagles, who made such a good start to his stallion career this year with a Royal Ascot winner in Southern Hills and Group 2 winners Royal Dornoch and Royal Lytham. This filly is out of a winning Street Cry daughter of the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup winner Film Maker, who was also placed in six further top-level races, including two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

“The Gleneagles filly is lovely, she has loads of quality,” says Gittins. “He’s off to a great start at stud with high-quality stakes horses who look like they have futures. Her half-brother looks a nice horse and she has a good walk too, so hopefully she’ll do well.”

Kodiac: the Tally-Ho Stud flagbearer is sire of a couple of fillies in the Castlefarm consignment selling on FridayCredit: Edward Whitaker

A pair of well-bred Kodiac foals are due to sell on Friday, with lot 982, a filly out of Listed winner Shimmering Moment by Afleet Alex boasting a classy pedigree. Shimmering Moment is a half-sister to dual Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Stormy Liberal by Stormy Atlantic and the four-year-old Leinster by Majestic Warrior, who won the Grade 3 Troy Stakes at Saratoga. She is also a half-sister to Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby runner-up Coast Guard, a full-brother to Stormy Liberal, and it is the amazing family of Group 1 winners Dolphin Street, Insight, Saffron Walden, Sequoyah, Listen, Henrythenavigator, Beethoven and Magician.

“She’s a nice racy filly from a fast family, she’s bred to be fast,” says Gittins. “Shimmering Moment was a tough racehorse, who ran till she was seven, and is back in foal to Kodiac.

“Our Kodiac colt (lot 1026) is out of a half-sister to Shalaa’s dam and his yearling full-brother made 130,000gns at this sale last year. He’s a half-brother to two winners and the dam is also a winning half-sister to Middle Park winner Hayil, so it’s a really good family. He’s a nice walker with a great attitude, a really nice type.”

The final homebred foal is lot 679, a filly from the first crop of four-time Group 1-winning miler Ribchester out of Ghostflower, a winning daughter of Dansili. She is a half-sister to Lost Eden, a €200,000 yearling by Sea The Stars who is unraced but holds an entry in next year’s Investec Derby, and could provide the filly with some juicy pedigree updates before the 2020 yearling sales.

Gittins relays: “Richard Hannon thinks the world of him and he had big entries all year but needed a little more time. I’ve heard he’s showing a lot of ability so it’s really exciting for us. She’s a nice early foal with plenty of quality and has done nothing but improve as she’s gone along.”

The first foal through the ring under the Castlefarm banner is a Fast Company colt who belongs to a number of the Castlefarm team, including Ollie Geraghty and Robbie Dolan. Lot 643 is a half-sister to two winners and her second dam is a full-sister to the redoutable Millenary and Head in The Clouds, a Group 3 winner and dam of Irish Oaks runner-up Roses For The Lady.

“She’s a lovely foal, the three-year-old half-brother was placed again last week so that’s a good update and she’s got a nice page,” says Gittins. “The lads work really hard and the farm’s success is because of a huge team effort so hopefully they’ll do well with her.”

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