Doncaster the next destination for ultimate all-rounder Sonny Carey

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Sonny Carey could easily have spent the weekend preoccupied with his pair of colts heading to this week's Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale or the small but select team of National Hunt horses counting down to the Punchestown festival.

Instead, his Sunday morning involved loading up a box and chugging off to County Westmeath, where Cebu City had a very important engagement in the maiden point-to-point for six-year-olds and older at Castletown-Geoghegan.

It is all in a day's work for the cheerful all-rounder, perhaps racing's closest equivalent to Daley Thompson.

"We kind of have a bit of everything," he said. "We do a lot of pre-training and have two-year-olds, we had a three-year-old who ran on the Flat last week, we've point-to-pointers, track horses. It seems to keep everything interesting, and it's fun. Touch wood, it seems to be going well."

To characterise Carey as simply dipping in his toe in each of these divisions would be both unfair and totally incorrect. 

The three-year-old he mentioned, Goodmenaremissed, was second at 40-1 at Gowran Park, just ahead of Aidan O'Brien's beautifully-bred Kepler and runners in the silks of Al Shaqab and the Aga Khan Studs.

Carey and many of his family are deeply involved in the sport, including a father who worked for both Mick O'Toole and the Aga Khan, a mother who was a bloodstock agent, and a brother who manages the powerful Newgate Stud in Australia.

His somewhat boutique National Hunt string have secured a best-ever seasonal total of eight wins already, while the breeze-up experiment made a decent start in Doncaster last year when a cheaply-bought Invincible Spirit filly was purchased for £85,000 by Blandford Bloodstock. 

Vishaka would win on her debut for David Simcock at Nottingham before being upped to black-type company. 

Sonny Carey and Mary Kilduff (left) with future bumper winner Brosna Shine, bought from consignor Sally Aston (second right) at the 2024 Goffs Arkle SaleCredit: SARAH FARNSWORTH

"We've only ever had one before, the filly last year; we've got a couple more this year but it's still fairly small," said Carey. “We were given Vishaka to break; she'd been through the ring and we actually ended up buying her ourselves.

"She's a lovely filly and it was great she went on and did that. It was a bit of a shot in the dark for us, but it worked out."

Carey has two colts this time around. There's a February-born Dark Angel (181) out of a half-sister to Juddmonte's smart mare Mirror Lake, the dam of Nostrum, and a Mehmas who was born in late April (218) whose dam is a sister to Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes winner Glorious Empire.

"They're both very straightforward, easy colts who do their work well," said Carey. 

“The Mehmas is improving the whole time and is going to keep getting better. The Dark Angel is very strong and forward; he seems an earlyish-type colt. They seem two fine horses and they should breeze okay.

"We do a lot of pre-training and we'd have had other two-year-olds up in January-February time, some nice ones that have gone to France and England – we kind of bring them all along together. 

"We've got two more breeze-up horses going to Fairyhouse and one for the breeze-up at Goffs later on, so we've kept them all going along."

With trade suffering compared with a buoyant 2025 during the opening breeze-up event, last week's Tattersalls Craven Sale, there will be similar concerns in Doncaster. 

"Everyone is worrying but it's just a case of wait-and-see I think," said Carey. "We'll let the horses gallop and it's up to them."

A Dark Angel colt is lot 181 in the Goffs Breeze-Up Sale catalogueCredit: Alison Murphy

The Nagger Reidy gave the team a high-profile victory in a handicap hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas, while Brosna Shine and Lilannbee both landed bumpers at major tracks and finished a respectable fifth and sixth in a Grade 2 at the Dublin Racing Festival.

"We've got only eight or nine but what we have are nice," said Carey. "They've done really well but they're a nice bunch and they'd want to be doing what they're doing. 

"Everything we've had has nearly won or been placed, so if we can keep it that way, that's great. We're always open to nice horses anyway.

"We could have four or five going to Punchestown. There's a Goliath Du Berlais filly [Goliath's Sun] for the Defender Bumper if all goes well, and Cause For Comment hopefully going for the Champion Hunters Chase. We've got one going for the Opportunity Series Final in the week and maybe another bumper horse."

Cause For Comment carries the colours of Willie Mullins' wife Jackie, with Carey given such a noble responsibility as he worked for the champion trainer for five years, and the family have been supporters as he developed the pre-training business.

"I learned everything off them really and Jackie Mullins is a fantastic owner to have at the place," he said.

Brosna Shine, one of the stars of Carey’s season, after her success at Fairyhouse in DecemberCredit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

"Cause For Comment was a five-year-old taking on older horses last year and what he did was exceptional really, and this year he's stronger. He's won his two starts [Punchestown and Downpatrick] very well and the form has worked out from his two runs. 

"It would be a big step up, but whatever he does would provide him with more experience for next season."

As impressive as it is for Carey to keep on top of so many facets of the racing world, he refuses to take much credit for it.

"I've wonderful people around me," he said. "My wife Mary [Kilduff], who is bloodstock manager at Goffs, does everything.

"My head lad Mikey O'Sullivan is top-class, and I've great people helping me out on the side like 'Boots' Madden, a brilliant trainer and jockey, and Gail Carlisle, who was head girl for Willie for years.

"I'm very lucky. It's easy doing it with people like that."

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