Moyglare to send same four mares back to Galileo

Among the most exciting matings planned by Moyglare Stud for the 2017 breeding season is a quartet of mares returning to Galileo including Polished Gem, the dam of the operation’s homebred Group 1 hero Free Eagle.

The 14-year-old daughter of Danehill has been the source of three runners with a Racing Post Rating of 100 or more including Prince of Wales’s Stakes scorer Free Eagle, three-time Group 2 winner Custom Cut and Sapphire, winner of the Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes on Champions Day in 2012.

Fiona Craig, bloodstock adviser to Moyglare Stud, said: “Polished Gem is obviously a very good mare and you could probably breed her to a lot of stallions. She’s by Danehill so she was an obvious mare to send to Galileo after Free Eagle, and her first Galileo colt is now a two-year-old named Falcon Eight with Dermot Weld.

“Talking Picture’s pedigree had not done a lot for a long time and then we had Free Eagle and Sapphire, so now it’s rocking along.”

Sapphire will join her dam in going to Coolmore’s ace stallion, as will Grade 1 winners Switch and Discreet Marq, the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks winner who was purchased for $2,400,000 by Moyglare at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale in 2014.

“Galileo won’t be around forever, and I think everyone is aware of that. Every year, he gets older. If you want to do what we do, and our primary role is breeding to race in Ireland, you cannot ignore Galileo. You can’t.

“For sure you can go to the sales and buy a Galileo, but what we would rather do is send the best mares to Galileo, and that’s why we bought Switch and Discreet Marq in America. We went to the US to try and buy some fast milers with a bit of class about them, to breed them to Galileo.

“Some of our mares stayed a long way, and while we’ve done well with breeding two-mile horses, we’d like to think we can breed something with a bit of speed. If we’re committing to spending lots of money of mares, then you also have to commit to breeding them right. If you ignore Galileo, there’s a big hole in your plan.

“If you look through our list of mares, you will see that not a lot of them can be bred to Galileo. We had a lot of success previously breeding Danehill to Sadler’s Wells, such as Irresistible Jewel and Profound Beauty.”

Afternoon Sunlight, winner of the Group 3 1,000 Guineas Trial at Leopardstown, is set to visit Galileo’s superstar son Frankel. The six-year-old daughter of Sea The Stars has already produced her first foal this year by Siyouni.

Last year’s Flat season highlighted the strength of the cross between Galileo mares and Fastnet Rock, and Moyglare will send two mares to the Coolmore shuttler including the six-year-old Galileo mare and Listed-placed Terrific. She is due to have her second foal this year by Dansili.

Also visiting Fastnet Rock will be the Grade 3 winner Society Hostess, who was second in the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap. The 15-year-old daughter of Seeking The Gold has already produced a Listed-placed colt in the ill-fated Sailors Swan.

Craig added: “Physically it’s a good cross, and on pedigree it is too. Certainly in physique, it’s a good mix and always has been. Danehill was always a good mix with Sadler’s Wells on both the physical front and on the aptitude front.

“Even though you were inbreeding to Northern Dancer they were two opposites, and you get a bit of that with Galileo and Fastnet Rock. One is a big, tough horse and the other is a neat, refined horse.”

Free Eagle, who was bred and raced by Moyglare Stud, will cover three of its broodmare band including Hidden Charm, a 14-year-old daughter of Big Shuffle responsible for Ebor Handicap scorer Mutual Regard and the Listed-placed Triple Eight. Unfortunately, she slipped her foal last year.

Craig said: “We haven’t had a foal by Free Eagle yet. We bred the two stakes winners to him last year, She’s Our Mark and I’m Yours, but neither have foaled yet, however, we are hearing positive reports about his foals.

“Free Eagle is a bonny horse. He gave us an absolute highlight that day at Ascot [when he won the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes], and on Irish Champions Weekend, when he won the Group 3 Enterprise Stakes by a mile. I was there the day he broke his maiden at Leopardstown, we knew he had a race like that in him, but I don’t think any of us anticipated how good his performance would be.”

Es Que will be visiting Invincible Spirit, Free Eagle’s studmate at the Irish National Stud, having not been covered last year. She is the dam of Hong Kong Vase hero Dominant, Group 2 Lennox Stakes scorer and sire Es Que Love and also Zhui Feng, the winner of a valuable sales race at two.

“We purchased her in foal to Galileo and the resulting foal is now a two-year-old filly in training with Dermot Weld named Million Smiles. She also has a very nice bay yearling filly by Oasis Dream. She foaled late last year, so we decided not to breed her.

"Her three-year-old filly by Sea The Stars, Listen In, won a fillies’ maiden at Maisons-Laffitte in October.

“Es Que is a very four-square mare, and very simple for us to breed, as her pedigree is away from Sadler’s Wells and Danehill. We bought Terrific as Danehill was not in her pedigree, and so she could be bred to Fastnet Rock-type horses.

“We have a plan in mind when we go to buy a mare, of what we can breed them to. There are some mares we would not buy because we know they would be hard to breed from."

Kingman, a son of Invincible Spirit, has been chosen to cover Irish St Leger runner-up Profound Beauty. The three-time Group 3 winner has already produced Listed winner Rose De Pierre. She also has Le Morne, a Henrythenavigator gelding described by Craig as “a gorgeous mover”, and Wax Seal, a two-year-old colt by Dubawi. She was barren to Dalakhani last year.

“We have a Kingman filly and we quite liked her, so we decided to give him a chance with Profound Beauty which will be mixing speed with stamina. She is not an easy mare to mate,” said Craig.

Irresistible Jewel, a winner of the Group 2 Ribblesdale Stakes at three, has also established herself as a high-class broodmare for Moyglare Stud.

The 18-year-old daughter of Danehill has gone on to produce another winner of the Royal Ascot contest in Princess Highway, who was also third in the Irish Oaks; Royal Diamond, who won the Irish St Leger; and Mad About You, runner-up in both the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Pretty Polly Stakes.

Irresistible Jewel will return to Dubawi this year after she has her foal by the Dalham Hall Stud resident.

“We have a lovely Dubawi colt out of her, she’s in foal to Dubawi and will go back to him this year. She’s your classic difficult mare to breed, a Danehill out of a Sadler’s Wells mare,” said Craig.

Carla Bianca, a six-year-old daughter of Dansili, who was a three-time stakes winner at three and won the Group 3 Meld Stakes at four has had Darley’s flagship sire chosen for her first covering.

Moyglare keep three daughters of Irresistible Jewel in their broodmare band including Princess Highway, who is in foal for the first time to War Front in Kentucky, and the eight-year-old daughter of Street Cry will visit Medaglia D’Oro in 2017.

Spoil Yourself, an unraced daughter of Distorted Humor, is in foal to Mukhadram and will visit Derby hero Harzand this year. Completing the trio is Mad About You, a 12-year-old daughter of Indian Ridge who has already produced two winners in Heartful and Malinka. She will visit Tally-Ho Stud’s Kodiac after she has gives birth to her foal by Oasis Dream.

As well as Princess Highway, the Grade 1-winning hurdler Unaccompanied is also kept in Kentucky where she is in foal to Elusive Quality. She will visit Distorted Humor in 2017.

“She’s a daughter of Danehill Dancer out of a Sadler’s Wells mare, so that is why she is over there. Princess Highway and Unaccompanied may return at some stage.

“If we run horses over in the States, we tend to retire them back there, and breed them. They might spend a few years there or a year or even come back in foal, but the list of stallions both there and here is getting smaller and smaller.”

Malinka who won two races last year for Dermot Weld will be covered for the first time by Coolmore’s new recruit Pride Of Dubai.

“I saw Pride Of Dubai in Australia when I was down there last year, and I liked him. We’ve had a lot of success with Street Cry. Even though he is out of a Danehill mare. He’s a nice horse. We used No Nay Never because he is big, strong and fast and we could breed a good few of our mares to him.”

Craig added: “We’re lucky to have all these mares, and we are so lucky to have Eva [Maria Bucher-Haefner]. She loves the sport and knows about it. She grew up with it with her father [Walter], and she has embraced it. She has two kids and they like it too. If we are lucky about anything, we’re lucky to have Eva. She is a gift to Irish racing. She loves it and she’s enthusiastic.

“People love her in Ireland at the racecourses as her enthusiasm is extremely evident. I’m afraid we all scream and shout, because to have a winner any day is a miracle.”

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