'It really is the stuff of dreams' - Powerful Glory delivers the Marnane's Bansha House Stables another fine result

Powerful Glory’s victory in the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot was not only a Group 1 breakthrough for the colt but also provided Bansha House Stables’ Con and Amy Marnane another memorable success on the biggest stage.

Trained by Richard Fahey, the three-year-old produced barnstorming performance to come from last to first in the six-furlong showpiece, beating some of Europe’s best sprinters in the process on only his fifth career start. 

Saturday’s Group 1 marked a second Champion Sprint success for Bansha House Stables, having sold 2018 winner Sands Of Mali to the Cool Silk Partnership and Stroud Coleman Bloodstock for £75,000 at the Tattersalls Ireland Ascot Breeze-Up Sale in 2017. Like Powerful Glory, he was also prepared by Fahey. 

“He [Powerful Glory] is such a genuine horse to do what he did today as such a lightly raced horse and to show the courage he did was unbelievable,” said Amy Marnane. “We’ve won it before with Sands Of Mali, who we breezed, but to have bred this guy is very special."

Powerful Glory is out of Wouldntitbelovely, a 26,000gns yearling, a failed breezer, who raced twice for Richard Hughes. She was picked up by Con for a paltry sum of 4,000 from the 2016 edition of the Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale. 

Hailing from a family steeped in speed, with the likes of Listed winner Ruby Rocket, Prix de l’Abbaye winner Maarek and Flying Childers Stakes scorer Ardad all featuring high up in the pedigree, Wouldntitbelovely was the perfect fit for the Marnanes. 

“We bought her from Richard Hughes," said Marnane. "She was a failed breeze-up horse and a failed racehorse, so we picked her up for 4,000gns. Con bought her purely on her pedigree; it’s all speed — Ruby Rocket and Maarek - all those top-class sprinters.”

Sands Of Mali, winner of the 2018 Champions Sprint, is Bansha House Stables breeze-up graduateCredit: Edward Whitaker

Seeking to put more even more speed into the pedigree, Cotai Glory, Tally-Ho's speedy son of Exceed And Excel, was elected to cover the daughter of Kodiac. 

“Our decision to go to Cotai Glory was a very easy one — he was a super fast horse himself, so thought he would be great fit. The O’Callaghan family at Tally-Ho are just an unbelievable to deal with — they’re such a nice, professional family, and we send a lot of mares up there because they’re a great source of speed and very genuine horses.”

Offered at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, Powerful Glory was bought by the O’Callaghans for 37,000gns. There was added an emotion to Saturday's win given the sale was last foal auction atteneded by Marnane's late mother, Theresa. 

Marnane said: “He was a lovely foal and had a super temperament for Cotai Glory and had a lot of substance. He was quite a big foal, very strong like his mother, who is a tall, powerful mare. It was the last foal sale my mother attended, and she absolutely loved him — he was the one for her. We were all delighted when Tally-Ho bought him.”

The colt was then snapped up by Blandford Bloodstock’s Richard Brown for £190,000 at the Goffs UK Breeze-Up Sale and he now sports the familiar silks of Sheikh Rashid Dalmook Al Maktoum. 

“Before the breeze-ups, Roger [O’Callaghan] told me he was a very, very good horse,” Marnane said. “When he went to the sales, he was just as he’d been as a foal — a big, good-looking, good-moving horse with the pedigree to back it up. All the stars aligned at the sale; he breezed very well.”

After an unbeaten two-start juvenile campaign headed by a triumph in the Group 2 Mill Reef Stakes, Powerful Glory entered his three-year-old campaign with high expectations. However, after beating only one rival home on his seasonal reappearance in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock, he was sent for a wind operation but disappointed once again with a fifth-placed finish in five-furlong conditions race at Beverly last month. 

Amy and Con Marnane enjoyed another brilliant result courtesy of Powerful Glory's Group 1 win

Those two below par efforts meant he was sent off at odds of 200-1 on Saturday, but Marnane retained the faith in the three-year-old ahead of Saturday's Group 1. 

She said: “He was a good two-year-old, winning the Mill Reef on heavy ground that would not have suited him. I'm yet to find a Cotai Glory that likes soft ground, but he’s just so genuine so it didn’t bother him. 

“This year he had a couple of niggles at him and you have to give Richard Fahey a lot of credit. To only beat two horses home in two starts this summer and then to go and run a race like that, to come from last to first, and beat those hardened sprinters, it really was very exciting. It’s quite a rare feat for a three-year-old to win the Champion Sprint on only your fifth start.”

Powerful Glory’s Group 1 was the second good result delivered by the mare in the space of a week, with her colt by Shadwell’s first-season sire Minzaal selling to Church Farm for 105,000gns at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale on Wednesday. 

“If only either Champions Sprint was last weekend or Book 2 was this week!” joked Marnane. “The Minzaal is a different type of horse — he’s very strong, not quite as tall, but a super mover and looks like a really sharp two-year-old. We were delighted with Wednesday’s result. We are breeding horses and we can’t keep them all, and with Church Farm having bought him, we’ll see him back at the breeze-ups next year and wish them all the best of luck.”

Meanwhile, Wouldntitbelovely is back in foal to another Tally-Ho resident. 

“She’s in foal to Big Evs who was obviously a very fast horse himself and a son of Blue Point, who everyone is all over those at the moment,” said Marnane.

The Minzaal half-brother to Powerful Glory sold for 105,000gns at Book 2 on WednesdayCredit: Tattersalls

The result at Ascot is further testament to the consistency of Bansha House Stables, whose combination of meticulous preparation and emphasis on natural speed continues to deliver at the highest level.

“It is one of the pinnacles of our sport,” said Marnane. “Con and all of the team back at Bansha put so much work into everything. We have breeze-up horses, yearlings and mares to foal — you name it, they’re all there. It can be a very long, cold winter, but a result like today makes it all worthwhile, and we can’t thank all the team enough for what they do behind the scenes.”

While Group 1 results are a cause for celebration, Bansha House’s work is not done with the last of the yearlings still to sell and a busy breeding stock season ahead. 

“We have a really, really nice bunch of foals heading to Goffs and Tattersalls this year,” Marnane said.

For a family steeped in racing and renowned for producing elite sprinters, Powerful Glory’s success serves as another shining reminder of the power of pedigree, patience, and passion.

“To breed a horse like this, to see him win at Ascot, and to have done it with a mare we picked up for 4,000gns — it really is the stuff of dreams,” said Marnane.

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