More than a shade of Limato about Weylands Stud's Book 1 offering

The father and son team of Seamus and James Phelan were having to pinch themselves from time to time as luminaries from the bloodstock world paid a visit to their box tucked away in the Terrace House Yard on the corner of the Tattersalls complex.

This is the first time their Weylands Stud has had the chance to consign at Book 1 and they could hardly have arrived with a more eligible candidate. With a coat that looks almost jet black, their filly by the red-hot Wootton Bassett who goes under the hammer as lot 288 on Wednesday has more than a touch of Limato about her, being a half-sister to the July Cup and Prix de la Foret winner.

For all that Limato had a reputation for being a bit headstrong at Henry Candy’s stable, he lasted there for seven seasons and has subsequently thrived as a retrained racehorse with showing producer Katie Jerram-Hunnable.

"I think his reputation was far greater than he was, really, as he was a pleasure to do, all fun at home, he just wanted to play and show off," recalled Seamus Phelan, who had sold Limato as a yearling at Doncaster, now a decade ago.

"He liked to get on with it and sprinters can be sharp."

Harry Bentley celebrates victory in the 2016 July Cup on board LimatoCredit: Edward Whitaker

Phelan, a retired engineer with a long interest in breeding, bought Limato’s dam, Come April, for just £3,800 at a DBS sale in 2009 at the end of a brief racing career. He had a share in Tagula at the time and needed a mare to use it with. 

Phelan’s son James, a vet based in Lincolnshire, added: "Sir Mark Prescott trained the dam, and two or three years after Limato had gone on and done what he did, we met him and asked him what she was like. Sir Mark said she was Group-class. 

"Basically she won her maiden on the bridle, she was boxed in and had the turn of foot he had, but she got a bit of a fracture doing it that day and never really came back. So we got a mare who was Group-class for small money."

Seamus said: "She’s a Singspiel from a lovely family [Come April is out of a half-sister to Group 1 winners Compton Admiral and Summoner as well as the dam of The Fugue]. It skipped a generation and it came back. 

"This filly is particularly like Limato. She’s very fluid in her action, very light on her feet, she’ll go on very fast ground I’d say. She’ll be very sharp."

Phelan and his wife, Teresa, have five mares on a tranche of very distinguished land in Straffan, County Kildare and have pinhooked the odd top horse, for example Group 1 performer Pure Poetry.

A century before Limato and modern-day Weylands, it was where all-time great two-year-old and epoch-making sire The Tetrarch was born, as well as the 1975 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Star Appeal.

Limato's half-sister has pleased the team through her preparation

The modest Seamus is rightly proud that Limato has earned a place on the pantheon, and the whole family, including his other children Jonathan and Rachel, have shared in the story which took them around the world supporting their prodigal son.

"One season he won or was placed in Group 1s at five, six, seven and eight furlongs, and there aren’t many horses that can do that," he said.

"We’ve kept Limato’s full-sister, who has a cracking colt foal by Iffraaj and is in foal to Dark Angel. Come April herself has a St Mark’s Basilica colt foal at foot, who is an absolute star, and she has been covered by Wootton Bassett again because of this filly and what we thought of her.

"We’ve decided to invest a lot in the family and we want to keep daughters along the way, but with the season Wootton Bassett has had, we have to offer her. She ticks all the boxes."

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