Patrick Mullins homebred to get ball rolling at Land Rover Sale

Buyers are advised to be at Goffs bright and early on Tuesday morning so as not to miss the Shantou brother to Airlie Beach (), the first store up for auction at this week's Land Rover Sale, with selling starting at 10am.

Consigned by Peter Nolan Bloodstock, the three-year-old gelding was bred by Patrick Mullins out of the Shernazar mare Screaming Witness, who gave the leading amateur his first ride under rules at Thurles in December 2005.

Trained by Mullins' father Willie and owned by his mother Jackie, the mare ran twice without winning but managed a creditable fourth in a 19-runner Punchestown bumper before injury forced her early retirement.

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"She was my first ever ride on a racetrack and that's why I decided to keep her," recalls Mullins. "She got injured after her second run, so I decided to keep her for breeding then. She's been very successful as a broodmare and has been very lucky for me."

Astonishingly, Mullins has steered all five of her runners to date to success in bumpers, including her most esteemed performer Airlie Beach, who subsequently struck in the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle at Fairyhouse and in the Listed Oyster Stakes at Galway on the level.

The first of the mare's progeny he won on was Dr Machini, a son of Dr Massini who landed a Fairyhouse bumper by seven lengths in January 2012. Mullins also won three bumpers on the bounce on Valerian Bridge, a son of Heron Island, and brought up a brace on the Darsi gelding Screaming Rose.

What's more, Mullins also won over hurdles on the Getaway mare Irish Lass last summer, to add to her bumper success under Mullins at Tramore the previous year.

So it's fair to say Mullins has developed quite an affinity with Screaming Witness and her talented brood.

"They're all quite mature and have that bit of early speed about them, and Airlie Beach was able to come back and win on the Flat," notes Mullins. "None of them were overly big, and were quite precocious for jumping.

"Screaming Witness has only had one previous son and that was Valerian Bridge, who won three bumpers in three starts, and the Shantou gelding resembles him a lot.

"Peter [Nolan] has prepared him for the last couple of weeks and he does a brilliant job. Getting horses ready for the sales wouldn't be our speciality, and if you want a job done right, stick to the best."

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Mullins, whose previous trips to the Land Rover with his cousin Emmet have unearthed the likes of Black Hercules and St Stephen's Green, is embracing being a first-time vendor.

"I'm looking forward to it, though it will a bit different being on this side of the ring," he says.

"With the market being strong, it's perhaps the right time to sell our fella, and if we don't sell him, he always has an entry into the Goffs Land Rover Bumper next year.

"Three of us own him and I'd prefer to keep him, break him in and race him, however my other co-owners are keen to sell. The deal is if he makes the right price we'll sell him, but if he doesn't, we'll race him. But he's a nice horse and is entitled to sell well."

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