'She's built like a colt' - Ashbrooke team ready for first draft at Goffs UK

Time flies when you are having fun and just over two years since buying Ashbrooke Stud during the first coronavirus lockdown, it is all systems go for Alice O’Brien and Bradley Wood with their first draft lined up for next week's Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale.

Based in County Durham, O'Brien was quick to point out the benefits of the area, which has emerged mostly unscathed from the ongoing and intense dry weather.

"We've been very lucky in the north in that we've got a lot of grass compared to the south," she says.

With ten yearlings to prepare for the upcoming Doncaster sale there is little time for O'Brien or Wood to relax, although former work-rider Wood is in the middle of applying for a trainer's licence too.

O'Brien explains: "We've got ten going to the Premier Sale in prep, five are the ones we are consigning and the other five are going to other consignors.

"With ten going to the sale and with just me and Bradley it's been really full on, it is getting to the point where we need a full-time member of staff.

"We've got a good bunch of clients who have been very supportive, while Bradley's in the middle of applying for a trainer's licence. He's completed his three modules and if these horses go well we'll be installing a gallops for training or breezing."

In the more immediate future, yearlings by the likes of Havana Grey, Time Test, Dark Angel, Phoenix Of Spain and Due Diligence are all set and ready for their date in the sales ring. It is, excitingly, the very first draft sent out by the pair.

O'Brien says: "They're five really nice horses and it's a good number as well. We've had some good clients support us and they've been thrilled with the work we've done so far.

"We have been really happy with the numbers and quality this year, so going to the Premier with them is thrilling."

The first yearling into the ring for Ashbrooke Stud is a colt by the Irish National Stud's first-crop sire and Irish 2,000 Guineas winner Phoenix Of Spain. Offered as lot 12, he is out of the winning Sadler's Wells mare Fresh Mint and is a half-brother to stakes winner Canary Row and to the dam of Concorde Stakes scorer Current Option.

"He's a really strong boy with a big walk and he's forward enough to be a nice two-year-old next year, but he's got the scope to keep progressing to be a good three-year-old, so he's very much like his sire," says Wood.

He also has high hopes for the Dark Angel colt out of the Group-placed Kitten's Joy mare Holy Cat, a private purchase from Tattersalls last year. Consigned as lot 40, the March-born yearling is considered a "five- or six-furlong horse" by his team.

Wood says: "It was a very hard market to buy for last year we felt, so we had to look outside the box. He wasn't a massive foal but he's out of a Kitten's Joy mare and he's a nice size now.

"He's going to be a real sharp two-year-old, the hope for him is for him to win his novice in April or May and then go for the Windsor Castle. That's the type of horse we think he is."

Lot 124 is a "gorgeous" colt by Whitsbury Manor Stud's proven sire Due Diligence and is from his sire's crop that was conceived off the back of Group winners Good Vibes and Streamline.

Wood says: "He's a strong, 'trainer's horse' and has plenty of scope. He's laid-back and has a massive walk, while this is Due Diligence's biggest crop."

The last two are by no means least, with the Time Test colt (158) being out of the stakes-winning Galileo mare Paris Winds, while the filly foal by red-hot first-season sire Havana Grey (261) hails from a high-class family.

Significantly, the grey came to Ashbrooke as a result of their close ties with Whitsbury Manor's stud director Ed Harper.

Alice O'Brien and Bradley Wood attend to their youngstockCredit: Ashbrooke Stud

O'Brien explains: "We've got a good relationship with Ed and he had quite a few Havana Greys and foals in general to take to the sales, so he rang us up in August and asked us to take some on and sell as yearlings.

"We've got a private deal with Whitsbury whereby we take a couple to prep as yearlings, she's the first one in that relationship so it's been exciting."

The daughter of the Flying Five Stakes winner and Slade Power's daughter Summerset very much stands out physically, while she comes from a very fast family.

Wood says: "She's built like a colt and is a very strong girl, she's the first foal out of a Slade Power mare so she's really speed on speed. The stallion is going great guns and it was great to see him win the sales race at York [with Shouldvebeenaring].

"It's a very fast family with Sugar Free under the second dam who was second in the Prix Morny. She's going to be a really sharp two-year-old. We're really looking forward to selling her."

Looking ahead, there will plenty of work to be done after the sale, with Tattersalls auctions to prepare for, not to mention next year's foaling duties to undertake next spring.

O'Brien says: "We have got two going to the Somerville Sale, other consignors will be offering those while we prep them, and then we've got bookings for Book 3 so six more are due in September.

"Next year we've got 15 in total to foal down, while this year we had seven."

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