The €2,000 mare whose foals have fetched €1.268 million stars at Goffs

A new chapter in the remarkable story of Swordlestown Little’s blue hen mare Nisriyna was penned during the early exchanges of the Goffs November Foal Sale on Wednesday as her latest public auction offering, a colt by Wootton Bassett, fetched €340,000 from Juddmonte.

The Abdullah family’s operation knows as well as any the talent Nisriyna transmits to her offspring as they own the mare’s two-year-old Arrest, who provided his younger half-brother with a mighty pedigree update by running Dubai Mile to within a head in the Group 1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud.

Arrest joined the Juddmonte fold at the 2020 November Foal Sale, when he was knocked down for €440,000.

That was not the only big result that Swordlestown Little enjoyed on Wednesday as around 30 lots earlier Des Leadon and Mariann Klay’s farm sold the Wootton Bassett half-sister to Terebellum to Tally-Ho Stud for €280,000.

“We’re just so lucky to have Nisriyna,” said Leadon. “She’s a wonderful mare with a wonderful temperament and how exciting to sell a brother to what may be next year’s Derby winner. It’s not often that you have horses like that and in their own way our two Wootton Bassetts, in this environment as foals, are as precious as the Alpinistas and the Baaeeds.

“These are collector’s items and they don’t come along very often. We feel very lucky to have Marvada for our very good friend and client Alan O’Flynn and to have Nisriyna for ourselves, and to have the support of Juddmonte, who’ve been wonderful to work with.

"It’s a very special day. It’s a remarkable testament to Mariann’s work and all the team who help us. These things are never done without the support of a wonderful team on the farm and off it too.”

The Aga Khan-bred Nisriyna has been a superb servant to Swordlestown Little, with the Intikhab half-sister to dual Group 3 scorer Narniyn responsible for five other winners besides Arrest.

Her brood includes Dinozzo, a son of the Swordlestown Little-bred Lilbourne Lad who won the Group 3 Centenary Vase at Sha Tin, where he also finished third in the Group 1 Hong Kong Gold Cup, and the high-class sprint handicapper Spring Loaded, who gained black type when third in the Listed Rous Stakes.

Swordlestown Little's Des Leadon with Juddmonte representative Barry Mahon after a remarkable sessionCredit: Sarah Farnsworth

Despite having been signed for by Jim Bradley at a scarcely believable €2,000 in 2010 her progeny have generated €1.268 million in Goffs receipts for Swordlestown Little.

Explaining how they came to own the blue-chip producer, Leadon said: “Mariann and I rode out for many years for John Oxx, that’s where we first met Nisriyna, and we bought her here in Goffs and tried to develop her as a broodmare from there.

“You can’t do it without the raw materials and these Aga Khan families are wonderful and John Oxx was so good with them that it gave us an insight into the thinking of elite stud farms like that. She goes to Kingman next year and we have a Dark Angel in utero.”

After signing the six-figure ticket for the sibling to Arrest, Juddmonte’s racing manager Barry Mahon said: “We have the brother, who’s obviously very talented and was unlucky the last day in France just to get beaten by a nose on the line in a Group 1. The Abdullah family were particularly keen to buy him because the brother has done so well for them.

“I looked at him the other day and said he’s a very nice horse and we’d be happy to have him and they gave me the confidence to kick on and buy him. They’re two strong, good-looking horses, this guy might be a little bit sharper than the brother but they’re both quality animals. It was probably an easy decision to buy him with the brother doing so well for us.”

On plans for the John and Thady Gosden-trained Arrest, Mahon added: “He’s a Group 1 horse and he’ll start off in a Derby trial in the spring. Hopefully he’ll progress into a Derby horse.”

The pair of Swordlestown Little-consigned lots were bred during Wootton Bassett’s first season at Coolmore when the son of Iffraaj was introduced to Irish breeders at €100,000. The sire, whose six Group 1 winners include National Stakes hero Al Riffa, has had his 2023 fee held at a career-high mark of €150,000.

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