The unfailingly modest breeder who bought the dam of a Coronation Cup contender for a song

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Here he speaks to the shrewd Ronnie Boland about his cheap acquisition of Coronation Cup contender Emily Upjohn's dam, as well as his other breeding pursuits - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Ronnie Boland thinks he must have found a four-leaf clover or encountered a pair of magpies on his way to the sales in the winter of 2019, as he was granted extraordinarily good fortune when he got there. 

First, at the Goffs November Foal Sale, he gave €22,000 for a Footstepsinthesand filly whose half-sister Even So would win the Irish Oaks in the following year, and then, just a fortnight later at the Tattersalls December Mares Sale, he paid 16,000gns for the Listed-placed Barathea mare Hidden Brief, who would become the dam of Friday’s Coronation Cup leading hope Emily Upjohn, already a Group 1 winner and Oaks runner-up.

“It’s just luck, really,” says the unfailingly modest Boland, who runs Piercetown Stud in Kilcock, County Meath, with wife Elaine. “To tell the truth, we go to the sales with five or six lots that we like on pedigree picked out of the catalogue, and just follow them into the ring. 

“Whichever one falls into our budget first we tend to buy. In the case of Hidden Brief, we’d followed a few before her that week and she just happened to come along at the right time and the right money.” 

Boland bats away any suggestion that he’s a bit of a shrewdie for buying two direct relations to Group 1-winning fillies for such little money and in such a short space of time, and I accept that he could never have known those purchases would have worked out quite so well. But I won’t have it that it all happened entirely by chance. 

Emily Upjohn on her way to top-level success at Ascot last OctoberCredit: Mark Cranham

Just look at the profiles of those two buys: the Footstepsinthesand filly was already a half-sister to six winners out of Breeze Hill, a placed Danehill half-sister to one Epsom Classic winner in Dr Devious and the dam of another in Dancing Rain; and Hidden Brief is a half-sister to Group winners Hazarista and Hazariya, the dam of Derby winner Harzand from a solid Aga Khan Studs family that has also since come up with Irish Derby and St Leger winner Hurricane Lane, who takes on his close relation Emily Upjohn at Epsom on Friday. 

Boland might not be a clairvoyant, but he is clearly a connoisseur of prestigious pedigrees. 

“I suppose I do like a good back-family, especially those that keep producing top-class horses, and the catalogue page can only fit the achievements of the first two dams on it,” he relents.

“I always think you stand a good chance with a mare from those families, and that was the case with Hidden Brief. I also liked that she’s by Barathea, who’s a good broodmare sire, and that she had a Dark Angel and a Sea The Stars to run for her, and that she had that bit of black type herself. 

“She was just getting on a bit in years, without having produced anything that had shown her own talent yet, but I often find there’s a bit of value in those mares. 

“It was a similar case with the half-sister to Even So, although we already knew that filly was half decent when we bought her. The dam hadn’t produced a black-type horse up to that point, but it’s a family that keeps coming up with goods: not just Dr Devious and Dancing Rain, but Maybe and Saxon Warrior as well.” 

Hidden Brief is a half-sister to the dam of 2016 Epsom hero Harzand, by Sea The StarsCredit: Mark Cranham

Since those fateful few days at the sales three and a half years ago, the half-sister to Even So was named Evidently So and placed in training with Ger Lyons, who sent her out to finish second at Dundalk last November. She has since been retired to Piercetown Stud, and is in foal to Sea The Stars for her maiden cover. 

Hidden Brief meanwhile sadly lost the Aclaim foal she was carrying at the time of purchase, but later produced Capella Sansevero filly and then failed to get in foal to King Of Change. She delivered a filly from the first crop of crack sprinter Starman in recent weeks, and is back in foal to Emily Upjohn’s sire Sea The Stars. 

The Cappella Sansevero filly, now two, has been retained and given the appropriate name of Hidden Jewel. She will also be a resident of Glenburnie Stables. 

“She’s with Ger but she’s back home on a break at the minute,” reports Boland. “We’re very happy with her, and she’ll go back in training in a month or six weeks’ time. We’ll race her ourselves and hopefully hang on to her to breed from in future.” 

Cappella Sansevero was a talented racehorse, but he made little impact during his time standing in Ireland and is now based in Italy. Needless to say, he is an unusual sire of a younger sibling to a horse heading into the Coronation Cup as second favourite.

“I do a good bit of work for Ger and he trained Cappella Sansevero, so I bought a breeding right in him when he went to stud,” explains Boland. “Remember this was long before Emily Upjohn came along, and she’d just lost the Aclaim foal, so I wasn’t going to spend a lot of money on the mating; at that point I just wanted to see if we could get her in foal. 

Emily Upjohn's two-year-old half-sister is by the now Italian-based sire Cappella SanseveroCredit: Patrick McCann

"As it happens, I like the fact that Cappella is by Showcasing, and I can’t see any reason why he wouldn’t make a decent broodmare sire when we come to breed from her.” 

Lady Luck rarely remains smiling on the same person for long, but she might just have taken a shine to Boland, as a more recent mare purchase is working out quite nicely too. 

Alanza, a multiple stakes-winning sprinter miler by Dubai Destination out of EP Taylor Stakes runner-up Alasha from another deep Aga Khan Studs family, was bought in foal to Teofilo for €30,000 at Goffs in November. 

Her Lope De Vega three-year-old colt Alashar has shown good form for Francis Graffard this season, and she has a Blue Point two-year-old colt and Invincible Spirit yearling filly to come. She produced a “lovely” colt foal at Piercetown Stud this year. 

So if Boland really sure it’s still all down to good fortune, and there’s not even a little genius at play? 

“Will you get away? It’s all luck!” he protests. 

Alanza: pictured with her Teofilo colt this yearCredit: Piercetown Stud

The staunchly self-effacing Boland is heading to Epsom to cheer on Emily Upjohn with son Aaron, who was the gold medal-winning student on the Irish National Stud breeding course three years ago and now works at Juddmonte. Daughter Aoife is due to graduate from the same course next month. 

There you go: Aaron and Aoife’s academic flair must have come from somewhere. Their father is surely more scholarly in the subject of breeding and buying than he’s letting on. 

“I’d say they get that from the dam’s side,” Boland insists with a laugh. Who am I to argue with such an expert on distaff pedigrees, who bought into two brilliant but dormant families just before they were reawakened by the exploits of Emily Upjohn and Even So? 

I still think you make your own luck in this life, though, and he’s only saying all this to stop us looking over his shoulder at his catalogue at the next round of breeding-stock sales.

Unlock all Epsom exclusives! 

With two unmissable days at Epsom approaching fast, we've pulled together a stellar line-up of premium Bloodstock content: 

Monday, May 29: With membership of an exclusive club beckoning for Military Order and Adayar, Tom Peacock delves into the history of Derby-winning brothers.

Tuesday, May 30: Aisling Crowe chats to Shane Molan of County Limerick’s Riversfield Stud, proud breeders of leading Derby contender Waipiro.

Wednesday, May 31: The doyen of bloodstock writers Tony Morris selects six of the best Derby winners from his 60 years as a journalist in the Bloodstock Big Read.

Thursday, June 1: Oaks pedigrees assessment – Kitty Trice with the lowdown on the fillies.

Friday, June 2: Derby pedigrees assessment – Kitty Trice runs the rule over the colts.

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“It’s so special to be a witness to greatness. How lucky I was to see the horse whose Derby and Arc performances remain unsurpassed nearly six decades later,” says celebrated bloodstock writer Tony Morris as he recalls his favourite Epsom Classic heroes.

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