Poet's Word the new boy at Boardsmill and part of the annual ITM Stallion Trail

Boardsmill lies in the mythical, mystical Boyne Valley, where Ireland’s first occupants built monuments that withstood the ravages of time, weather and human activity, where legends grew bigger than their deeds and a battle raged that, more than 300 years later, still shapes the future of two countries.

In 1935 Jack Flood added a thoroughbred stallion to the Irish Draughts that he and his father before him stood at his County Meath farm, and the operation’s influence and success in the world of thoroughbred breeding grew from there.

Eighty-five years later Jack’s son William and grandson John throw open the gates of Boardsmill Stud to the public. The current stallion roster is headed by 24-year-old Kalanisi, a warrior whose epic tussles with another legend in Giant’s Causeway thrilled racing fans during that unforgettable summer of 2000.

Twenty years on, the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Champion Stakes winner is joined at Boardsmill by a stallion who was also trained by Sir Michael Stoute, and whose racing career carries more echoes of Kalanisi.

Poet’s Word stands his first season in Ireland after one year at Shadwell Stud in Norfolk, having won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prince of Wales’s Stakes in 2018.

Successful at the highest level over ten and 12 furlongs, the news of his quick switch to National Hunt came along with the announcement that Crystal Ocean, his former stablemate at Freemason Lodge, would begin his stallion career as a jumps sire and prompted plenty of debate, which John Flood is quick to acknowledge.

“The current market for Flat horses means there’s a lack of demand for these type of stallions, which isn’t a good thing for Flat bloodlines,” he says. “But it’s a brilliant opportunity for National Hunt breeders who have access to this calibre of stallion.”

This article first appeared in the Racing Post's ITM Stallion Trail supplement. Click here to read in full

Skim through the race record of Poet’s Word and it is easy to see why he is such a boon to National Hunt breeders, and those Flat breeders who are not constrained by commercial dictates. In 17 career starts, the son of the late Group 1 winner Poet’s Voice was only once out of the first four and in 14 of those runs he finished in the first three.

Poet’s Word fitted the profile of a typical Stoute improver, steadily rising through the ranks before stepping up to the highest level in the Irish Champion Stakes, in which he was a close second to Decorated Knight, beating Eminent, Taj Mahal, Churchill, Zhukova and The Grey Gatsby.

He filled the same position behind Cracksman in the Champion Stakes but finished in front of the likes of top-level winners Highland Reel, Recoletos, Brametot and Barney Roy. At five he came into his own, running a half-length second to Hawkbill in the Dubai Sheema Classic, in which those behind Poet’s Word included Cloth Of Stars, Rey De Oro, Best Solution and Satono Crown.

Boardsmill Stud, home to Court Cave, Califet, Kalanisi and Poet's WordCredit: Patrick McCann

He won a second Group 3 when taking the Brigadier Gerard Stakes before he claimed victory over Cracksman and Hawkbill in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. An enthralling duel in the home straight with stablemate Crystal Ocean in the King George concluded with Poet’s Word crowning himself in glory.

A troubled passage in the Juddmonte International was no help to his task but he still managed second to Roaring Lion at York, finishing ahead of top-flight winners Saxon Warrior, Benbatl, Without Parole, Latrobe and Thunder Snow.

That was the final race of his career, which saw him earn an official rating of 130 and a Racing Post Rating of 129, and in turn made him the second-best colt in Europe after Cracksman in 2018.

It is a race record of which any stallion could be proud, and that has driven inquiries to Boardsmill from breeders on both sides of the Irish Sea eager to secure a place in the first Irish book of Poet’s Word for their mares.

“He’s a King George winner who was rated 130 and there are very few stallions at stud who have achieved such a lofty rating,” says Flood.

“He improved with age and was a very consistent horse who was sound and tough. Everyone who worked closely with him while in training has told us how good a temperament he had, and we’ve seen the same since he arrived at Boardsmill. He’s a very good-looking horse who made 300,000gns as a yearling, and backed up that early impression with his deeds on the track.”

Another reason for his popularity is his sire line, as a son of the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Poet’s Voice and grandson of Dubawi. With a pedigree free from Sadler’s Wells, Poet’s Word is a valuable outcross for the National Hunt broodmare herd that is dominated by daughters and granddaughters of that prepotent sire.

Night Of Thunder a crossing point

The cross of Dubawi with a Galileo mare has already been proven through last year’s leading first-season sire Night Of Thunder, a son of Dubawi out of a Galileo mare, the 2,000 Guineas and Lockinge winner siring seven stakes winners from his first crop.

Dubawi’s multiple Group 1-winning son Al Kazeem also sired a top-level winner in 2019 from a small amount of runners in the Preis von Europa winner Aspetar.

“We’d been looking at the Dubawi line for a while because he gets tough racehorses who act on all types of ground and it’s an outcross for Sadler’s Wells,” says Flood.

“Dubawi is only just starting out as a sire of sires and he has started very well, so it’s a sire line that I think we're going to see more of in National Hunt breeding."

Boardsmill's own performance and pedigree in standing top-class horses who are capable of siring performers at the highest level on the Flat and over jumps is well established, and Poet’s Word is available to Flat breeders who are not subject to the whims and caprices of the sales ring.

That said, the Floods anticipate he will be patronised mainly by National Hunt breeders, in the manner of the late Mount Nelson, whose death at just 15 due to lymphangitis was a big loss to the stud and the National Hunt bloodstock industry generally.

“We’d love to be standing Poet’s Word alongside Mount Nelson here at Boardsmill but that wasn’t to be,” says Flood. “When we got Mount Nelson we knew he had lymphangitis and we were lucky to have him for almost three years.

"Hopefully he has left a strong legacy in his foals, who are all strong, good-walking horses. Poet’s Word is a great walker and, like Mount Nelson, was a tough, sound racehorse.”

Boardsmill is also home to popular sires Califet and Court Cave, as well as Kalanisi, who looks to have another gem in the Grade 1 Royal Bond Novice Hurdle third Darver Star.

Court Cave: hails from one of Juddmonte’s most prolific stallion-producing familiesCredit: Boardsmill Stud

Gavin Cromwell’s Listed novice hurdle winner claimed the bottom step of the podium behind Envoi Allen and Abacadabras at Fairyhouse last month, and the form has been franked with Abacadabras winning the Grade 1 Future Champions’ Novice Hurdle at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival and Soviet Pimpernel, who finished sixth in the Royal Bond, running out an easy winner of a Grade 3 hurdle at Limerick’s Christmas Festival.

Califet's first crop of foals conceived at Boardsmill turned five on New Year’s Day and they have been pleasing point-to-point handlers, while Cilaos Emery, bred in France, is unbeaten in three starts over fences, with the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle winner of 2017 giving trainer Willie Mullins his 11th success in December’s Hilly Way Chase at Cork.

Flood says: “Califet is a consistent and proven source of Grade 1 talent. He isn’t getting any younger but his first Irish crop has been showing up well in the point-to-point sphere and his second crop is just four now and they’re pleasing the point-to-point handlers, which is great because the quality of mares in his second and third books really improved, so you’d hope the best is still to come from him.”

Court Cave hails from one of Juddmonte’s most prolific stallion-producing families as an unraced brother to Beat Hollow, and a relative of the racing royalty that is Oasis Dream and Kingman, as well as the outstanding National Hunt stallion Martaline, and his siblings Reefscape, Coastal Path and Pillar Coral.

Still only 19, Court Cave has sired winners at each of the last three Cheltenham Festivals, including Grade 1 stars City Island and Willoughby Court.

“He’s a very consistent sire and a great horse to start a mare off with as he gets winners and has a great record with his point-to-point horses,” says Flood.

“His four-year-olds of 2019 included Clondaw Secret, who is a brother to Clondaw Court, also trained by Mick Goff.

“We sold Clondaw Secret to Mick as a store on behalf of his breeder Daphne de Stacpoole Lynch, and he was a good winner of the four-year-old geldings’ maiden at Boulta last month on his debut.

“Mick has been a great supporter of Court Cave, as has Aidan Fitzgerald. Hopefully the horse will translate that success on to the track this year.”

In Ireland’s own valley of the kings, Boardsmill Stud looks towards a century of standing thoroughbred stallions and the deeds of a horse whose apt name is a nod to the bards that wove the stories and legends of the place where the mythical and historical live side by side.

Click here to read Alex Cairns' 5 reasons to go on the ITM Stallion Trail