The remarkable story of how a £600 broodmare bred a ‘carthorse’ that became a Classic contender

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Breeder Mark Dreeling offers an unexpected response when asked whether a young Alparslan showed any signs he might be something out of the ordinary. 

“No,” he says unequivocally. “I used to call him the carthorse! He was just the most laid-back individual.” 

But there was nothing nonchalant about the way the son of Dandy Man cleared away from some highly-touted rivals in Saturday’s Group 3 Greenham Stakes. 

The Karl Burke-trained colt has set himself up for a tilt at an upcoming Classic, albeit connections are still mulling over whether that will come at Newmarket, Longchamp or the Curragh. Either way, for the team at the family run Coole House Farm in County Kildare, the dream remains very much alive.

Alparslan (left) holds off Zavateri and Albert Einstein in the Greenham StakesCredit: Edward Whitaker (racingpost.com/photos)

“It’s amazing for us,” Dreeling says. “Of course, just like everybody else who breeds racehorses, we were dreaming all winter that something like this could become a reality.”

Expanding on his time with a young Alparslan, Dreeling says: “As a baby he’d be out with three other colts, and when I went out to move the feedpots across the field, every day, seven days a week, the others would gallop over, but Alparslan would just saunter along in his own time. 

“Then he’d bully the others away, eat his feed and try to get to theirs. He never rushed anywhere in his life. He was a huge foal that turned into a super yearling. It looks like he’s matured into a wonderful three-year-old.”

Alparslan’s Newbury heroics were not the first time he has done connections a good turn. He was sold to owner Mohamed Saeed Al Shehhi through agent Federico Barberini at €75,000, and rewarded that September Sale investment by winning the valuable Tattersalls Ireland Super Auction Sales Stakes.

Trainer Karl Burke and agent Federico Barberini have combined to good effect with Alparslan

Breeding tends to be a labour of love whatever the level, but this particular story is underpinned by more dedication than most. 

Alparslan is the first foal out of Laciredeski, who failed to make the track in Britain before being sold to race on the continent for just £600. A long-running association with the family prompted Dreeling to go on a retrieval mission. 

“She was born and reared here for one of our oldest clients, Filippo Serafini,” he says. “Her mother, Sciolina, was born and reared here [in 2009] herself, then went back to race in Italy, but we've had the whole family here.

“Laciredeski is the first foal and she was sold to Richard Hughes. She wasn’t successful for Richard but a young man called Donny Postema bought her for £600 at the Ascot sale. He won with her in Germany and Belgium.”

It was not just sentimentality that inspired Dreeling to go in search of Laciredeski. She is a half-sister to Erosandpsyche, a high-class sprinter who carried the Dreeling silks to victory in four races, and into second in the Group 1 Flying Five Stakes won by Highfield Princess.

Erosandpsyche scorers at Tipperary.Credit: Patrick McCann

Explaining how he came to own so much of the family, Dreeling says: “I’d bought Sciolina when the breeder was retiring, and I bought her because I’d bought her son Erosandpsyche privately as a yearling when we couldn’t get him into a sale because he was by Sepoy. 

“When we started pre-training him he showed us a lot. He was supposed to go to the breeze-ups but got a little bump on his joint in his last gallop. It was fate because he turned out to be a brilliant racehorse for us.” 

Having seen first-hand that the family was coming up with the goods, but with Sciolina struggling to get back in foal, Dreeling resolved to bring Laciredeski home. 

“Sciolina had to have colic surgery and we’ve never been able to get her back in foal,” he says. “We spent six years trying but it just wasn’t to be. With Laciredeski being the only daughter of Sciolina, I went to the office at Tattersalls and they helped me find out who’d bought her and contacted Donny in Holland. She was still racing at that stage and had won just a couple of days before I bought her privately.”

The late Ballyhane Stud stalwart Dandy ManCredit: Ballyhane Stud

Once Laciredeski was back in the Coole House broodmare band, Dreeling says he did not need to think twice about her first mating. 

“Dandy Man was a great source of two-year-old winners and we needed to get the mare off the ground,” he says. “I’d sent three different mares in three different years down to Dandy Man and could never get a mare in foal to him, but I was hellbent that Laciredeski was going from the minute we bought her. He was a phenomenal stallion to get two-year-olds so it was an obvious choice.”

The 17-year-old Sciolina is enjoying her retirement in the Coole House paddocks alongside Laciredeski, who is “a week overdue” to Dark Angel. “We had a list of stallions we were thinking of going to with her this year but the list is going to get a bit bigger now,” Dreeling adds.

The breeder stresses that the Coole House operation is very much a family affair, with his wife, veterinary surgeon Barbara Fonzo, and daughters, Megan (26) and Julia (32), equally as big a part of the business. 

“My wife is the backbone of all of this,” he says. “She wanted to buy Erosandpsyche as a weanling, she wanted to buy Sciolina and she told me to try and find Laciredeski. None of this would be possible without Barbara. She’s the whole reason we have this family and have been so lucky.”

Barbara Fonzo: the "backbone" of Coole House FarmCredit: Racing Post

As if breeding a Classic contender wasn’t enough excitement for the family, they are also set to offer Alparslan’s Minzaal half-brother at the upcoming Tattersalls Ireland Breeze-Up Sale. 

Buyers might want to take note, as Dreeling says the siblings are so similar that he has taken to calling this year’s model ‘the carthorse’ as well. 

“His two-year-old half-brother is exactly the same, they have the exact same character,” he says.

This is a relatively rare foray into the breeze-up market, although Coole House have offered some noteworthy talents in this arena before, namely Intuitive, who reached a Racing Post Rating of 112, and the talented sprinter Twelfth Knight.

“We don’t breeze many, but he got a slight injury in his prep for the yearling sales so had to miss that,” Dreeling says. “We choose to go to the Fairyhouse breeze-up because we don’t rush two-year-olds. Because we breed them, we want racehorses that help our mares, we don’t want to be blowing the heads off them. 

“The most important thing to us is getting them to trainers, rather than clocking very fast times. I’ve no interest in that.” 

Dreeling’s approach to preparation has been shaped by a man that many consider the greatest trainer of all time. 

“I spent 23 years breaking horses in for Vincent O’Brien and his son Charles, and the boss used to always say, ‘Don’t work them before they’re three months after their two-year-old age,’” he adds. 

Whatever happens in the future, be that on the track or at the sales, the next chapter will be adding to what has already been a truly remarkable story. 

“Wouldn't it be wonderful?” Dreeling says on the prospect of a potential Classic triumph stemming from a mare that once cost just £600. Wouldn't it just?

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