LONGWAYS Stables is synonymous with quality sales offerings, and with high-class winners.

The husband-and-wife duo of Mick Murphy and Sarah O’Connell near Ardmore in Co Waterford are very keen on building a strong reputation, though that has not always guaranteed that they have been richly-rewarded in the sales ring on every occasion.

Consider this quartet of winners. Last weekend’s Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes hero Gewan (Night Of Thunder), Group 3 Royal Ascot Jersey Stakes winner Le Brivido who was denied a classic victory by a short head in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas, Group 2 Hungerford Stakes winner Witch Hunter who was also a Royal Ascot winner, and Phantom Flight, the multiple stakes winner who recently added to his haul with a listed success at Dundalk for emerging trainer George Scott.

Each of these admirable performers was sourced and developed at Longways, and yet their average sale price to the end users was little more than €100,000. Incredibly, the cheapest of the quartet was Gewan, who lost money for the couple, but whose talent was always obvious to them at home. Their belief in the colt’s ability has been well justified now, and he will be a proud poster boy for Longways when next year’s breeze-up sales come around.

Pinhooking successes

Now, before you think that every horse they sell falls into this category, well think again. Mick and Sarah have enjoyed many notable pinhooking successes, and for some time held the breeze-up record price at Doncaster. That was £450,000 in 2019 for Al Raya (Siyouni), a filly they bought for £95,000 at the same venue the previous September. She went on to become a Group 3 winner at two in France.

Today, Flora Of Bermuda (Dark Angel) tackles the Group 1 sprint at Ascot for her in-form owners and trainer, Wathnan Racing and Andrew Balding, and if any horse deserves to win at the highest level, then she is the one. Acquired privately at Arqana for €60,000 by Longways, she was a profitable resale when realising £340,000 at Doncaster the following spring.

Last year at three, Flora Of Bermuda was beaten a head and a neck in the Group 1 Qipco British Champions Sprint Stakes. She has retained her ability, and this year ran third at Royal Ascot in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and was just over a length behind Big Mojo in the Group 1 Haydock Sprint.

A quick glance at the Longways purchases at the yearling sales this year shows that attention to detail, comprehensive ground work and a keen eye are all qualities that they bring to bear when making purchases. Mick and Sarah are brave too, with most of their buys this year costing a six-figure sum, and the yearlings they have accumulated so far are certainly mouthwatering.

By my reckoning, they have purchased at Arqana, Goffs UK and Ireland, Tattersalls Ireland and in Newmarket. It looks as though the Tattersalls Somerville Sale is the only one at which they drew a blank.

Lope De Vega

They have bought two well-related sons of Lope De Vega, a full-brother to Ger Lyons’ smart juvenile this season Geryon, and an own-brother to a US Grade 2-placed winner, the latter in partnership with CF Bloodstock.

No surprise that a Night Of Thunder was on the shopping list, this one a filly, while the Lope De Vega love affair was in evidence at Arqana where they purchased a daughter of St Mark’s Basilica (how well he has done since) out of a mare by the Ballylinch sire.

Mick and Sarah were among the first to demonstrate their belief in the first crop by Minzaal, buying a son of his, along with a Havana Grey colt, at Doncaster. With plenty of sales left still at Newmarket as I write this, and Arqana to follow, they have added sons of Blue Point and Sioux Nation and daughters of Showcasing and Space Blues to their list of purchases.

I don’t wish to dwell on it, but suffice to say that Gewan cost 100,000gns as a yearling in Book 2 at Newmarket, but it took a private sale at €80,000 to sell him at Arqana. Billy Jackson-Stops drove that hard bargain and the colt joined Andrew Balding in the ownership of Al Rabban Racing. After he won his first two starts, including the Group 3 Tattersalls Acomb Stakes at York, Gewan was sold to Zhang Yueshang.

Overbury Stud

Bred by Overbury Stud (Simon Sweeting) and Dukes Stud (Charlie Wyatt), Gewan’s victory in the Acomb Stakes was following a path previously trod by another Balding runner, Chaldean, and so it was no surprise that the trainer had the Group 2 Champagne Stakes at Doncaster and the Group 1 Dewhurst as aims for Gewan. The colt may have fluffed his lines at Doncaster, finishing four lengths behind the now Group 1 winner Puerto Rico in fourth, but that run is well and truly behind him.

Gewan made amends in the weekend’s Darley-sponsored feature when beating what looks to have been a high-class field, and now he will go into winter quarters as one of the favourites for the early season classics in 2026. His sire Night Of Thunder (Dubawi) won the Group 1 2000 Guineas in 2014, and this year he sired the Group 1 1000 Guineas heroine Desert Flower.

Night Of Thunder’s seventh northern hemisphere crop are two-year-olds, and 2026 is proving to be an exceptional year for his runners. He has sired five Group/Grade 1 winners already, the five-year-old Choisya (Jenny Wiley Stakes in the USA), four-year-olds Ombudsman (hoping to shine at Ascot today) and Dynamic Pricing (Just A Game Stakes in the USA), the classic-winning three-year-old Desert Crown and a possible champion juvenile-elect in Gewan. They are all among his 71 stakes winners, 9% of his foals of racing age.

Lethal Force

Grey Mystere, a daughter of Lethal Force (Dark Angel), is the dam of Gewan. She has been to the sales on three occasions. Sold for €50,000 to Jean-Claude Rouget as a yearling, she won at two and was second in a listed race that same year. Back at Arqana at three, she realised €35,000, was put in foal to Too Darn Hot (Dubawi) at a fee of £45,000, and sold again that December in Arqana for €120,000.

The resulting offspring, Darn Hot Mystery, was a disappointing 34,000gns yearling. Trained by Henry Candy, she showed useful form at two, placed a few times, but her form has tailed off this year. That said, connections now have a placed half-sister to a Group 1 winner, and her value has been well and truly enhanced. They are Grey Mystere’s first two offspring, the third, a colt by Ghaiyyath died, and the fourth is in the Tattersalls December Foal Sale, a son of Native Trail (Dubawi).

Gewan’s grandam Creamcake (Mr Greeley), responsible for two stakes-placed runners among her five winners, was sold for €1,500 last December. The best of her siblings was the Group 1 Prix Saint-Alary winner Coquerelle (Zamindar). The next dam. Luth De Saron (Luthier) was a Group 2 winner in France, and a third of her nine winning offspring landed pattern race victories.

The colt Roi Normand (Exclusive Native) took the Grade 1 Sunset Handicap at Hollywood Park, Trampoli (Trempolino) was Grade 1-placed and a multiple Grade 2 winner, while successful sire Luth Dancer (Blushing Groom) was a Group 3 winner in France.