BOUGHT back at €425,000 at Goffs as a four-year-old, the Richard Fahey-trained Footstepsinthesand (Giant’s Causeway) mare Barefoot Lady won the Group 3 Nell Gwyn Stakes and was third in the Group 1 Coronation Stakes. She was runner-up in the Group 3 Musidora Stakes, fourth at the Curragh in the Group 1 Matron Stakes, and captured the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine.

Though a little off being top-class, Barefoot Lady was nonetheless a most admirable runner who raced 20 times, winning five times in all. She was for many years the poster girl for the Goresbridge Breeze-Up Sale, and in 2010 she sold at that venue for €30,000. She was the type of mare to appeal to Japanese buyers, as they are more concerned about racecourse performance than pedigree. That is not to say that Barefoot Lady has poor breeding.

Eight winners

Barefoot Lady was the best of eight winners out of Lady Angharad (Tenby), winner of the Listed Woodcote Stakes at Epsom and stakes-placed in the USA. Lady Angharad bred offspring in Ireland, the USA and eventually in India, and it was in the latter country that she was responsible for two more stakes-placed winners, Last Chance (Ace) and Desert Fire (Arazan).

The best of Lady Angharad’s siblings was Le Badie (Spectrum) who won three times in Italy, and she bred Montaly (Yeats), a smart stayer whose day in the sun came at York when he won the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup, beating the Queen’s horse Dartmouth by a nose. He also won the Chester Cup.

Best stallions

At stud, Barefoot Lady had three offspring by Deep Impact (Sunday Silence), showing the esteem in which she was held. She was always bred to the best stallions around, but her first seven progeny produced four ordinary winners and two placed runners. That all changed with her eighth and ninth offspring. Sekitoba East (Declaration Of War) was born in 2021 and Giovanni (Eipihaneia) the following spring.

Clearly Barefoot Lady gets sound stock, and all of her first nine foals have raced. Sekitoba East won the Group 3 Ireland Trophy Fuchu Himba Stakes at Tokyo at the weekend, adding to a listed victory and a couple of placed runs in Group 2 company. He has now won four times, equalling the number of wins recorded by his sibling Matenro Ales (Daiwa Major), but still some way off the eight wins for Miss Jasmine (Orfevre).

Giovanni won a listed race at two last year, one of his two victories, and then finished second in the Group 1 Hopeful Stakes. He has been keeping good company this year and ran fourth in the Group 1 Satsuki Shu-Japanese 2000 Guineas. He could be a horse to take the family story to another level.

Select Sale

Later in the year we will hopefully see Barefoot Lady’s two-year-old filly Sorpassare (Kizuna), but before that the mare’s 2025 foal, a Declaration Of War (War Front) full-brother to Sekitoba East, will come up for sale at the JHRA Select Sale next month. He is being sold by Taihei Stud Farm, breeders of all of Barefoot Lady’s produce. The farm has been in existence since 1936, and at Tattersalls last year they purchased Cairde Go Deo for 525,000gns. They have bred many good runners, especially since the Rokuroda family took it over in 1970.

Declaration Of War has had Group and Grade 1 success around the world. His roll of honour at the top table comprises Gufo (Grade 1 Sword Dancer Stakes), Decorated Invader (Grade 1 Summer Stakes), Vow And Declare (Group 1 Melbourne Cup), Fire At Will (Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf), Warning (Group 1 VRC Victoria Derby), Olmedo (Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French 2000 Guineas) and Winning Ways (Group 1 BRC Queensland Oaks). His French classic winner was from his sole crop conceived when standing in Ireland.

Declaration Of War

Moved to Japan in time for the 2019 covering season, Declaration Of War covered in excess of 100 mares in each of the first five years there, with a high of 152 in his first season. Last year he covered 74 mares. A son of War Front (Danzig), Declaration Of War stood his first season at Coolmore, the natural home you would feel for a horse whose seven European victories included the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes and Group 1 Juddmonte International as a four-year-old. He made the frame in three other top-level events, the Coral Eclipse Stakes, Sussex Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Declaration Of War covered 160 mares in his first year in Ireland at a fee of €40,000, and that crop also included the Group 2 Gran Premio di Milano winner Assiro, dual Group 3 winner in Ireland Actress and the US Grade 3 winner Speed Franco. He moved to Ashford Stud in Kentucky where his fee for two seasons was $40,000, dropped in 2017 to $35,000 and finally, in 2018, to $25,000. Declaration Of War stands the at the Japan Bloodhorse Breeders’ Association’s Shizunai Stallion Station on the island of Hokkaido.