MAURICE Regan’s Newtown Anner Stud near Clonmel is well-known as both a racing name and as a stud farm. Standing stallions would not be something that it is recognised for doing, but it was home for three seasons to Beckford (Bated Breath).

Gordon Elliott trained Beckford and turned him into a pretty smart juvenile, winning the Group 2 Railway Stakes from Verbal Dexterity, but those places were reversed in the Group 1 National Stakes. In between those races Beckford was third to Sioux Nation in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes. Perhaps sensing that he may prove to be better suited to racing in America, Beckford joined Brendan Walsh who saddled him for one run and win in the five-furlong William Walker Stakes at Churchill Downs.

An injury kept Beckford off the track, and we next saw him back in Ireland where, in two seasons, he made six starts, his best effort coming when fourth to Gustavus Weston in a Group 3. He was then retired to Newtown Anner where, instead of just enjoying his remaining days grazing, Regan chose to send him five mares to be covered in 2021, resulting in five pregnancies and foals.

All of those foals have raced and four have won. Arbitration won over nine and a half furlongs at Wolverhampton last September trained by Karl Burke and then sold for 67,000gns to Tom Malone. Johnny Murtagh trained Iceford for Regan and he won a seven-furlong Curragh handicap last year and was placed a number of times. Blandford Bloodstock acquired him for 35,000gns in October.

Ger Lyons got the stud career (not that it was really such at the time) of Beckford off to a perfect start when he saddled his two-year-old son Beckman to land a 14-runner six-furlong maiden at the Curragh on his debut. He was runner-up to January in the Listed El Grand Senor Stakes at Tipperary and fourth three times in pattern and listed company before he finished his racing career in the silks of Newtown Anner with a win at Naas. He is racing in Hong Kong with a name change to Le Zonda.

Starford

Now we come to the best runner from that first crop of Beckford. He is Starford, trained by Joseph O’Brien for Maurice Regan, and he showed improvement throughout last year to capture three handicaps, before disappointing on his last run in a Curragh listed race.

Now, on his second start this year, he beat his stable companion and 10 others to win the Group 3 Alleged Stakes. Joseph O’Brien won the race last year with Galen, while six of the previous eight winners were White Birch, Point Lonsdale, Layfayette, Broome, Magical and Capri.

As a footnote, the fifth foal in that first crop by Beckford was Bevy, the only filly, and while she was very average, she did finish fourth twice and got within three lengths of the winner when putting up her best racing performance last year.

Newtown Anner invested in Beckford’s family 20 years ago when spending €95,000 at the Goffs Million Sale for a Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) filly from Barronstown Stud, and she is his grandam. Named Magen’s Star, she was trained by Tommy Stack and raced once each at two and three, being placed at the Curragh. Kept in training, she ran up a sequence of three wins at four, from 11 to 114 furlongs, and then was sent hurdling, where she won two more races. Her stud prospects received a boost when Magen’s Star’s three-parts sister bred the classic winner Simple Verse (Duke Of Marmalade).

John Oxx

Magen’s Star bred five winners, and last year her grandson Lao Tzu (Kodiac) won the Group 3 Premio Parioli-Italian 2000 Guineas. He is out of an unraced half-sister to Red Stars (Manduro), the dam of Starford, and she was the best of her dam’s five winners. Trained by John Oxx, two of her three wins were at Roscommon, where she won the Listed Lenabane Stakes, and she ended her 14-race career with a win in the Listed Bluebell Stakes at Naas. Red Stars has a three-year-old daughter, Acula (Sea The Stars).

Back to Beckford for a moment. Perhaps not anticipating how wonderfully well he would do with his runners, Newtown Anner covered two mares with him in 2022, resulting in a single foal. That three-year-old colt, Zenford, was entrusted to the care of Johnny Murtagh. He was beaten a neck when third on his debut last year at Leopardstown, and ran on to finish third on his only run this year at the Curragh. At the time of writing he holds an entry for Limerick today. There is a single two-year-old also, a filly from the only mare he covered, and she is a full-sister to Zenford.

In his final year at Newtown Anner, Beckford covered five mares, and has four yearlings on the ground, all but one of them being colts.

With his first runners showing promise, Beckford moved last year to Kedrah House Stud, and breeders who are followers of what is happening sat up and took notice, and Beckford covered 24 mares. I expect it may be harder than usual to get through to Tom Meagher as even more people check the stallion out now, especially at an attractive fee of €5,000.