GOOD timing is important in racing and John Flood certainly timed it well when heading on a short golfing break in Spain last weekend, missing all the frost at home and not missing any decent racing.
“It was a washout when we landed and they weren’t forecasting a great week, but it picked up well,” he reported from the airport heading home on Wednesday morning.
Between foalings and coverings at Boardsmill Stud, and preps for the ever-increasing sales calendar, there won’t be many opportunities for a break for the rest of the year, but the Flood family has plenty to look forward to.
It seems a very short time ago that the Trim, Co Meath stud was standing Kalanisi, Mount Nelson, Court Cave and Califet. Now the roster has completely changed and this year’s line-up consists of Poet’s Word, Sumbal and Arrest.
“It’s been a big change,” admits John in his usual quiet, chilled-out way. If stallion men are supposed to be hyper-active chatterboxes then John didn’t get the memo.
His father William has been known to get somewhat animated when campaigning for racing industry initiatives but John, similar in other ways to his father, always seems to be in relaxed mode. However, he is certainly driving Boardsmill to new heights as the stud approaches its centenary.
Star stallion
Poet’s Word is the stud’s star stallion. His first Irish crop were four-year-olds last year and 20 of them have won already, either on the track or in point-to-points. Those winners included Oh My Word, arguably the season’s most impressive bumper scorer so far. When the gelding bolted up in a listed bumper at Navan before Christmas, John could be seen on Racing TV, looking on.
Poet’s Word was already one of the busiest stallions in Ireland before that result and John says the horse will definitely be full for 2026.
A grandson of Dubawi, Poet’s Word was a King George winner who also won a 10-furlong Group 1 at Royal Ascot, so he was not an obvious choice for a National Hunt stallion career. How did that come about?
Oh My Word is arguably the most exciting bumper horse seen out this season so far
“We were following him on the racecourse, as we would follow all middle-distance horses who you think might not be attractive to flat breeders.
“Poet’s Word was a typical Sir Michael Stoute project, he didn’t win at two. And he was by Poet’s Voice, who died early and wouldn’t be the first name on people’s lips.
“But he was such a good, progressive racehorse, really tough, so we followed him and made an enquiry. But his owner Saeed Suhail wanted to stand him, so he stood at Shadwell for his first season in England.
“We kept in touch and, when we saw that he hadn’t been too busy, we enquired again and he was available to buy.”
Poet’s Word was an immediate hit with National Hunt breeders. “He’s very good looking and actually his popularity has never dipped, not even when you’re waiting for his first runners. He stamps his stock very well, which helps from a size point of view, and that has kept him busy.”
His stores were popular at the sales last summer and two of his racecourse winners topped boutique sales. The mare Poetisa was bought for £300,000 by Gigginstown after she won a Cheltenham bumper last April and she has upcoming entries for Willie Mullins. Largy Go fetched £305,000 at the Goffs Aintree Sale following a point-to-point win and is now trained by Jonjo and A.J. O’Neill for J.P. McManus.
“Plenty of the point-to-point guys like Poet’s Word stock and they said they found it a lot harder to buy them last year.”
French import
Our chat moves on to Sumbal, the grey French import who arrived at Boardsmill in 2021 after a season in France and a year in Wexford.
“I saw Sumbal in France and liked him. He’s by Jeremy and he didn’t tick a lot of boxes from a flat perspective. He only covered a small book and I guess that’s why he moved across to Ireland. We were looking for another horse at the time and I made enquiries about his first foals in France. That didn’t put us off, so we went to buy him.”
Sumbal’s first ‘Boardsmill’ crop have just turned four. Two of them sold for €80,000 and €60,000 at the store sales last summer.
“He’s only had a handful of runners from his first two small crops and he’s had decent results. Look, he’s a bit under the radar, but there has been a bit of talk about his point-to-pointers. Fingers crossed, a couple of good results in the spring could set him off.”
Juddmonte acquisition
New to Boardsmill last year was Arrest, a Frankel horse bred by Des Leadon and Mariann Klay and who raced at the top level for Juddmonte.
“I actually remember him being sold as a foal in the Covid year. He was the highest price Frankel foal sold that year. So he was obviously a very good-looking horse.
“We followed his career and made an enquiry about him. At the time, it sounded like there was Australian interest too, but we got him.”
Helped by the memorable marketing slogan ‘Get your mares under Arrest’ - and by Gordon Elliott sporting an Arrest cap on television - the new recruit covered 165 mares in his first season. “He’s an easy sell,” John said.
Transition
William Flood has been honoured by the racing industry several times for his voluntary contributions to the sport. So far, John has avoided the committee circuit, but indicates he will do his bit if asked.
“Dad has given a huge amount of time to the industry side,” he says, “which leaves me to manage the stud side of things.” The transition has been seamless.
Is there another generation of Floods ready to take Boardsmill into its second century? John and Fay have two children, Jessica and Jack, and they have taken an interest in horses and ponies.
The entire Flood family will be there to welcome the public next weekend.
“We’re open 365 days a year and breeders can call to see the stallions whenever they like. But for others outside the industry, the Stallion Trail is a chance for them to drop in. We didn’t sign up for the Stallion Trail with the aim of getting new business, but people have actually got involved in the breeding game because of it.
“They had that interest, but they didn’t know how to go about it. So just calling to a few studs and getting chatting to the stallion masters gave them ideas on the best way to get involved.”
You couldn’t pick better people to start off with than the Floods of Boardsmill.