DAVID Stack of Coolagown Stud in Fermoy has been awarded €148,000 by the High Court following a dispute with a long-standing South African client.

The defendant, lawyer Nigel Riley, has also been ordered to pay €70,000 to a Coolmore-associated company which joined Coolagown in taking the case.

At the High Court on Thursday, Judge Peter Charleton said the relationship with Coolagown and Riley started in 2013 and the outstanding fees sought went back to 2018 for keeping mares.

“The defence filed was more than uninformative; stating a denial of everything,” said the judge, who said a similar defence was made by Riley in the Coolmore claim.

In June 2021, Riley wrote a letter repudiating the Coolagown agreement at a time when Stack was “forcefully” seeking payment of his boarding fees, which then amounted to €148,000.

After proceedings were issued by Stack in April 2022, the plaintiff made an attempt “in good faith” to resolve some of the issue on the basis of transferring the ownership of the animals to him, which would reduce the fees sought, said the judge.

“David Stack alleges a simple agreement; he kept mares for Nigel Riley, arranged for them to be covered and for this service he was to be paid,” the judge wrote.

“That simple agreement is denied by Nigel Riley. That does not help his [Riley’s] case. As to what basis Nigel Riley’s horses were at Coolagown stud farm in the care of David Stack was not fully explained by Nigel Riley,” the judge noted.

The judge said that there had to be some kind of contract for Riley’s horses, some being in Ireland from 2013 and getting cared for. He said Stack’s evidence had been “calm and trustworthy” regarding payments by Riley in 2018 and 2019, which was proof of an underlying contract, albeit one not in writing.

Riley claimed that he had cleared fees based on a “reasonable” rate of €10 a day and that from November 2019 a new agreement was put in place whereby Stack would keep his horses for free but profits from foal sales would be shared evenly and the charges written off.

Charleton described the posited €10-a-day figure as an “unbelievable” low rate.

The judge said the court did not accept anything contrary to the evidence of Stack and that invoices went from Ireland to South Africa in 2018 and 2019, indicating the contract arrangement asserted by Stack.

“It is more than surprising, and is obstructive of a path towards truth, that Riley should deny that arrangement,” Charleton said.

The judge then made an order of €148,000 in favour of Coolagown.

A similar denial argument was made by Riley against Coolmore, where five mares were covered when Stack was acting as Riley’s agent in November 2017.

Riley asserted that Stack was not his agent and that the housing of his mares in Coolmore was “nothing to do with him” despite evidence to the contrary.

Riley indicated his intention to appeal the judgments. He is a well-known figure in South African racing and breeding, and stands Gustav Klimt and Morpheus at his Heversham Park Farm.

Among his current horses in training is The Equator, a talented staying handicapper for Aidan O’Brien and Coolmore partners in 2024. The gelding has yet to win in four South African starts.

Stack and Riley were on better terms in 2016 when Stack purchased a mare named Northern Mischief for €1,000 on behalf of his South African client. The mare turned out to be the dam of prolific Dubai stakes winner North America and she enjoyed several more positive pedigree updates after the purchase.