Joe Callan

Marketing & nominations manager, National Stud

I am actually surprised at how little impact the crisis has had on our business. Obviously we have changed the routines around covering and all the Thoroughbred Breeders Association guidelines are in place. Everyone is sticking to the protocols and we should be okay.

People working on the farm are busier than ever. We are mainly a boarding stud and we are rammed to capacity. A lot of clients sent mares here at the first sign of restrictions, just in case. We still have mares coming over from Ireland regularly and I haven’t heard of any cases where breeders or horseboxes were stopped.

If a mare is being sent here we give the owner a signed document on headed paper which states ‘this mare is being transported by X to the National Stud’ and it has the date and time. We outline the protocol to all clients and they sign a form to say they have read it. It’s something they can show if stopped, but transporting mares is classified as an essential journey by the authorities.

Everyone is working together to keep the wheel turning and staying safe at the same time. The stallions are very busy, thankfully.

Advertise is in his first season and he has taken to the job well. He’s covering a very strong book and we couldn’t be more pleased.

This is the third season for Aclaim – he has his first yearlings this year – and he has another big, strong book. Time Test is also on his third season and he has 125 mares booked in.

Rajasinghe has his first foals on the ground and breeders are happy with them, they are supporting him again.

Flag Of Honour is a very interesting addition for us this year. A dual-purpose prospect, he is being used by some very good breeders.

Shane Horan

Stallion nominations manager, Juddmonte (Banstead Manor Stud)

It’s very much business as usual, though I am working from the dining room table.

In the initial stages of the shutdown we had some very nervous clients and we spent a lot of time calling them and reassuring them. We lost a few mares but things have steadied up and any mares we lost from Irish farms have been replaced by breeders on this side of the water.

We regularly have mares coming from Ireland and France and there are no problems. We are also sending some of our own mares to Ireland, as usual. In fact we had two covered successfully by Shamardal – how lucky we were.

We would expect 700 mares through here during the season and we are over halfway there. When mares arrive at Banstead Manor the owner doesn’t get out of the vehicle. Our guys unload the mare, bring her to the covering shed and hand her back.

All the paperwork is done by email in advance.

There are five active stallions here and Expert Eye is the only one with any availability left. Having said that, he is ahead of the target we set for him in his second season. Everyone is genuinely pleased with the foals they have seen.

Frankel, Kingman, Oasis Dream and Bated Breath are all full.

Kirsten Rausing

Owner, Lanwades Stud

We have had numerous mares from Ireland, France and Germany as per usual, this year. We are also sending mares of our own to Ireland and France, again as per routine.

Like every other farm, we have had to adapt to these unprecedented Covid-19 circumstances. We tightly adhere to the regulations laid down by the industry Codes of Practice; of course this year with coronavirus protocol addenda issued by the UK Government and the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.

Our four active stallions are all doing well.

Sea The Moon had two champion two-year-olds in his first two crops and has been very fully booked since before Christmas. He has a number of really promising three-year-olds in training, not least Group 2 winner Alpine Star, German champion Wonderful Moon, and the André Fabre-trained Tickle Me Green. There is also the Michael Halford-trained four-year-old filly Hamriyna.

Breeders’ Cup winner Bobby’s Kitten has his first crop of two-year-olds running this year and we are receiving a lot of positive feedback about them from trainers in the UK, Ireland and Europe.

We are of course delighted to have the first son of Japanese super-sire Deep Impact at stud in England, French Derby winner Study Of Man, here at Lanwades.Being a grandson of the legendary, 10-time Group 1 winner Miesque, and with no Galileo/Danehill in his pedigree, he is of course an extremely attractive outcross for breeders.

An elegant and correct sort, with great presence, he has been well supported at stud, not least by his owner/breeders, the Niarchos family, and obviously Lanwades is also supporting him with our best mares. He is proving very fertile and is very good at his new job in the covering barn.

Our stallion roster is completed by unbeaten champion two-year-old and subsequent Derby winner Sir Percy, a more than useful sire who has so far got two Group 1 winners and no less than 80 individual two-year-old winners.

Popular with mare owners and in the sales ring, he again is a significant outcross for many mares and he is of course the last remaining representative of the Mill Reef sire line in the UK and Ireland. He is now also proving a very good broodmare sire.