IT is fair to say that the majority of those involved in breeding chose that route originally because of a love of horses. They had a background and knowledge, allied with a dream of producing classic winners and future stallions.

James Hanly did not grow up with any such lofty ambitions but he has scaled that peak nonetheless. A farmer with a pragmatic approach to life, he considered a number of methods for making his living off the land and resolved more than 30 years ago that breeding racehorses was the most agreeable. Once making that decision, he approached it very simply. While a good sale might provide an instant return for his investment, monetarily and in terms of gratification, it was what they did on the track that would determine whether he would stand or fall. If the horses failed to produce the goods, the price tag would be quickly forgotten.

Ballyhimikin Stud has forged a strong reputation as a producer and consignor of high-class racecourse performers. Hanly and his team have produced winners at all levels but the number of top-tier stars that came through the Nenagh-based farm is remarkable.

The Jim Bolger-trained Flight Risk is the latest addition to the roll of honour as a winner of the Group 3 Gladness Stakes this year, while Grand Ducal and Tickled Pink are other former Group 3 victors.

The list of Group 1 products is stellar however. Society Rock was a dual Group 1 winner, bagging the Haydock Sprint Cup and Golden Jubilee Stakes. Queen’s Logic was a European Champion two-year-old filly who pocketed the Cheveley Park Stakes for connections. Dubai Surprise garnered an Italian Group 1, supplemented by a Group 3 success in Britain.

UNPREDICTABLE

Top of the tree is Halfway To Heaven, the Aidan O’Brien filly who strode to glory in the Irish 1000 Guineas and won two other Group 1 prizes subsequently. As advertisements go, you don’t get better. “Some days I think I have been successful and there’s other days I’m not so sure. It’s a very unpredictable business and very inexact science” muses Hanly.

“I’m trying to make a living. Alternative farming methods do not look particularly attractive. I don’t really know anything else. I have been doing it for 34 years. I didn’t want to milk cows. I milked cows once and that was enough. I had no interest in feeding pigs. I worked with Aberdeen Angus cattle and that was enough of that. So it looked like the lesser of all the evils in farming. We’re getting a living out of it. I don’t want it to get any bigger. I can barely control it the way it is.”

There are, he insists, no great secrets. Clearly your expertise grows but at the root of all success is graft. Given the unpredictable nature of this industry in particular, so much can go wrong that is completely out of your control. Therefore, you need a thick skin. If you cannot handle the inevitable setbacks, get out.

“The main factors are good management and the team of people I have assembled around me to help me run the business. You have to work at this thing 24/7, morning, noon and night. Attention to detail. Being surrounded by good people who have a passion for what they do is vital.”

Depending on the time of year, he has a staff of between six and 10 people. Hanly’s wife, Charlotte has a key role in decision-making and when it comes to choosing stallions for his mares, he insists that the brains trust doesn’t include him but rather Charlotte and his farm manager, Helen Jones.

“They don’t let me make any decisions,” he laughs.

Ballyhimikin has 35 yearlings to sell in the coming months, starting with five at Tattersalls’ September Yearling Sale on Tuesday and Wednesday. It is an intense period, a potentially fruitful one but definitely stressful. The focus then is “to concentrate, work hard and stay calm.”

CREDIBILITY

“We would be hopeful that there are some potentially good racehorses amongst the various drafts of horses we have. That they produce on the track. That’s vital. It provides the credibility.”

With credibility comes return business, something a sales-topper will never guarantee. Instant fulfilment does not guarantee long-term bounty and that’s a maxim to follow in any walk of life.

It was rewarding watching Halfway To Heaven stretch to the line in the Curragh on May 25th, 2008.

It was one of the races of the season, as four horses flashed past the line in a blur. In the end, Seamie Heffernan and his Ballyhimikin graduate had a head to spare over Tuscan Evening, with a head and a neck back to third and fourth.

The Pivotal filly, bred by Trevor Stewart out of Indian Ridge mare Cassandra Go, proved her talent and toughness when coming out on top in another thrilling finish over 10 furlongs in the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood the following August. The margins were identical to the Curragh, with a head back to Lush Lashes and a further head and neck separating the minor placings.

She confirmed her adaptability once more by reverting to a mile to claim the Sun Chariot Stakes in relatively comfortable fashion the following month, with a half-length to spare over Darjina at Newmarket. “There’s a huge amount of satisfaction in that. You forget momentarily all the enormous issues that one has to deal with. Horses are like golf. Most of it is bad news. When the whole lot goes right, that’s the Holy Grail. It’s so difficult.”

The entire process is trial and error. “Mostly error,” jokes Hanly. “If you can get 51% of your decisions right you’ll survive.”

GRAFT

The truth is that it is a never-ending puzzle. Finding the solutions are never easy. It all comes back to graft.

“We put a lot of resources into trying to get everything right so that we can maybe get some success. It’s really hard work, dedication, getting back up when you’re knocked down. Being able to put up with those really bad dark days that everybody that is in the business knows about.

“Animals are so fragile and it’s so difficult to have it right but that applies to every business. We like to think in our business it’s unique but it’s not. It’s in every business. If you’re running a sweet shop at the corner of the road things go wrong. So the bottom line is management, hard work and dedication. And being able to put up with those bad days. Then the good days look so good.”

The headlines have been screaming a return-to-health of an industry that suffered cataclysmically from the economic downturn. Sales figures have increased, creating big headlines. That only applies to the very few though, Hanly argues.

SELECTIVE

“It’s very, very selective and most of those increases that you see are really at the top end of the business. There’s a huge middle and lower market and those animals have to be sold. They can often be the very good horses.

“They’re cheaper horses. It doesn’t mean that they’re not good horses. They can be very, very good horses. That trade has to be nursed along.” That means that there is value for the buyer.

“Absolutely. That’s why a good agent works very hard at every sale to comb through the thousands of horses that are offered. Very often there are gems to be found.

“You have young mares that are having their early produce, that have no track record and they might not have raced for some reason on the track. A lot of the broodmares never raced. These horses are offered at the lesser sales, they’re gonna be cheaper horses but they can be a very good horse. That’s why it’s important that the agents work hard, and they do, and the sales company are able to facilitate it with good facilities.

“If you’ve got a draft of less expensively produced horses and you have a good reputation, the buyers will look at your cheaper horses and these are very important.

“It’s very important to us too that they go to good stables and get a chance. That helps your young broodmare and hopefully pushes some of them up to the next level. There will be a lot of good horses come out of Fairyhouse next week and a lot of them will be cheaper horses.”

REPUTATION

The green shoots of recovery can be attributed to many factors but James gives a lot of credit to the sales companies. He feels the marketing of the product has been tremendous and in particular, has high praise for Irish Champions Weekend.

ICW is already paying dividends materially and in terms of enhancing Ireland’s reputation as a producer of quality thoroughbreds, he maintains, but the significant benefits will be reaped in the long term.

“They do a very good job at Fairyhouse and Goffs do a very good job the following week and Irish Thoroughbred Marketing do a very good job. Joe Foley and Harry McCalmont did a very good job at the weekend. Champions Weekend was their idea and that’s been hugely successful. It gives us all a bit of hope.

“It is very possible that there will be new owners on the back of that initiative. Last weekend did a very good job selling the racing product. It was a superb effort by a small number of people with some very bright ideas and it worked. It shows what can be done when good people pull together.”

Just like Ballyhimikin Stud. The concentration is almost entirely on producing his own stock.

“I don’t consign many horses for other people, only a few long standing clients, because there’s so much effort goes into it. A commission doesn’t reward one for it. It’s not in proportion to the amount of work that goes into it.

“Other people can do it but I’ve no interest in it so therefore I’d be no good at it. If you’re going to be good at something, you have to have some interest in it.”

On average, the operation breeds around 25 foals a year and supplements the stock with foal purchases. He isn’t a huge fan of pinhooking however.

“I do a very small amount. I’m not a huge believer of it. It’s the wrong end of the game. We try to produce homebreds.

“My bottom line is I’m only a small member of a team and I’ve got a very good team of people that work very hard. In particular, Dermot and Helen Jones manage the farm and they’re doing a great job. It’s everything to have people you can trust in these positions.”

The results speak for themselves.