A VISIT to Knockeen, not far from Waterford City, is good for the soul. Home to the de Bromhead family for generations, Henry de Bromhead is the current occupier, taking over from his father Harry who still lives there. “We are a bit like the Waltons – my sister is also here,” he tells us as we drive out to the gallops to see some of the stable stars at work.
The place has been developed in recent years, coinciding with the growing success the yard has enjoyed. Gallops have been added, and stables, generally in clusters of about 10 or a dozen, have been erected. Yet the place is an oasis of calm, something that de Bromhead himself displays on the outside, but admits to feeling quite different beneath the surface at times.
With the ability to comfortably accommodate 80 to 90 horses, does Henry have a desire to grow the numbers he trains? “No. I’m delighted with what we have got. I’ll be a very happy man if we can maintain this for the rest of my career. To have the calibre of horse we have is just incredible. And the owners we have are brilliant.”
I wonder if Michael O’Leary’s policy of cutting back on numbers will impact on the operation at Knockeen? “They have been brilliant in how they are doing it; they are giving us every chance. It’s a gradual process. If we can keep getting their horses to perform they are going to keep them for those years, and the lesser ones will be sold like every other year. It gives us the chance to try and fill the boxes.”
Does de Bromhead feel that the Gigginstown withdrawal is generating interest from others to fill the gap? “Yes. I think the sales show it. I probably wasn’t concerned about the form horse sales because they have been so strong. I must say I was worried about the store horse sales and then you see a wad of 50 grand medians. It’s incredible. I think you could say people have seen the opportunity.”
The trainer places great emphasis on staff, with recent Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Award winner David Roche leading the team as head lad. Namechecking many of the team, de Bromhead confesses: “We are very lucky to have really experienced people working with us. A lot of young people come into racing and then find out it’s not quite for them. But we have got an amazing core team and I don’t think we have a huge turnover.
“It’s a tough job; you have to enjoy doing it obviously. I think most of my team feel it’s as good a place to work as anywhere else.”
With Honeysuckle, Sinoria and Minella Melody among the horses in training, is de Bromhead happy with the fillies’ programme? “I think it’s brilliant; I think it’s amazing whoever came up with it – I presume the ITBA and various bodies – but I think they have created a whole new industry when you see National Hunt fillies making the money they are making.
“I just think we’ve been very lucky to get some good ones as well. We have it on the flat; you see all those flat races for fillies at Ascot and other places. Now we are starting to get them for National Hunt. Whoever pushed it, fair play to them. I mean, 10 years ago would you think you would see a maiden point-to-point winning mare making 400 grand? I think it’s brilliant.”
Questioned whether fillies are easier to train prompts de Bromhead to laugh aloud. “I don’t know. The word ‘easy’ with ‘training’: it’s an oxymoron – they don’t go together. Are they less difficult? I don’t know. I thought I couldn’t train them at all and then suddenly I was sent some good ones and I suddenly think I can. Noel Meade said to me last year it’s all about getting the good ones. We’ve got some gorgeous ones.”
There is one ‘bee in the bonnet’ issue revealed by de Bromhead when asked if the mares would be kept to racing against their own sex. “Well, Honeysuckle is going to the Hatton’s Grace. There’s a Grade 3 at Christmas at Leopardstown and it’s for mares that haven’t won a Grade 1. I can’t think of any Grade 3 for geldings where a Grade 1 winner is not allowed to run in it, so I don’t know why they’ve done it for mares.
“The programme for mares is brilliant but I would query that when I’m going looking for a race for her. Now we are running in the Hatton’s Grace but I suppose they are getting us and others to go there; maybe that’s what they were trying to make us do!”
Acquiring new stock for the year is a team effort, with his wife playing a pivotal role. “Heather and I buy a lot together; she’s a great judge so I count on her a lot. Buying stores I’d be very picky about pedigree, probably ridiculously so. For form horses we’ve got some great people who point us in the right direction. Alex Elliot helps us, Gerry Hogan, and Neil O’Donnell would often put one to me.”
With a full yard, breaking takes place off site. “Paul Power does a lot of our breaking. He’s literally a mile from here. He used to work for me and is training himself now. Mick Murphy does a lot as well; in fairness to him he’s brilliant. We’ve had a lot of success with Mick. He’d probably do more with yearlings and two-year-olds.” Two-year-olds don’t join the team in Knockeen until after the Punchestown Festival.
Best winners
A Plus Tard
5yo b g Kapgarde - Turboka / Cheveley Park Stud / FORM: 2121-32
His form seems to be far superior on a left handed track. I think he can run to 140 on a right handed track and to 160 going left handed. I think he’ll improve plenty for his run at Navan and his trip is in and around the Ryanair Chase kind of distance. I’m just struggling to find his next race. Obviously the John Durkan would have been perfect but we want to go the other way. There is a three-mile option at Aintree but that could be a bit far, and there’s the two-mile-one-furlong Grade 1 at Leopardstown at Christmas. We might wait until the new year – if I could find a two-and-a-half-mile graded chase that would be perfect.
Balko Des Flos
8yo ch g Balko - Royale Marie / Gigginstown House Stud FORM: 43973-44
I think there is definitely a way back to form for him. He’s another who has just had lots of problems with his shins. I thought I had everything right with him prior to his run at Clonmel – I could have hit them with a hammer the day before – they were ice cold, absolutely fine. But then on Friday morning his shins were sore again. I don’t like using the same excuse but that was the reason for his poor run, without a shadow of a doubt. We’ll get him sorted and try and get him back for Christmas.
Capuccimix
6yo gr g Al Namix - Capuccina / Robcour / FORM: 17-2
He ran really well at Navan on Sunday. I thought he was coming to win and Robbie said he just got tired. I ran him over the wrong trip last season – he was in the Grade 3 novice hurdle Minella Indo finished second to Allaho in at Clonmel. He’s such a big horse, you picture him as this three-mile chaser but it’s funny, Al Namix horses can get a lot of speed. We’ll look for a soft ground two-mile beginners chase for him.
Chris’s Dream
7yo b g Mahler - Janebailey / Robcour / FORM: 1215-P1
We were obviously delighted with his performance to win the Troytown Chase. Again, he’s a three-mile chaser that we’ll be selective with. The Thyestes or the Irish Gold Cup would be on his agenda. He was raised 13lbs for Sunday so he’s on 159 which is plenty high enough so you might have to think about running in graded races now.
Chris's Dream has a rating of 159 after his impressive Troytown Chase win last Sunday \Healy Racing
Dancing On My Own
5yo b g Milan - Morning Supreme / Sean & Bernardine Mulryan / FORM: 4P-416
He’s a really nice horse. Around Christmas last year I just thought it would be a better plan to go for the Grade 1 novice hurdles instead of persisting with him to win a maiden hurdle. He was only four going on five so if he won a Grade 1, that would be great, but if he didn’t we’d have him as a novice for this season. We then ran him during the summer at Galway and he absolutely hated it there so we went back to what we knew he was good at, left handed two miles at Wexford and he won by 28 lengths. Because of his owners, you’d always have the Ballymore in mind so we ran him in the trial for that race at Cheltenham two weeks ago and he didn’t stay again. So now we’re going to two miles again and I think he could be good enough to run in a Supreme. I’m not saying he’ll win it but I think he could be up to the standard, especially given his form to finish fourth to Klassical Dream in a Grade 1 last season.
Due Reward
6yo b g Westerner - Long Acre / Gigginstown House Stud / FORM: 679-212
He’s a lovely horse who finished second in the Galway Hurdle and he’s done well since going chasing. He had a busy summer so we backed off him a bit. We were going to go for the Craddockstown at Punchestown but ended up running Notebook there so he’ll go for a Grade 3 novice chase (Klairon Davis) at Navan next Saturday. If he acts well on the soft ground there we might carry on with him but if he doesn’t, we might leave him off and come back in the spring.
Ellie Mac
6yo b m Court Cave - Dizzy’s Whisper / Niccolai Schuster Horse Racing Club / FORM: 36-U3P33
When she won at Leopardstown two years ago it was one of the most emotional days I’ve had on a racecourse. I remember she’d ran well at Cork on her second run after John Schuster asked could she run in the four-year-olds’ maiden hurdle at Leopardstown. I remember saying that maiden hurdle could be like the Derby for four-year-olds but John said as much as this is about racing, it’s also about Niccolai’s friends and family coming to enjoy the day at their local track. It was amazing really. So it goes without saying that she’ll have multiple entries there again. She is so adaptable, she can go over fences or over hurdles. The Pertemps Qualifier could be her race but we’ll see closer to the time.
Honeysuckle
5yo b m Sulamani - First Royal / Kenneth Alexander / FORM: 1111-1
She will be exciting going chasing in time but she’s only five and what she achieved last year was incredible. We’re looking at the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and working back from then. As it happens, the top three mares in the betting for the Mares’ Hurdle are in the Hatton’s Grace tomorrow so it will be a learning curve. She had a lovely first run and I think we are being realistic with her now. I hope we are anyway – she won a Grade 1 last year, we know she likes it around Fairyhouse and you have to test them at some stage. She has been very good over two and a half but I think she has lots of speed. She won over two miles around Thurles last season, and that’s a pretty sharp test. That said, you could do anything with her really, she won her point-to-point really impressively and so maybe three miles will be fine for her as well.
Honeysuckle goes for tomorrow's Hatton's Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse, a course and distance she has won over three times \Healy Racing
Minella Indo
6yo b g Beat Hollow - Carrigeen Lily / Barry Maloney / FORM: 321-12
The work it takes to get him fit is ridiculous and even here this morning (Monday), he was bucking and kicking. The main thing we agreed with Rachael last week was to get a clear round, get him jumping and we were happy with that. I think we’ll go for a Grade 1 with him next. That was going to be the plan if he won and just because he has finished second, I don’t see why we should change it – especially considering we’ve been beaten by the Arkle favourite (Laurina).
The chances are you’re going to meet a graded horse in a beginners chase anyway and the more I go on with these three-mile chasers, the more I think you don’t want to be having too many runs. The ground could be a factor – if it came up good, we could go for a beginners at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve. But anything else and we’ll be looking for a Grade 1. I want him to be the first Grade 1-winning horse in history to not to have won a maiden hurdle or beginners chase!
Minella Indo could go straight for a Grade 1 novice chase now \carolinenorris.ie
Minella Melody
5yo b m Flemensfirth - Cottage Theatre / Kenneth Alexander / FORM: 112-31
I really like her, she’s a lovely mare. She cost €60,000 as a three-year-old and she has an amazing pedigree. She won her bumper well last season, ran a big race to be second at Aintree and then she was probably just feeling her season a bit when we ran her at Punchestown.
She did it nicely on her hurdles debut at Cork where she took a blow and I think she’ll come on a lot for that. Chasing is there for her later but I do think she’ll reach a fair standard as a hurdler. She’ll go for the new listed mares’ novice hurdle on John Durkan day at Punchestown and her ultimate aim will be the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Monalee
8yo b g Milan - Tempest Belle / Barry Maloney / FORM: 3214-P3
I was happy with him at Clonmel. I couldn’t understand how we were joint favourite initially with Douvan over that trip and trying to give him 5lbs. He was racing with Douvan from a long way out and he just took a blow at the top of the hill and that was it.
I’d expect a massive improvement from him next time out. I’m convinced he is a three-miler. You look at the way he came home in the Ryanair Chase. I left Cheltenham that day thinking ‘he’s just not a championship horse, I’ve tried him over every trip’ but then the lads rang me the next morning and said you should see his shins, they were red hot. So I think he was just another one whose season was affected significantly by the fast ground.
Moon Over Germany
8yo ch g Germany - Elea Moon / Philip J Reynolds / FORM: 41-4132
He ran really well behind Notebook in the Craddockstown and that was his last chance as a novice so if we continue down the graded route, he’ll have to step up a bit. He could do that and we might look at the Desert Orchid Chase at Kempton on the 27th. He was brilliant at Aintree where we finally worked out that he needs soft ground. I don’t think he stayed at Tipperary (over two and a half miles) so you’re looking at a soft ground two-mile race are probably his conditions. The Grand Annual could be his Festival target.
Notebook
6yo b g Samum - Nova / Gigginstown House Stud / FORM: 2120-211
I hope he can take high rank as a novice chaser this season as he jumps so well which is such a good asset to have. He beat Moon Over Germany in the Craddockstown so I guess that puts him to a 155 sort of rating. I’m not saying he is another Special Tiara but he does remind me of him in the way he gets out and jumps and gallops and puts other horses under pressure. Special Tiara only won once over hurdles as well, fences can make some difference to a horse.
Notebook put in a class jumping performance to win the Grade 2 Craddockstown Chase at Punchestown \Healy Racing
Paloma Blue
7yo br g Stowaway - Court Leader / Chris Jones / FORM: 416-62
I was delighted with him at Gowran. The great thing was to see him jumping well - he never jumped like that last season. He jumped how you’d dreamt he would after his hurdles season and he put a lot of demons out of my head – I was starting to wonder did he need to go left or right, ground, trip, fences etc.
A lot of work has gone into him over the summer. Chris’s team have done a great job. It was a brilliant run and I think he’s back in the game now. He’s a high class horse, he was second in the Punchestown Champion Bumper, third to Samcro in a Grade 1 and fourth in a Supreme. Hopefully he’s going to be able to show his true potential now.
Petit Mouchoir
8yo gr g Al Namix - Arnette / Gigginstown House Stud / FORM: 6304-442
We were delighted with his run in the Morgiana. He’s a real delight to train. He’s always had trouble with his joints and unfortunately that has probably stopped him from getting back to the form he showed in his first year for us. But we manage him really well and a lot of work goes into him here. He loves the game so it was great to see him running so well in a Grade 1. He’ll stay over hurdles.
Poker Party
7yo ch g Gentlewave - Becquarette / Robcour / FORM: 211-3U1
He came out of the Kerry National great, we backed off him for a few weeks and he’s been working well since.
He is up to 146 now and it’s difficult to win two big handicap chases in a row but we’re going to have a go at the Paddy Power Chase. His jumping has improved in time and Rachael has worked out the way to ride him so hopefully he can progress again.
Sinoria
6yo b m Oscar - Petralona / Kenneth Alexander / FORM: 1/4110-1
She did it well on her debut and we’re looking at the Grade 3 Lombardstown over two miles and one furlong at Cork for her now. That is a mares-only Grade 3 so it looks perfect for her, but I’m just worried it might be a little too soon – there will be 17 days in between the two runs so we’ll just wait and see how she is. Otherwise, she could go for the new Grade 1 at Limerick on St Stephen’s Day.
Sub Lieutenant
10yo b g Brian Boru - Satellite Dancer / Gigginstown House Stud / FORM: 572P2-7
He got a niggly injury so we had to back off him a bit. The only race on my mind for him is the Grand National at Aintree so I’m working back from that. His form at Aintree is savage and ran a great race to be second in the Topham Chase last season.