DESPITE the difficulties Covid presented during the sales season, Browne Brothers Bloodstock had a successful year, with all of our clients doing well.

The introduction of online sales was broadly embraced by those within the industry who recognised we had to make the best of what was available at that time. My brother Oisin and myself are relatively new to the bloodstock business but were born into the thoroughbred world.

My dad’s side of the family both bred and raced horses, with Paco Boy being the standout amongst them. Oisin and I learned how to ride from a very young age – indeed I started at four years old. The bug remained with me ever since and I still ride out for John McConnell, with whom I hold a conditional jockey’s licence.

Our family were always very supportive of us, in life as well as in racing, encouraging us to do as much as we could from as early as we could. For my own part, it was breeding that first captured my attention, as I was obsessed by pedigrees as a child. It was not until my teenage years when I started riding out that any thoughts of becoming a jockey entered my head. My uncle had a racehorse and when I was 11 years old, my dad took me along to ride out. Prior to that I had only ever sat on ponies so it was a real eye opener to ride a thoroughbred.

In our early teens, Oisin and I worked weekends and school holidays at Thomas Gibney’s yard. While my brother rode a bit, he worked more with horses on the ground, while I concentrated on dreams of becoming a jockey.

Amateur licence

I actually took out an amateur licence during my last year in school and turned conditional 12 months later. Having developed our interest and knowledge from dad and our grandmother, we never had the need to go away to further that education. My dad, David, supported us getting going and continues to be a big part of the sales prep in terms of knowledge and experience.

Our bloodstock business started on a small scale and basically developed from there. Our first venture saw us buy a mare at the 2016 Goffs Breeding Sale: Howareyabelle, who was in foal to Es Que Love. Her subsequent filly foal, which we consigned as a yearling at the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale was bought by Joe Foley and put into training with Johnny Murtagh. That filly, the first we ever sold, also became our first winner when successful at Dundalk in July (named Bestrella).

She had been sold under the Browne Brothers banner, but by 2018 the bloodstock company had been formed so from then we consigned under the full title (Browne Brothers Bloodstock). That same year, we pinhooked three foals, which we sold as yearlings in 2019. While the majority of our business in the early days had been consigning foals and yearlings, we also get mares ready for stud, foaling, breaking and pre-training. Basically, if it has anything to do with thoroughbreds, we can look after it.

Oisin and I run the business together on an equal footing. He looks after clients much of the time as he is very good in that regard. I do all the media work and am based in the yard for longer periods.

I ride out in John McConnell’s in the mornings then am back in the yard before lunchtime. Oisin [Browne] works as a stallion handler at Boardsmill Stud so is employed full-time in that role. We cater for a maximum of 12 horses at our base, as we are strong believers in young stock getting individual attention and plenty of handling. Although we have a sand area and small gallop, we have purposely done without a horsewalker, instead preferring to walk horses by hand. We have found that horses handled in that way are better behaved and easier to manage when they go to the sales.

On Friday next, we present Lot 1 at the Goffs November Foal Sale. A Dragon Pulse colt, out of Xarzee, he is a half-brother to Skaters Waltz, an 18-time winner. He is a good walker, who looks a nice forward type, so hopefully he can sell well.

Striving

Browne Brothers Bloodstock are constantly striving to expand and bring in a better-bred type of horse. We need to be moving forward the whole time, improving on pedigrees and developing a strong reputation as consignors. In that regard, we were pleased to buy five quality foals at Newmarket earlier this year, which we hope to re-sell as yearlings next season.

A few of those foals are owned by ourselves but we also buy on behalf of outside clients. Imperium Bloodstock got involved this year and we are delighted to have them on board. The lads are very enthusiastic and have a great interest in breeding and pinhooking. Hopefully our joint venture can lead to big things down the line as we are all committed to the business. This year we have grown the business with new vendors and expanded our client base both at home and internationally. Hopefully we can build on this in the coming years and establish our business on a wide scale.

Dylan Browne was in conversation with John O’Riordan