Having horses trained in Ireland is becoming increasingly attractive to American-based owners, who have enjoyed notable success recently headed by G1-winning juvenile filly Porta Fortuna – as James Thomas reports
There may be roughly 3,000 miles separating America and Ireland but there is a long and storied history of cross-pollination between the two Thoroughbred industries.
Perhaps the most notable example is Vincent O’Brien and the fledgling Coolmore team plundering the Kentucky yearling sales for the stock of game-changing stallion Northern Dancer. The outcome of that particular transatlantic endeavour is now writ large on the breed itself.
A growing trend of recent times revolves less around harnessing bloodlines and more about seizing racing opportunities, with an increasing number of American owners looking to Ireland as a base for horses in training. Horse Racing Ireland has over 100 US-based owners on its books, and plenty of those have been richly rewarded for their endeavours.
Turf expansion
A combination of factors has helped strengthen the ties between the two great racing nations, but perhaps the most significant is the expansion of the turf programme in North America.
This has seen a growth in the number of turf-bred runners being exported to the US, particularly those with placed form who are then eligible to contest lucrative maidens on the other side of the Atlantic.
Exploring this market has also opened owners’ eyes to the wealth of opportunities that exist in Ireland. Medallion Racing and partners Barry Fowler, Steve Weston and Dean Reeves have recently gone on the journey of a lifetime with the G1-winning Porta Fortuna.
Principal Phillip Shelton says the majority of horses that Medallion Racing have purchased in Ireland have been bought with a career in the US in mind. That had been the initial plan with Porta Fortuna before the daughter of Caravaggio marked herself out as a potential champion of her generation.
Rapid upward trajectory
The Donnacha O’Brien-trained filly was purchased privately after her Curragh maiden victory and has continued on a rapid upward trajectory that has taken in the G3 Fillies’ Sprint Stakes at Naas, the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot, podium finishes in the Phoenix and Moyglare Stud Stakes before she bounded away with the prestigious G1 Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket.
“It’s very horse-specific for us as to how we best maximise the return for our partners, both financially and in terms of experience,” says Shelton. “When we came to Porta Fortuna we had a very clear strategy. The plan was to go to the G3 at Naas, and if we won there then, financially, we’re basically at our break-even point.
“The plan after that was to run at Royal Ascot before coming to America,” he goes on. “Luckily for us she’s been so good that there’s been no reason to entertain the thought of coming to America, with the exception of the Breeders’ Cup.”
Part of what makes Ireland such an ideal nursery for young Thoroughbreds is the balance between the wealth of opportunities available and the relative affordability of keeping horses in training.
Black type beckons
Ten per cent of the Irish racing programme boasts black type status, providing investors with myriad chances to not only compete for more valuable prizes, but to add to the market value of their horse.
Conversely, owners need not necessarily spend a fortune finding out whether their horse possesses the ability to compete at that level, or has the profile to go on to race in the US, as the approximate average monthly cost of a horse in training, including all fees, running costs and veterinary bills, is a mere €1,900 ($2,100). Plenty of international investors further reduce their financial exposure by partnering with other like-minded owners.
Another American who has enjoyed considerable success racing in Ireland is Craig Bernick. Based in Chicago and with a 35-strong broodmare band at his Glen Hill Stud in Ocala, Florida, Bernick has extended his breeding programme into Europe and also has a select racing string based with some of Ireland’s premier trainers.
Jessica Harrington joined the roster when Bernick purchased One Voice, who went on to win the G3 Blue Wind Stakes and also finished runner-up in the G1 Nassau Stakes; the trainer also supplied York Listed scorer Sounds Of Heaven.
The owner-breeder’s transatlantic approach is arguably best encapsulated by the Fozzy Stack-trained Aspen Grove, who is by Coolmore America’s sire sensation Justify but was foaled in Ireland, where she won the G3 Newtownanner Stud Stakes at two.
Aspen Grove’s biggest success to date came at three when Stack shipped her back to the US and claimed the G1 Belmont Oaks Invitational.
Residual value
Bernick acknowledges that American purses tend to be more lucrative, but says that the residual value on offer, not only through a more prestigious turf racing programme but the inherent standard of horsemanship, makes Ireland an attractive place to race and breed.
“I think the value you create when you win or get black type in good races in Europe is pretty significant,” he says. “That’s really the key. If you win a turf race in America, yes you get the prize-money but you don’t build the same credentials for your filly, or the family you’re trying to develop. That’s why we race in Ireland.”
He adds: “The prize-money is obviously better in the States but Ireland is such a small country that you run into the same horse people everywhere you are, and there’s a real sense of community about it. They’re good horse people, they raise fantastic horses and the land is great.”
Of course, racing is as much about an emotional investment as it is financial. The Irish are renowned for their hospitality, and both Bernick and Shelton say that this ability to connect is the foundation of the fruitful relationships they have forged.
“We have a good relationship with the people working with our horses and I talk to Fozzy, Jessica and Kate Harrington regularly, so I really feel included in the process. They’re really great at their communication,” says Bernick.
Those sentiments are echoed by Shelton, who says of the Irish ownership experience: “You’re more part of a team, as opposed to just being with a specific trainer. Donnacha is there and has his hands on the horses every day. In America that just doesn’t happen because of the way it's set up geographically.
“From that standpoint it's been very positive and I think a lot of our partners really enjoy that Donnacha is giving us feedback based on being with the horse every day.
Positive user experience
“I know how hard it is to win any race, but if everything along the way is great, and the better the user experience is, the easier it is to handle the negatives that come with racing.”
Bernick and Medallion Racing’s success stories are far from unique, with other American owners like Scott Heider enjoying significant success with Joseph O’Brien (stakes winners including Agartha, Brostaigh and Pista), the distinctive silks of Barry Irwin’s Team Valor registered another G1 triumph when the Paddy Twomey-trained La Petite Coco won the Pretty Polly Stakes, while Martin Schwartz has seen his colours carried to black type victories by the likes of Fantasy Lady and Limiti Di Greccio. And these are just a few of the more notable recent examples.
What is more, American ownership is not confined to the Flat. The New York-based expat partnership of Aidan Shiels, Donal Gavigan and Niall Reilly are behind Good Time Jonny, whose win in the Pertemps Network Final at the Cheltenham Festival sparked some rowdy celebrations on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pennsylvanian owner Rod Moorhead of Buttonwood Farm has invested heavily in young Irish-bred jumping stock, while South Carolina native Pierre Manigault purchased Cape Gentleman with John ‘Shark’ Hanlon with the aim of emulating the accomplishments of his great uncle Stephen 'Laddie' Sandford, who won the Grand National in 1923 with Sergeant Murphy.
As the US turf programme continues to expand it seems an inevitability that more and more Americans will look to Ireland, not only as a nursery for young Thoroughbreds but as an important arena in which to compete. There may be roughly 3,000 miles between the two countries, but in racing terms they have arguably never been closer.
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