dec_64_Breeder of the Month_Layout 1 27/05/2011 09:36 Page 77
BREEDER OF THE MONTH October/November Sponsored by Blue Chip Feed Ltd
SPECIAL MERIT AWARD
Terry Holdcroft Words Alan Yuill Walker
Special Merit Award but he got all 12 of his mares in foal last season.â€? The Holdcrofts had luck on their side so far as Alexander Ballet, the dam of Hearts Of Fire, was concerned. She was sold as a yearling for 66,000 guineas, scored in Ireland as a three-year-old, and bought back at that year’s Newmarket December sales for 14,000gns. The grandams of Hearts Of Fire and Electric Feel were both winning two-year-olds, purchased at the 1996 December sales – Dayville cost 30,000gns from Juddmonte and Ocean Grove 22,000gns from Swettenham. Raced by Godolphin and still the property of Darley, Firebreak will be one of four stallions standing at Bearstone in 2010, with Indesatchel, Mind Games and newcomer Major Cadeaux. Firebreak’s fee remains at ÂŁ3,000. Pennell added: “I’d imagine Alexander Ballet and Night Gypsy (dam of Electric Feel) will be going back to him.â€? • See Caulfield Files page 91 for more on Firebreak.
Terry Holdcroft (right) enjoyed a Group 1 victory, courtesy of Hearts Of Fire in the Gran Criterium
´
´
TERRY AND MARGARET HOLDCROFT have never stopped developing their Bearstone Stud near Market Drayton in Shropshire, so that it now comprises three individual farms covering 340 acres. This year they have been responsible for the winners of over 40 races (from a grand total exceeding 450 wins), including two black-type juvenile winners in October, Hearts Of Fire (Group 1 Gran Criterium) and Electric Feel (Listed Radley Stakes). Not only do both belong to the first crop of the resident Bearstone stallion Firebreak, but they are also out of homebred mares by his stud companion Mind Games – an achievement that earned the stud the Special Merit Award for October/November. Mind Games’s sire, Puissance, was the first stallion to stand at Bearstone, as stud manager Mark Pennell, who was born and bred locally at Market Drayton, explained. “When I first arrived at Bearstone 27 years ago it was a private stud,� he said. “I have been manager for the past seven or eight years and I have seen it grow out of all recognition over that time.� Mind Games was homebred by Robert and Valerie Hughes of Lostford Manor Stud, next door to Bearstone, and owned in partnership with the Holdcrofts. “They wanted to retain the best looking of Puissance’s first crop and bought him back as a yearling at Newmarket,� recalled Pennell. “He’s 17 now and has a restricted book,
, KDYH QHYHU KDG P\ PDUHV F\FOLQJ DQG FRYHUHG VR HDUO\ <RXQJVWRFN JURZ DW VWHDG\ HYHQ UDWHV ZLWK JRRG GHQVH ERQH 25,*,1$/ LV LQYDOXDEOH -RKDQQD 9DUGRQ 0%( 7KH 1DWLRQDO )RDOLQJ %DQN
)RU VSHFLILF IHHGLQJ DGYLFH RQ WKH DGYDQWDJHV RI IHHGLQJ %OXH &KLS 2ULJLQDO WR EURRGPDUHV DQG \RXQJVWRFN FRQWDFW 9LFN\ 5LGJHZD\ RQ RU YLFN\#EOXHFKLSIHHG FRP
ZZZ EOXHFKLSIHHG FRP
THOROUGHBRED OWNER & BREEDER INC PACEMAKER 77