Admiral Nelson victory the latest peak in rollercoaster story of his dam

Admiral Nelson's smooth victory for Aidan O'Brien on his debut at the Curragh on Friday was the latest peak in a rollercoaster journey for Parks Farm Stud in Essex.

Former Coral chief executive Bob Scott and wife Pauline, who own the operation, produced the two-year-old colt by sending their Exceed And Excel mare Shamandar to Banstead Manor Stud resident Kingman, who is gaining a big reputation thanks to his early crops yielding 20 stakes winners.

Shamandar was originally bought from the Tattersalls February Sale for just 12,000gns, as a companion for a homebred filly foal. However, soon after being brought home she jumped a paddock fence and took the flesh off one front leg – thankfully missing the tendon.

Having recovered from that mishap, she was turned out with the other filly and managed to chip both front pedal bones on a patch of hard ground. Another long spell of convalescence meant she had to miss a date with the auctioneer at the Doncaster yearling sales in the summer and headed to Tattersalls in December instead.

She was greeted in Newmarket by especially cold weather – subzero temperatures and frost underfoot – and with punters put off by the conditions she was bought back by the Scotts for just 3,500gns.

Bob and Pauline Scott have experienced the ups and downs of breeding

Never mind: Shamandar was instead campaigned by the Scotts themselves, and was sent out to by William Haggas to win more than £200,000 on the track thanks to victories in the Dick Poole Fillies' Stakes and Watership Down Stud Sales Race and a second-place finish in the Weatherbys Super Sprint.

However, another deep trough in the timeline was not far away. Within days of delivering her first foal, the Pour Moi filly Poppy Time, she had to undergo two surgeries for colic and then developed peritonitis, requiring five weeks in intensive care at the Newmarket Equine Hospital.

Shamandar also had to have an eye removed around that time after suffering from uveitus, and Poppy Time broke her pelvis as a yearling, although she eventually recovered sufficiently to be raced.

It was another six years before the next steep incline in Shamandar's fortunes, as Admiral Nelson sold to MV Magnier for an auction record £440,000 when consigned by Hillwood Stud to the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale last summer.

The colt's debut success and connections' apparent eagerness to turn him out again quickly at Royal Ascot this week suggest it might just have been money well spent, and that the value of Shamandar – who has an Expert Eye colt at foot and is back in foal to Cable Bay – could be about to soar.

“Breeding is a long process and every now and again you look at a foal and think it could be special,” says Pauline Scott. “A lot can happen between foaling and the racecourse but you dare to dream. With Admiral Nelson that dream is still alive and whatever happens from now we're going to enjoy the journey.

“What was so special was that after his win at the Curragh our phones just never stopped ringing and messages were pinging through by the second. It makes you realise how many people are genuinely pleased for you and want you to succeed.”

Scott also gives praise to Parks Farm Stud groom Jamie Went, who has experienced the ups and downs of Shamandar's career.

“We're a small stud and it really is a team effort, and Jamie looks after the breeding stock so well,” she says. “He has a keen eye and will always go that extra mile to make sure they get everything they need.”

This article and series is in association with Great British Racing International

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