'We will definitely be supporting him 100 per cent' - Laws Of Indices syndicate have done the maths on key to successful stallion career

Square this equation.

A yearling by a sire who had already been jettisoned.

An €8,000 auction price.

A two-year-old Group winner.

A three-year-old Group 1 winner.

What's the answer?

Laws Of Indices.

The seven-year-old stallion may defy the laws that govern the bloodstock world but the answers all add up for the Laws Of Indices syndicate.

Retiring a homebred Classic winner or a Group 1 star that has carried your colours to glory is normally the preserve of global bloodstock behemoths, not five friends who bought a yearling for €8,000 and saw him carry their silks to success at the highest level.

However that is exactly the position in which the Laws Of Indices Syndicate find themselves as the Group 1 Prix Jean Prat victor has embarked upon his stallion career at Martin Walsh's Kiltown Stud near the beautiful Inistioge in County Kilkenny.

Walsh, who bred the Listed Polonia Stakes winner and Group 3 Ballyogan Stakes third Lady Penelope from the first crop of Night Of Thunder, was one of the five who teamed up to buy Laws Of Indices as a foal.

The others included Dermot Farrington, Viv Noone and Charlotte Holmes whose white and green silks were carried by the colt which she cleverly named.

Inistioge gained global fame 30 years ago as the filming location for the Hollywood adaptation of Maeve Binchy's Circle Of Friends and it's an apt home for a stallion who brought the dreams of a friendship group to life.

Fearghal Hogan of Churchlands Stud, one of the initial quintet, said: "It's not often that you get to stand a horse that you race, it doesn't happen for a smaller owner and we are so excited that we can do this. We will definitely be supporting him 100 per cent."

Fearghal Hogan (signing for a new purchase at Goffs) is one of the shareholders in Laws Of IndicesCredit: Sophie Webber Photography

When Farrington signed for the Power colt at what was then known as the Goffs Open Yearling Sale in 2018, the €8,000 purchase was bought as part of the syndicate's mission of purchasing yearlings to put into training and then sell on once they had shown potential on the track.

Easy answer to hard question

Obviously that didn't exactly go to plan with Laws Of Indices. Hogan laughs when asked what caused them to deviate from the script?

It's simple really. The opportunity to be taken on a journey by the horse of potentially all their lifetimes was worth more than mere financial gain.

"The offers probably weren't there for him at the time and we also thought this is probably the best horse we are ever going to have, so we took a punt to see if we could get him to the next level," Hogan said.

"Instead of taking the money for a maiden or Group 2 winner, we thought he could be really good and we would take a chance. So that's what happened."

From early in his career, long before he made his debut behind Lucky Vega at Naas in June 2020, the talent he possessed was obvious to everyone who worked with the colt.

"He went to Patrick Prendergast to be broken and Patrick said that he could be very special, he called it from a very early stage," Hogan recalled.

"Then we sent him to Ken [Condon] to train and he said the same, after about a month with him, that this horse could be good and they were both right.

"He showed it from the start and he was so consistent the whole way through."

On his second start he won a maiden at Navan and was pitched into Group company on his next run, turning the tables comprehensively on Lucky Vega in the Railway Stakes at the Curragh.

Laws Of Indices would run thrice more as a two-year-old, finishing fourth to that rival in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes before earning his first Group 1 black type in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, finishing third to Sealiway and Nando Parrado.

After a fifth in Royal Ascot's Commonwealth Cup, a return to France and seven furlongs at Deauville was when Group 1 dreams and the trading plan collided in glorious technicolour.

The Group 1 winner's European career was behind closed doors Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

Hogan continued: "He went on and won the Prix Jean Prat, after that the Australians came in for him and we sold half of him to go over there."

New owners enter equation

A consortium including Aquis Farm purchased Laws Of Indices and he relocated to the Sydney barn of Annabel Neasham. 

The maths didn't work out in Australia, although he put in some sterling efforts in defeat, most notably when third to Hong Kong superstars California Spangle and Golden Sixty in the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile of 2022, a performance that earned him an official rating of 119 and a Racing Post Rating (RPR) of 121.

On Australian soil he was second in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap and third in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes, but the unforgiving nature of the barrier draws were a recurring theme throughout Laws Of Indices' time in Sydney.

"We'd never look at who was in the race, we'd look at the barrier draw because every time he was drawn in a bad position. In the Toorak Handicap, he had to come wide around the field [drawn 14 of 15]  and he finished like a train to only get beaten three-parts of a length," Hogan said.

Laws Of Indices had his final start of a 31-race career at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day and has now found his way back home.

"We don't know how lucky we are, it's a dream," he said. "Sometimes you pinch yourself and wonder 'how did it happen?' And to get him back, it's unbelievable. We thought when we sold half of him to Australia that we would never see him again but then the opportunity came up and we are delighted to bring him home."

There is a reverse prejudice at work here. While the cliche of rags to riches success on the track thrills the heart and gladdens the soul of racing fans, the €8,000 yearling price tag that was hung around Laws Of Indices' neck as a yearling is a black mark against him in the eyes of some.

However, given the experience of those involved, including Farrington, notions about the horse's conformation are easily dismissed.

Hogan said: "Power wasn't the most fashionable sire but we thought he looked like a racehorse."

Laws Of Indices fitted into the syndicate's template, one which allows them to be free of the constraints of sales ring tastes.

Laws Of Indices and Billy Lee at the Curragh before the Group 1 Phoenix StakeCredit: Patrick McCann

"It's a different business model but I think it's the best business model. It's less about fashion, you can go to the sales and buy a horse that you think might be a racehorse, it doesn't matter what it's by or what it is out of, if you have an eye for a racehorse you get good value.

Their syndicate remains operational in its original guise with last year's purchases at various stages of their development.

"The resale market is massive. If you have a horse that is good enough, your phone will be ringing with people looking to buy it. When you're selling a horse with proven form, you are selling a horse with ability that has shown he can gallop. It's a totally different market," Hogan adds.

Standing Laws Of Indices is a new venture for all bar Farrington, but this is no vanity project, those behind the stallion believe wholeheartedly in Laws Of Indices and are willing to provide him with the support he requires to build a successful stud career.

All five members of the Laws Of Indices Syndicate will be supporting him strongly with their own mares, and he already has his first mares scanned in foal and is displaying extremely high fertility rates.

Their backing will not end there for the syndicate plans to purchase his progeny in the sales ring and funds are available to do just that, with all involved convinced of the promise inherent in their new stallion.

"The Laws Of Indices Syndicate will come together to buy his foals and Dermot Farrington has been involved with many stallions to date and he supported them, Laws Of Indices will be no different," Hogan stated.

Now that's the correct answer to a mathematical equation.

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