'We're a small outfit but we tend to do things a little bit differently' - exciting Wyenot showing White spirit

Joe White’s small farm on the Staffordshire-Derbyshire border is responsible for one of British National Hunt breeding’s bright young things in Wyenot, recent winner of the Listed Doncaster Mares’ Hurdle.

By the letter of the law, that’s exactly what she is. The six-year-old is by Overbury Stud’s Schiaparelli, the former European jet-setter standing for just £2,000, and harks back to a family from the late Geoff Hubbard’s Suffolk owner-breeder operation.

White’s Limerick accent is an immediate giveaway to there being more to the story.

"Years and years ago I bred a few showjumping horses and I sold one to a guy in Ellesmere in Shropshire," he says. "He told me the horse wasn’t going very well, I came over and rode it for a while and never left.

"I worked for Roy Edwards at Blakeley Stud; he rode Saucy Kit to win the 1967 Champion Hurdle and stood him afterwards. I was with Mark Brisbourne, spent a bit of time with Rathbarry and the Aga Khan, so I’ve served my time.

"My wife Georgina and I decided we’d go out on our own 14 or 15 years ago. It’s not an easy thing to do but we’re still here, we’re paying our bills and keeping our heads above water."

There are, as White explains, "a lot of us about". His brother Donal runs Foxwood Stallions in County Cork, while further siblings and nephews are involved consigning stores as DAR Bloodstock and Rosemount Stables.

Wyenot is out of a half-sister to the Hubbard family's classy chaser Another PromiseCredit: Caroline Norris

"There must have been ten of us at Goffs a few weeks ago," he says. "We all hold a big interest in it. You get a lot of fun out of it and you have to be at it for that particular reason. There are ups and downs, you definitely need a lot of luck."

White has done his share of ducking and diving around the circuit. He could be hunting in France for pinhooks, sourcing decent chasers such as Just Loose Change and Tea For Free for trainers and owners, or even breeding a promising sprinter with Clive Cox called Navy Jack, who was sold to race in America last year.

His heart, though, is in producing young jumpers and Wyenot epitomises his independent spirit. The mare’s dam, Ambrosia’s Promise, was by Minster Son and a half-sister to Grade 1 Punchestown winner Another Promise.

She raced with both Ferdy Murphy and Adrian Maguire in the green and white Hubbard silks and was bred by Hubbard's daughter, Janet Reader.

Reader bred Ambrosia’s Promise’s first foal, five-time winner Heavenly Promise, with White before he found her some new owners, mother and daughter Pat and Sarah Bailey.

"I had the mare for quite a long time," says White. "We lost her a few years ago to colic, but she’s produced five runners and four winners.

"Pat and Sarah supply me with my feed, and they’ve been great, they’re inclined to let me do whatever I want.

Wyenot, pictured as a foal, was always the apple of the White and Bailey family's eye

"Everlastingpromise, who was by Arcadio, was with Enda Bolger for JP McManus, then Nada To Prada [Listed hurdle winner at Haydock] did well with Michael Scudamore. There was another, Picara's Promise, who was with Warren Greatrex but sadly broke her leg."

The White Bloodstock team made £31,000 for selling the seventh foal, Wyenot, at the Goffs UK Spring Store Sale in 2022.

Already a scopey chestnut about whom there were quite high hopes, Wyenot has collected five wins from nine starts with Henry Daly and her best effort came last time and was achieved by nine lengths on her first attempt at being stepped up to three miles. 

White continues: "As a foal she was just gorgeous, everyone who saw her fell in love with her. She just had that presence about her.

"Having said that, the mare always produced a very nice foal no matter what you covered her with, hence that’s why we went to Schiaparelli. 

"I like him, he could have been a very good sire given more of a chance. He wouldn’t have covered a lot of mares but he’s a five-time Group 1-winning son of Monsun, out of an Old Vic mare.

"We’d been in two minds whether to sell Wyenot or point-to-point her, but we decided if we got enough for her then we’d sell, and it’s nice to see her go on.

"I think Henry Daly has made a great job of her, he deserves a lot of credit because I don’t think she’d be the easiest in the world to train."

Wyenot, hopefully after a long and successful career, will make a fine broodmare for her connections, while White adds that Ambrosia’s Promise’s final foal by Norse Dancer is now four and the Baileys are keen to race her. 

The Hubbard family also have the dam’s Presenting half-sister Perfect Promise as another broodmare living on his 40-acre farm.

Wyenot (Alice Stevens, red cap) leads the runners away from the second last flight at CheltenhamCredit: Edward Whitaker

"The mother was a very good mare," recalls White. "If you look back at her form – she got injured unfortunately – she dead-heated at Limerick in a maiden hurdle with Call The Police, a decent horse.

"It’s a very sharp run-in at Limerick, she came to the second-last hurdle and she went the full length of the hurdle before she jumped it!"

White hopes that one influence he has had on Wyenot, and others, is the thought put into the matings. He and his wife, who are helped by son Jack and some valued staff, have robust discussions about the plans for the ten resident broodmares.

"We're a small outfit but we tend to do things a little bit differently," he says. "It’s not because we want to go for a cheap sire; the biggest problem we have at the moment is that people are flocking to sires that are popular and they’re not for one second thinking about, 'Does my mare suit that horse?' That’s the big problem.

"There’s temperament, confirmation and so on. We also produce horses for the sales and have another four for the spring. I have another Schiaparelli who we think a lot of. I bought a Flat mare, Queen Padme, who has produced four or five winners and I thought she'd suit him, so she has a gorgeous gelding who has turned three.

"They’re all looking for these sharp four-year-olds and so forth now, you have to kind of move with the times but you still want something with a bit of size and substance to it."

White is reluctant to suggest his stallion choices have been the secret to his success, but he is willing to share a little more about an aspect of breeding he is particular about.

Georgina and Joe White have been developing their farm on the Derbyshire/Staffordshire border

"It’s just common sense really if you think about it," he says. "Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who don’t use it! We don’t always get it right, I guarantee you, but I was one of the first to try to get on Blue Bresil when he was in this country. I think I put five mares to him and two made £56,000 each, and my brother held on to his until he was three and got 150 grand for it.

"Trying to find one isn’t easy. I'd be a big fan of Simon Sweeting’s horse Frontiersman, there’s a lot to like about him. He produces nice stock and he’s a very well-bred horse."

He concludes: "Go back and look at all the successful stallions. They all have pedigrees."

Read more

'What makes him so exciting is that his dam just doesn't miss' - our horses to follow in 2025 

'It's a dream come true' - dual St Leger winner Eldar Eldarov to stand at Chapel Stud 

Top-class racehorse and sire Westerner retired from stud duties at Castlehyde Stud