'We’ve bred one horse in our lives, and it just happens to be her' - the remarkable story behind Aintree ace Dysart Enos

Good Morning Bloodstockis Martin Stevens' daily morning email and presented online as a sample.

Here, Martin speaks to Iain Corrigan, breeder along with Grainne Dunne of one of the most impressive winners at the Grand National meeting, Dysart Enos -and she is quite some one of a kind, as you can read below. Subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Today’s article comes with a health warning for any breeders who have been toiling away at trying to produce a superstar horse for years, or even decades, and haven’t yet managed it.

That’s because it concerns Iain Corrigan and Grainne Dunne, who have only ever owned one broodmare and bred from her one foal, but that was Dysart Enos, a nine-length winner of the Grade 2 Goffs UK Nickel Coin mares’ bumper at Aintree on Thursday.

“It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind to be honest,” says Iain, laughing in disbelief. “We don’t even qualify as small breeders. We’ve bred one horse in our lives, and it just happens to be her.”

The couple aren’t quite complete novices when it comes to horses, though. Iain worked in stables and studs in his youth, and rode as an amateur for a good number of years. 

“Quite unsuccessfully,” he hastens to add. “I was the most bog average rider you’ve ever put eyes on. I worked for John Nicholson when he was training, but a fall in a point-to-point put manners on me and I went and got a job in the real world."

Grainne’s late father Denis meanwhile kept a few broodmares, and both she and Iain ride with the local Laois hunt and maintain an interest in racing. Their young daughter Grace does pony club, too.

It was Denis Dunne’s death a few years ago that led to this family of casual horse lovers becoming producers of a potential superstar from their one attempt at breeding.

“By the time Grainne’s dad passed away he had just a few odds and ends of mares, average enough animals at best,” says Iain, taking up the tale. “We were adamant that we’d keep one to breed a foal from ourselves for the sake of honouring his memory, though, so we picked Graces Benefit, who was named after our daughter.

“She won a point-to-point but did nothing on the track. However, she was quite a good-looking mare by Beneficial and had a page, being a half-sister to Too Scoops, who was a decent novice hurdler for Henry de Bromhead. So she had a few things in her favour, and was definitely worth covering.”

Iain and Grainne were fortunate to keep the dam of a racemare as good as Dysart Enos when the rest of Denis’s stock was dispersed, some of the fillies almost given away on the Irish classifieds website Done Deal, but jammier still they managed to breed the Aintree heroine using a nomination that cost next to nothing in relative terms.

“I had quite a nice Malinas store that I’d pinhooked at home at the time, who turned out to be a smart horse called Enemy Coast Ahead, and I thought he had a nice head and physique on him, so I took Graces Benefit to the sire,” continues Iain.

“Malinas was in his second season at Glenview Stud, and wasn’t considered anything fancy back then, for all that he’s looking a whole lot better now, so we paid just €1,000 to use him.

“Dysart Enos was the result. I foaled her myself, and I remember she was beautiful from the moment she hit the ground. When we were changing the ownership details I was adamant that Grainne put her name down as breeder, as it was her dad’s mare, and I told her then that no matter how good the filly turned out to be she had definitely bred a good-looking, athletic and racy individual."

The reason Iain and Grainne’s breeding ventures began and ended there is that, tragically, Graces Benefit and her Snow Sky colt were both lost during foaling complications in the following season. As they are a busy couple with a young family, and are both accountants by trade and so more circumspect than most when it comes to ‘investing’ in mares, they have never replaced her.

Their keen sense of financial prudence also meant they realised there would be no point in offering an untried filly by an overlooked sire like Malinas for sale, and so they put her in training instead, only naming her after a picturesque ruined church by their home in Ratheniska when it became apparent from her early work that she might be okay.

“It might have been different if Dysart Enos had been a colt, then she might have gone to the sales, but as it happened we were keen to race her as it was Grainne’s dad’s pedigree anyway,” says Iain.

“So Brian O’Connell, the former jockey, broke her as a two-year-old and then she went down to Harley Dunne, who I knew well from my point-to-point days. He came in on a share of her with us, and he really liked her from the get-go.”

Dysart Enos romps clear at Aintree - as can be seen on the big screen behind herCredit: GROSSICK RACING 07710461723

The trainer, no relation to Grainne despite sharing a surname, saddled Dysart Enos to finish second in a four-year-old mares’ maiden at Ballyragget in March 2022. She lost a fair amount of ground after making mistakes, but kept on well to get to within two lengths of the subsequently useful Fancy Girl at the post.

Dysart Enos then headed to last year’s Goffs UK Aintree Sale, where she was bought by her present trainer Fergal O’Brien for £95,000. She is now unbeaten in three starts for the Good Stock Syndicate, culminating in her easy success back in Liverpool last week.

“It was Harley’s first big year, and we chose him because we didn’t want the filly to get lost in one of the big point-to-point operations in Wexford, where she would be a nobody” recalls Iain. 

“I vividly remember pleading with him to get it right with her, as she was our one and only chance, and to be fair he did exactly that. He’s a really hard worker and an excellent horseman, and he has a great team behind him.

“So there you go, we had only one dart to throw with Dysart Enos and we somehow managed to hit the bullseye,” marvels Iain. “We’ve been watching her progress for Fergal O’Brien with absolute amazement ever since. It’s crazy million-to-one stuff.”

That 100 per cent record of picking out a successful broodmare, choosing a compatible stallion for her who doesn’t cost the earth and then foaling and raising the progeny who goes on to become a sales ring smash hit and brilliant bumper performer begs an obvious question: why not go and do it all again?

“Everyone’s asking me that,” exclaims Iain. “I’d been pinhooking the odd foal or store for 20 years or more without much success before eventually getting paid properly for a horse at Aintree last year. I sort of feel that now I’ve done it, I’m not in a mad rush to do it again. I’m sure we’ll repeat the mission some time, though.

“I probably wouldn’t go down the route of breeding from a mare again, but I am interested in going to the store sales with Harley and buying another filly to try in point-to-points.

“Anyway, we're pretty fully stocked here at the moment, with the riding horses and ponies. I’m already having to muck out a good few stables first thing in the morning before I go to work every day, so I’m hardly looking for more work!”

Of course, my tongue was firmly in cheek when I suggested at the outset of the article that other longer-serving breeders might begrudge the self-confessed dabblers Iain and Grainne their extraordinary good fortune in breeding a single foal who turned out to be the profitable and high-class racemare Dysart Enos.

Knowing how kind and comradely the breeding industry is, I’m sure everyone would congratulate such a hard working and humble couple and wish them well. Even if it was through gritted teeth.

What do you think?

Share your thoughts with other Good Morning Bloodstock readers by emailing gmb@racingpost.com

Must-read story

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“Did he look like a real racehorse to me? No, I had no faith in him,” says Corach Rambler’s first trainer John Walsh as he recalls the newly crowned Grand National king’s early years.

Pedigree pick

Monday’s ten-furlong three-year-old novice stakes at Windsor (3.10) promises to be an informative event, as it features a host of newcomers with excellent pedigrees.

John and Thady Gosden field Apolo, a Kingman half-brother to Falmouth Stakes heroine Snow Lantern out of the great Sky Lantern who cost owners KHK Racing 625,000gns as a yearling, and Loving Feeling, a son of Sea The Stars and Prix de Flore winner Loving Things representing owner-breeder Normandie Stud.

Sir Michael Stoute meanwhile takes the wraps off Liable, a Frankel full-brother to Prix de Sandringham winner Obligate out of Hasili’s last daughter Responsible owned by breeder Juddmonte Farms, and Hughie Morrison unveils Clever Relation, a 70,000gns Book 1 yearling purchase by Intello out of Cesarewitch and Sagaro Stakes scorer Sweet Selection.

Speaking of sweet selections, picking a favourite pedigree out of that lot is like being offered a box of chocolates. I’ll plump for Loving Feeling, though, just because Apolo sports headgear, Liable has had a wind op and Clever Relation is already gelded, suggesting they might have shown a few issues that needed attention.

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