Hurricane blows good fortune McLoughney's way after bargain sale purchase

John McLoughney is not used to being a person of interest in the bloodstock world. Much as with so many small-scale breeders operating in the lower reaches, his sales offerings have been and gone without causing much of a ripple.

Certainly the inspired decision to buy the Royal Applause mare Quickstep Queen with his son Patrick for just 2,000gns at Tattersalls February four years ago would not have appeared as a footnote in even the most voluminous of sale reports.

Her first son by Vale Of York changed hands for a moderate €5,000 but the second, by Ivawood, fared substantially better when bought by Amanda Skiffington on behalf of owner Fiona Carmichael for 105,000gns.

The racing grapevine seemed to be leakier than a National Security Council meeting when it came to the colt sent to Fabrice Chappet and subsequently named Hurricane Ivor, who was sent off at long odds-on for his racecourse debut at Chantilly last month when he summoned up as good a performance seen by a European juvenile so far this season in cantering seven and a half lengths clear.

"Amanda’s been talking about this horse since before Christmas," says McLoughney. "I think he was actually something like 1-10 in France at one point, and then went back out a bit. Amanda had told us not to sell the mare at any price."

Fiona Carmichael's advisor Amanda Skiffington is excited about the juvenile's futureCredit: Edward Whitaker

McLoughney, who divides his resources at Soolmoy Stud in County Tipperary between racing and breeding sport horses for other equestrian disciplines, had caught his opposition unawares when landing Quickstep Queen in the first place. Although unraced, she has the line of good Rae Guest sprinters such as Mirza featuring prominently on her page.

"We often go to Newmarket to buy a mare, normally in November, but my son said the next time we’d buy one, could he have a share in her, and that’s why we went in February," he recalls. "It was probably our best day’s work in England!

"She had no foal at the time and she was just a super walker. We had her picked out before we went to the sale, my son said, 'You won’t be able to buy her, she’ll make 20,000gns'.

"But she was in early at the sale and she would have made an awful lot more if she’d been in ten or 12 lots later. Sure, we like Royal Applause as a stallion, but it’s all luck."

Hurricane Ivor made 105,000gns as a foal at TattersallsCredit: Laura Green

It was a different experience entirely when the pair returned to Newmarket a couple of years later hoping to sell Hurricane Ivor.

"We were hoping to get 30 or 40 thousand for the foal, we knew he was a good foal but we didn’t ever think…" McLoughney says, perhaps still with some sense of disbelief.

"When we went to Newmarket we had six vets [inspections] before the sale. We actually refused 40,000gns on a standby from a couple of people before the sale. The six vets kind of tempted us, we knew everyone liked him, he was the talk of the place.

"He was produced by the Irish National Stud, they had him for a month or six weeks and had a real good job done.

"We had a whole lot of bidders, Flash Conroy was the runner-up, there were American people bidding on him, the judges were there and were in. And he walked real well as well."

This season is the time of reckoning for Ivawood, whose fee has now almost halved to €5,000 as he attempts to establish himself in the most competitive of all environments as a Coolmore stallion.

A handful of first-crop winners will help, as well as fans such as Skiffington, who bought the Classic-placed dual Group winner as a yearling.

"I don’t think it was anything to do with Ivawood at the time, I suppose they’re all looking at first-season sires when they go to the sales," says McLoughney. "Amanda was looking for an Ivawood for Fiona Carmichael and she said he was the best she had seen, and she’s a fair judge.

"We went to Coolmore to look at Ivawood one Christmas and liked his walk, so we were keen enough. At the sales now you have to have a good walker, I won’t say it’s the full secret, but if you have a good-walking horse people will buy it."

As well as Quickstep Queen’s recent Galileo Gold colt foal as a possible sales project for this year, McLoughney has reaffirmed his faith in Ivawood by sending another mare to him.

"She was by Lord Shanakill, who wouldn’t be as popular a sire, but she had a very nice colt by him," he says. "Time will tell, but we need Ivawood to do it, as we hope to get him into Doncaster or some good sale."

Typically enough, the vultures have been circling Quickstep Queen at Soolmoy since long before Hurricane Ivor’s sparkling debut. They will not be chased away by the proprietor, who acknowledges that everything has a price, but he is keeping an open mind.

"We had one man six weeks ago, and another man from America is sending an agent to see the mare, but we’re easy about selling her," he says.

"She’s a young mare, she’s only seven. The plan is to go to Kodiac next - I’d like to go back to Ivawood but maybe I’ll wait until next year. Hopefully this horse makes him."

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