'I'm still pinching myself that we have produced a Group 1 winner'

This article first appeared in our Autumn Yearlings supplement

Brothers Michael and Laurence Gleeson were in only their fourth season of selling out of the family’s Aughamore Stud in County Westmeath when an Elzaam filly passed through their draft.

At €28,000, her sale to Johnny Murtagh at Part II of the Tattersalls Ireland September Sale marked a reasonably successful return on her €12,500 foal price tag, but when she turned out to be Group 1 winner Champers Elysees, it was then that the stud was pushed into another realm altogether.

Studs rely on the production of good racehorses in developing their name as much as they do on financial return. In that, the achievements of Champers Elysees turned the spotlight on Aughamore as a producer of Group 1 stock while paying tribute to their ability as pinhookers, skills that have continued to serve the brothers in good stead since then.

Michael (left) and Laurence Gleeson: Group 1 producers looking forward to a productive week in Newmarket

In 2018, their sale year was led by a Gutaifan colt who made €105,000 to Alex Elliott at the Goffs Orby Sale, having been sourced as a foal with Hamish Macauley for €32,000. And a year later, the same partnership returned to sell Saligo Bay, a first-crop son of New Bay pinhooked for 80,000gns, for 300,000gns. An overall draft of nine for that year also included a Kodi Bear filly who blossomed from a €25,000 foal into a £90,000 yearling.

Such returns have allowed Aughamore to grow and, while it remains a select operation, an increased presence of 14 yearlings at last year’s round of sales yielded more of the same led by a Mastercraftsman colt, a €62,000 pinhook who resold for 210,000gns to Andrew Balding at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Sale. Book 1 yearlings by Profitable and Kodiac also broke the six-figure mark at 145,000gns and 130,000gns respectively.

Ironically, however, it is the cheapest of their 2020 group, the Ardad colt Ernest Rutherford, who has looked the most exciting to date; pinhooked for 9,000gns with Howson & Houldsworth and resold for 7,000gns to Thomond O’Mara’s Kilronan, he won his second start by two lengths at Naas for Michael O’Callaghan, before being unsuited by quick ground at Ayr.

Ernest Rutherford and Leigh Roche power to victory at Naas in AugustCredit: Patrick McCann

Aughamore heads into the 2021 sales season as a well established presence within sales circles - so established in fact that it is easy to forget that the brothers began consigning under their own name only in 2015. It is also reflective of an ambition that saw them cover every base when it came to gaining experience.

“Our parents Larry and Anne bred and raced horses as a hobby,” says Michael. “We were bitten by the racing bug from an early age. I studied Equine Business and Laurence did the Irish National Stud course.

“We then learned our trade working for top farms such as Yeomanstown Stud in Ireland, Highclere and Newsells Park Studs, Lane’s End Farm in Kentucky and the Aga Khan. Eventually we took the plunge and went home to consign full time.”

Once a working farm, Aughamore sits on 90 acres outside Mullingar. Pinhooking is a key part of their business but the Gleesons have also long maintained a broodmare band that currently includes the stakes-producing mare Altogether.

“The farm has been in our family since the 1700s and was a mixed farm,” says Laurence. “We have 20 stables and are looking to significantly expand the facilities.

“It is a great location, being only 15 minutes from Tally-Ho Stud and only about an hour from Goffs and Fairyhouse. Many of the stallion farms in Kildare are also nearby.”

Michael adds: “We love both sides to it. We breed ourselves and pinhook in partnership with friends - there is a great reward in repaying the faith that friends have in us when landing a touch.”

The brothers head to the Tattersalls October Sale with a select draft spread across the three books. Numerically, Aughamore is not as strong as in recent years but, against that, they are in the enviable position of offering a colt with an excellent update.

The youngster in question sells as lot 418 in Book 1 and is an Australia colt out of Bitooh, a winning half-sister to Melbourne Cup hero Rekindling from the famous Souk family of Alexandrova, Magic Wand and Channel.

It helps that his sire is enjoying another successful year, particularly with his two-year-olds, but also lurking under his first dam is Technical Analysis, one of the best turf fillies currently running in the US.

A Book 1 purchase herself by Mike Ryan with Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown, the daughter of Kingman has won four races, including the Grade 3 Lake George and Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga on her most recent starts.

“The Australia going to Book 1 is smashing colt,” says Laurence. “He’s from the family of Rekindling but with a recent update in the first dam with Technical Analysis in there. She is Grade 1-bound.”

Rekindling: the colt being sold by Aughamore Stud at Book 1 is out of a half-sister to the Melbourne Cup heroCredit: Vince Caligiuri

Heading to Book 2 is an “imposing” Mastercraftsman colt out of Listed winner Shanjia and a homebred Zoffany half-sister to the Grade 3-placed Jeremy’s Legacy. The Book 3 draft consists of a colt by Expert Eye and another filly by Zoffany who is a half-sister to the well-regarded Aughamore-bred Kingboard Star, a winner this year for Ed Walker.

The brothers were encouraged with how the market panned out at the recent Goffs UK Premier Sale, at which key metrics made significant advances from 2020 despite the anticipated lack of investment from Shadwell Estates. Particularly encouraging was the middle market, which featured competitive trading from a breadth of trainers, pinhookers and end users.

Aughamore came out on the right end of that market with both yearlings that they sent to Doncaster, namely a Kodiac colt whose value rose from €40,000 to £60,000 and an Acclamation filly, who sold for £54,000 having been pinhooked for 22,000gns.

“Trade was much stronger than last year,” says Laurence. “There was a great hunger to buy around the £50,000 mark. We expect that to continue for the rest of the yearling sales season. The sales companies are doing a great job enticing buyers with their various incentives.”

There is a sense that, despite their success, Aughamore are taking little for granted. There is pride in the achievements of Champers Elysees, who rose through the ranks last season to win the Group 3 Fairy Bridge Stakes and Group 1 Matron Stakes, and at the potential of Ernest Rutherford.

“I’m still pinching myself that we have produced a Group 1 winner,” says Michael. “We get the same enjoyment seeing a winner on the track whether it’s a homebred or pinhook.

“Elzaam fillies were probably not the most fashionable to pinhook, but Champers Elysees was a full-sister to a 92-rated filly and we thought trainers would like her. Ernest Rutherford looks a very exciting horse as well - sons of Kodiac were a big appeal to us and, looking at the likes of Ernest Rutherford’s sire Ardad and Kodi Bear, they look the real deal.”

He adds: “A dream goal would be to sell a Classic winner or a champion. But, for now, we’re looking at expanding the farm, developing its facilities further and to keep selling winners.”

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