'More successful than we could have ever imagined' - The Gals Gals off to flyer

Some of the biggest thoroughbred speculators in the business were reoffering their pinhooks at Book 2 of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in Newmarket on Tuesday, think names such as Pier House Stud, Redpender Stud and the O’Callaghan family’s Tally-Ho Stud. However, when scanning the list of pinhooks the eye was drawn to a new name: The Gals Gals.

The all-female syndicate is made up of Alice Kavanagh, Fay Cort, Florence Cain and Nicola Short and the quartet pulled off a touch that any of the old pros would be proud of when their first investment, a colt by Havana Grey, improved from 21,000gns foal to 150,000gns yearling when knocked down to Michel Zerolo of Oceanic Bloodstock, acting on behalf of Peter Brant.

“It’s pretty extraordinary to be honest,” said Kavanagh, whose family’s Kildaragh Stud consigned the six-figure youngster. “I know the success of Havana Grey has been greater than anyone could have expected but it was a bit of a risky purchase really and could have gone either way as his first two-year-olds hadn’t run yet. They looked precocious from what we could see but ultimately you never really know.”

Havana Grey has acquired a sizeable fanclub with his debut crop yielding 36 winners and 13 black-type performers, including the recent Cornwallis Stakes scorer Rumstar. This colt is the first foal out of Speculating, an unraced Xtension half-sister to Group 3 scorer Danehill Kodiac.

Reflecting on the youngster’s upgraded price, Kavanagh continued: “We were hopeful but we didn’t want to get carried away so we were trying to keep ourselves under control and it was tense as the bidding was slow to get away. Everyone we thought would be in was in, but they were all kind of looking at each other to begin with. Once it got rolling it was a very enjoyable watch and we were delighted to have Clive Cox as the underbidder for as long as he was.”

The four ‘gals’ are all heavily involved in the industry as Kavanagh runs her AK Thoroughbreds consigning business alongside her involvement in Kildaragh, Cain provides bloodstock-specific admin and bookkeeping, Cort is the assistant manager at Carrisbrooke Stud while Short is also a key part of the Kildaragh sales team.

Kavanagh said the four partners pooled their combined brain power before deciding on the Havana Grey colt, and expanded on his appeal by saying: “He was a beautiful foal who was homebred by Josh Cameron; he was Josh’s pride and joy and he did a really good job of prepping him. He walked up to the ring from the Solario yard like an absolute champ so he had a great mentality.

The Havana Grey colt selling to Oceanic BloodstockCredit: Laura Green

“It’s nice to have opinionated girls but we thought if we could actually back our opinions with some money it’d be interesting to see what happens. All the girls in the syndicate really liked him so we took a chance on him. I’m lucky to be based at Kildaragh with mum and dad so we could keep him there and prep him myself.”

All-female syndicates have made headlines in the racing pages before, most notably when the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Global Glamour won a brace of Group 1s for owners the It's All About The Girls syndicate.

Kavanagh said The Gals Gals would be looking to repeat their maiden success when they go shopping at the upcoming foal sales, and added that they would be open to expanding on the idea if other budding female pinhookers were interested.

“When people saw the name The Gals Gals I got a load of questions about it,” she said. “I don’t think growing too big too quickly would be a good idea but if we keep numbers tight it's definitely something to look into. There’s definitely an interest in it so why not? It’s been more successful than we could have ever imagined but hopefully we can build on it."

Read more

How an Igloo cooler helped turn orphaned foal into strapping sale ring yearling

The year's priciest yearling, a 999 call and a lime green outfit - what a week! (£)

'Very gifted' Matron Stakes winner Pearls Galore Tattersalls-bound