New entity but familiar names as Folland and Bowen ready debut Doncaster draft

When the Goffs UK Premier Yearling Sale opens for business in Doncaster on Tuesday, there will be a new entity amidst the roster of consignors but helmed by familiar and respected names.

Folland-Bowen Bloodstock, based at the historic Fonthill Stud in Wiltshire, came into existence only last November but Natalie Folland developed an impeccable reputation as manager of Elkington Stud in Oxfordshire, and her partner Matt Bowen previously ran a 2,000-acre arable farm before working alongside Folland for three years at Elkington.

Their trio of gorgeous colts entered in the Goffs UK sale represent the first opportunity for the fledgling business to showcase their talents and launch their brand as a boutique consignor of top-class yearlings, with foals and mares to follow when the autumn falls into winter.

Despite possessing a proven catalogue of hits both in the sales ring and on the track from their time at Elkington Stud, in some ways they are starting over again, so the choice of yearlings for Doncaster was key, as Natalie Folland explains.

"We really wanted to bring the sharpest two-year-old types that were more advanced than the others and those three ticked the boxes," she says. "We have three lovely colts and they have all been easy enough to work with."

Adjusting to life on a new farm, and getting a handle on the layout, making Fonthill's historic and listed stone stable yard and the paddocks that slope down to the estate's lake, populated by swans, did not pose a challenge on the scale they had anticipated.

"Initially we were worried that we would have lots of stables to fill," she confides, "but we have had a lot of support from owners who came with us from Elkington and agents we dealt with in the past who have sent us horses through different owners, so we are two years ahead of the plan.

"We are very grateful to everyone who has sent us horses and has moved with us from Elkington, we are very lucky and of course the Morrison Margadale family [owners of Fonthill Stud and the estate] has been very supportive."

However, it did take time to make the transition psychologically from being employees to being employers.

Folland says: "We both felt for the first few months that it was like we were working for somebody else on a new yard, it didn't really feel like ours for a while. We were chucked in at the deep end, moving in November and straight into the mare and foal sales with holiday horses coming in as well, so we didn't have time to stop and think about it."

Her fiance agrees, adding: "It was learning about working on a new yard and making it work for us, finding out how to utilise it best."

Although the preparation routine for the yearlings is quite similar to how the couple did things previously, the difference in the type of land at Fonthill has produced tweaks in the routine this year, with the contours and gradients of the farm ensuring that the yearlings have already developed muscle before they are plucked from their lazy days of lolling around, playing and grazing to begin the serious work of becoming a racehorse.

Part of that business involves learning how to use a treadmill, a piece of equipment which was vital on the flat lands of Elkington and maintains an important role in Fonthill Stud.

The Cable Bay colt is a half-brother to a pair of winnersCredit: Folland-Bowen Bloodstock

"We bought the treadmill with Jane [Keir, owner of Elkington Stud] and have used it for about six years," says Folland. "Everybody said how much better the yearlings looked at the sales, how much stronger they were and it gets them really fit without having to overload their joints."

Bowen expands on the treadmill's utility, saying: "We do a lot of hand-walking with them but on the treadmill they are moving at a constant speed. They get on the treadmill and they know they have to work so they get their heads down and get on with it. It's one of the core parts of our prep."

The treadmill is used in conjunction with lunging and hand-walking, which all combine to provide the embryonic racehorse. Folland, who has a degree in Equine Science and a National Certificate in Stud Management, is also an accredited Equine Sports Massage Therapist and the yearlings produced by Folland-Bowen have all enjoyed the benefits of her expertise.

Folland and Bowen have worked diligently to produce yearlings of the highest quality and to revitalise the historic farm of which they are now custodians. Fonthill Stud is more than just a farm and a business to the couple, it is an opportunity to build a life and develop a family home with their three-year-old daughter Immy.

Creating the time and space to allow themselves the opportunity to be parents to their little girl while simultaneously growing a business that prides itself on individual care and attention for each horse, was the catalyst for their decision to launch Folland-Bowen Bloodstock.

Bowen says: "One of the reasons for doing this was so we could spend more time together as a family, and have more control of what we do and when we do it so it doesn't matter if we start at four in the morning so we can take the mid-morning off and spend time with Immy. That's one of the main driving forces behind it."

Maintaining that family life and trying to build a little distance between work and family is a challenge when your home and your business are intrinsically linked, a problem that so many people have been forced to grapple with over the last couple of years.

Folland says: "You also have to try to create a little bit of a work-life balance, especially when you live on site. I think we work quite well as a team and we are really lucky the team we have with us now makes life easier."

This Land Force colt was bred by Viscountess TrenchardCredit: Folland-Bowen Bloodstock

Having worked together prior to establishing their own business, Folland and Bowen understand how the other operates and their diverse agricultural backgrounds allow them to concentrate on different aspects of the farm. However, for yearling prep they combine their skills.

The first yearling to be consigned by Folland-Bowen Bloodstock has a page that combines the rich history of Fonthill Stud with the present.

Lot 71 is from the first crop of the Richmond Stakes winner and Norfolk Stakes third Land Force, himself a first crop son of No Nay Never, and the colt was bred by Viscountess Trenchard, daughter of the second Lord Margadale and sister of the incumbent.

His family is one that has brought distinction and honour to the beautiful Wiltshire estate and the Morrison family; dam Kasumi won the Listed Pipalong Stakes and is an Inchinor granddaughter of Thundercloud, who is a half-sister to Fonthill Stud's trio of Classic winners - Juliette Marny, Julio Mariner and Scintillate.

The family's recent history includes this colt's three-year-old half-brother Tatsumaki, whose unbeaten juvenile season last year culminated with victory in the Tattersalls October Auction Stakes.

The cross of Land Force with Kasumi creates a similar pattern of inbreeding to Ahonoora as Tatsumaki possesses because Ahonoora's influential son Indian Ridge is the broodmare sire of Land Force's second dam, the brilliant Cassandra Go.

Indian Ridge is also the broodmare sire of Tatsumaki's sire, the Middle Park Stakes winner Charming Thought.

For pedigree students, the second Folland-Bowen yearling at Goffs on Tuesday offers something very interesting.

The Cable Bay colt has four lines back to the outstanding broodmare Somethingroyal through four mares sired by her sons - Celtic Assembly and Secrettame by Secretariat, and Foreign Courier and Ivory Wand by Sir Ivor.

Lot 224 is a half-brother to a pair of winners and is out of an Elusive Quality half-sister to the Group 3 Moonga Stakes winner and Group 1 Toorak Handicap second Buffalo River, by Noble Mission.

Their dam, Fashion Insider, is an Indian Charlie full-sister to the Grade 2 winners and sires My Pal Charlie and Bwana Charlie, and a half-sister to the Group 3 El Camino Real Derby winner Bwana Bull.

The Havana Grey colt out of Sheila's RockCredit: Folland-Bowen Bloodstock

Folland-Bowen consigns the final horse through the ring on Tuesday and the son of Whitsbury Manor Stud's leading first-season sire Havana Grey is worth the wait.

A striking grey colt, lot 230, is the epitome of what a Goffs UK Premier Sale yearling looks like. The first foal out of Sheila's Rock, a daughter of Fastnet Rock who was third on three of her four starts with two of those placings coming over a mile, he is from the family of Crystal Music.

His third dam State Crystal was a half-sister to the Fillies' Mile winner and she herself won the Lancashire Oaks and was placed in the Yorkshire Oaks, Prix Vermeille and Sun Chariot Stakes.

It is also the family of Prix Jean Prat winner Zelzal, the second-season stallion son of Sea The Stars who is the sire of two Group winners and a Listed winner to date.

Havana Grey's first crop has produced the Listed winners Cuban Mistress and Lady Hollywood, in addition to seven black-type performers headed by the Queen Mary runner-up Maylandsea.

The debut crop of yearlings from Folland-Bowen Bloodstock will have received every opportunity to flourish as they were nurtured at Fonthill Stud, and write another chapter in the glorious history of the Wiltshire farm, while giving their young consignors a winning start.

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