Nick Luck: acclaimed broadcaster, breeder of winners and now charity auctioneer

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An interviewer turns interviewee in today’s Good Morning Bloodstock.

Nick Luck, voted broadcaster of the year for the ninth time at the Horserace Writers and Photographers' Derby awards in December, is holding an online auction of stallion nominations to support a cause very close to his heart.

Bidding for nominations to the exciting trio of Ardad, Golden Horn and Stradivarius, in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Royal Brompton and Harefield Hospitals Charity, closes on Sunday, February 19.

Nick’s daughter Xanthe was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a condition that affects the gene controlling the movement of salt and water in and out of cells, resulting in a build-up of sticky mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs, shortly after her birth in 2018 and is helped by both organisations.

The idea for the auction germinated and grew from interviews conducted with breeding industry figures for Nick’s popular daily podcast.  

“I wish it had been me who had been enterprising enough to come up with it, but it was actually Jayne McGivern, who bought Golden Horn last year and now stands him at Overbury Stud,” he says.  

“I’d spoken to Jayne on the podcast a few times, and I was keen to make sure that Golden Horn was given the support in his new home that he warrants. This is a horse that Frankie Dettori has gone on record as saying is the joint-best he’s ever ridden, after all.

“I went down to see him when Jayne and Simon Sweeting held an open day to welcome Golden Horn to Overbury Stud, and thought that he’d settled in well and looked a picture, while at the same time it had become clear that although he hadn’t sired a top-notcher, he had a very competitive percentage of horses with RPRs of 90 or more and was doing well with his jumpers.

“If such a brilliant racehorse and good-looking individual could be made into a viable dual-purpose sire, I thought that was something that ought to be shouted about. Jayne appreciated the support, and suggested auctioning a nomination for my chosen charity, and obviously I never have to look far to find those that I want to support.”

Current events mean that the nomination to Golden Horn, whose covering fee this year is advertised at £8,000, could become hot property.

“From what I hear, we’re getting down to the last few days before the horse becomes fully booked,” says Nick. “So this could well be the last nomination that’s sold this year. I’m hoping that this is a case of ‘hurry while stocks last’, and that this is a commodity that's going to become rapidly more precious as the auction goes on.”  

With the first lot in the boutique charity auction catalogue secured, the other two nominations followed soon after.

“After Jayne’s gesture, Simon [Sweeting] and the partners in Ardad said they’d be happy to do the same thing,” continues Nick. “So I set about getting the platform going, and launched it on Monday, only to receive a call that afternoon from Bjorn Nielsen, saying what a great idea it was and asking if I could add a nomination to Stradivarius, which I jumped at.

“All have kindly guaranteed live foal terms for the nominations, which means the buyer won’t be able to get their money back, but if something goes amiss the mare can go back for free next year.

”The bloodstock industry has no doubt felt inclined to be generous towards Nick and his family because he takes the subject so seriously in his output, delivering insightful and entertaining angles with an expert eye, and has a certain empathy with breeders.

That, in turn, is likely due to the fact that Nick has mares of his own, albeit on a modest scale. He owns Bochafina, a placed daughter of High Chaparral and Listed third Jailamigraine, who is boarded at Yorton Farm Stud. Her first foal Metal Exchange, a filly by Helmet, won a Newcastle novice stakes on her first start in January 2019, but that remains the only victory by one of her progeny.  

“My own breeding efforts have been pretty lamentable,” Nick says drolly. “Poor Bochafina. You know, after her first runner was a winner on her debut, I honestly thought I had the game cracked. The problem is there hasn’t been a semblance of success since, although she has had a bit of bad luck along the way.”

Bochafina’s second offspring is the Pether’s Moon six-year-old Data Breach, who hasn’t made it into the first three in any of his seven starts, and her third foal is the Helmet five-year-old Kabuto, who has at least run with credit.

Still to come are an unnamed four-year-old gelding by Jack Hobbs and Thunder Dance, a three-year-old filly by (somewhat surprisingly) the blue-chip Flat sire Night Of Thunder.

That’s a curious sequence of mating options that Nick would surely grill one of his own podcast guests about, so how does he explain himself?  

He says: “I bought her when she was carrying Metal Exchange, but because she came out so small, Dave Futter persuaded me that she needed the biggest stallion he could find, which happened to be Pether’s Moon, and told me that if she had a nice big colt he would make it worth my while. He was good to his word, and the horse started a short price for a bumper on his debut for Willie Mullins, so it briefly looked like an inspired move, but sadly he doesn’t seem able to run very fast.

“Her next foal was by Helmet again because Metal Exchange actually sold quite well as a foal despite her size, and so I sent her back to him when he was halfway fashionable for five minutes.

“Kabuto didn’t do much for Richard Fahey, so I gamely took him back and sent him to Mick Appleby. He nearly won a race, finishing second three times, but then he lost the plot slightly. I don’t regret it, though. It was a sentimental thing to do, and cost me a lot of money, but it nearly paid off.”

And what about the next seemingly multi-purpose matings?

Nick Luck pictured at his Teddington homeCredit: Edward Whitaker

 “I’ve actually always bred from the mare with the Flat in mind,” says Nick. “She was supposed to go to Barney Roy, but he turned out to be infertile, so I had to think of something else quickly, as I was running out of time and options. Jack Hobbs had just retired and I thought he was actually quite a credible Flat stallion for small money, so I gave him a crack.

“My original thought was to get a few friends together to race the resultant colt on the Flat, but then I wondered what would happen if I took him to a National Hunt foal sale, and whether he might do well solely on the basis of stallion power. Peter Molony ended up buying him, and he’s now with Phil Rowley.

“As for Night Of Thunder, it was the breeding season before his first two-year-olds ran so well and he was still unheralded, so it was fortuitous to say the least. I just had an inkling that one or two of the trainers were happy with the attitudes they were showing, and I think a lot of what has made him successful is temperament. 

“He was also a Classic winner by Dubawi out of a Galileo mare, of course, and was available for significantly less than £10,000 at the time, so I thought I wouldn’t be going too far wrong.”

Bochafina produced a “belter” of a colt by Cityscape who sadly died as a foal in 2021, and she’s in foal to Masterstroke.

“It’s been a bit of bumbling about with her, but it could still come good,” says Nick. “I’m told by Willie McCreery that the Night Of Thunder filly might have turned a corner, and I sort of think if that stallion can’t get the job done then I could be struggling. I’m a dreamer, though, and I’ll keep going.”

Nick also purchased the unraced Terimon mare Grainne Ni Maille, a half-sister to Listed-winning hurdler Ryde Back, as a young unproven producer at Doncaster in 2014, on behalf of his late mother Maggie, who went on to co-own her with David Futter.

Maggie, who passed away last year, showed her son how to do it when it came to mating plans. Her choice of Gentlewave for the mare in 2015 came up with Mouse Morris’s Grade 1-placed hurdler and exciting young chaser Gentlemansgame, and her pick of Blue Bresil a year later resulted in the smart Madmansgame.  

“It doesn’t sound as though Gentlemansgame is likely to make it to Cheltenham, as Mouse thinks he might struggle to get him there on the back of two chase runs,” says Nick. “He’s thinking of the Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan later in the month, and will then be looking to Fairyhouse or Punchestown with him.

Gentlemansgame: bred by Nick Luck's late mother Maggie in partnership with Yorton Farm Credit: CAROLINE NORRIS

“Madmansgame was a good bumper horse but was disappointing on his first run in a novice hurdle, although that was behind Good Land and he ran well for a while. He’s a massive horse and is probably an extreme staying chaser a long way down the road.

“Listen to me: I’m talking like I own both horses. I’m probably taking an unhealthy interest in them, but since we lost Mum last April there’s a fairly strong emotional attachment to their fortunes.”

The half-share in Grainne Ni Maille has been inherited by Nick and his brother James of Luck Greayer Bloodstock Shipping, who this week transported the mare’s four-year-old Blue Bresil filly – sold as a short yearling for £16,500 to Brown Island Stables, who resold her as a store for €195,000 – to be trained by Keri Brion at Fair Hill in Maryland.

“Dave and his partner Birte have done an amazing job with her at Yorton as she hasn’t been the most straightforward,” says Nick. “Birte has put in a ton of work, and given her a lot of special treatment. We’re very grateful for it, and Mum would be proud. She and Dave had a great relationship; he was good to her and hopefully vice versa.

“Grainne Ni Maille had a Gentlewave filly last year, which was lovely as we were worried we wouldn’t have a daughter to continue the line. We’d lost two fillies in a row, and I was starting to feel very guilty on Mum's behalf about the Blue Bresil filly being sold.  

“She’s in foal to Gentlewave again, so we’ll keep our fingers crossed as you can never take anything for granted with her. She’s done well for a mare who doesn’t find it easy. At least we don’t need to worry whether it’s a colt or filly now that we already have a daughter.”

So how did Nick unearth a mare who has turned out to be a bit of a National Hunt blue hen?

“I had something of an obsession with Terimon mares around that time, as they had a weirdly good record and had produced the likes of Simonsig and Countrywide Flame,” he says. “I also thought that if a judge as good as Liam Norris had bought her as a foal, she must be all right. I ended up paying a bit more than I thought I’d have to, at £18,000, but she ended up looking quite a good buy.”

Not just an award-winning broadcaster, but a pretty nifty judge of a broodmare too. Perhaps Nick will throw in some free consultancy to the winning buyer of those nominations to Ardad, Golden Horn and Stradivarius. All the more reason to bid generously.  

What do you think?

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

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