'When I was getting into stallions, there was less emphasis put on fashion'

First Flow's jaw-dropping success in the Clarence House Chase at Ascot on Saturday not only shone the spotlight on the burgeoning partnership between trainer Kim Bailey and jockey David Bass, but also the family-run Knockmullen House Stud in New Ross, County Wexford.

The stud was home to First Flow's sire, the unheralded Primary, and has been standing stallions since 1997 when Gordon and Mary Doyle bought Pierre, who pays further tribute to the Knockmullen brand by featuring as the damsire of Saturday's Grade 1 winner.

The progressive nine-year-old, who has won his last six starts, was bred in partnership between Knockmullen House and Seanie and Kathleen Flood when the breeders' mare Clonroche Wells, a Pierre half-sister to Maghull Novices' Chase scorer Ballinclay King, was among Primary's 25-strong book in 2011.

"It's nice to have any winner, but to be involved in the breeding of a Grade 1 winner is fantastic," reflects Knockmullen House stud manager Gordon Doyle jnr, a grandson of the renowned National Hunt breeder Michael Hickey. "Especially as he's what I'd call a proper Knockmullen bred, being by Primary, our second stallion, and out of a mare by our first stallion.

"I was nearly shaking when the horse swung into the straight at Ascot, although it didn't really sink in until the next day. Seanie and Kathleen Flood had a huge interest in breeding and thanks to them the dam had a fantastic pedigree, so it always had the potential to be a good mating."

As well as standing Primary, Doyle's fingerprints also appear in the First Flow story having foaled the future Grade 1 winner and sold him on at the start of his three-year-old season before Rathturtin Stud presented him at the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale, where Karrie Fanshawe picked him up for a mere €4,500.

First Flow storms clear of Politologue in the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase at AscotCredit: Edward Whitaker

Recalling those early days, Doyle says: "He was a huge foal and in his younger years he was a real smasher. He probably plateaued a little after that, just because he was so big and everything else caught up with him.

"It just goes to show how much fashion dictates with sires; he might not have been an absolute oil painting but he was no dud and he's out of a half-sister to a Grade 1 winner, yet he still made only €4,500. You have to admire those people who are happy to ignore fashion and back their own opinion."

Although Primary may not have been a name on every National Hunt breeder's lips prior to Saturday, he has had his share of the headlines as the son of Giant's Causeway was a talented runner before he turned his attention to the breeding game, winning twice at two for David Loder before landing the Group 3 Sandown Classic Trial at three for William Haggas.

Doyle talks with well-deserved pride about Primary's Grade 1 breakthrough, although admits it was not until he first laid eyes on the horse at the end of his racing career that he was totally sold on the idea of standing him.

"It was through Rachel Boffey, who was working with Lillingston Bloodstock at the time, that we acquired Primary," he says. "Funnily enough I went over to look at three horses and he was bottom of my list! But when I saw him walk and his presence, he's a fantastic-looking horse, I soon changed my mind. He was a good racehorse too, especially for our budget.

"Buying and standing stallions is difficult and I think there's a lot of luck involved when it comes to being in the right place at the right time to get some value."

Primary (pale blue) lands the Group 3 Sandown Classic TrialCredit: Mark Cranham

Unfortunately for the Knockmullen House team they won't be able to cash in on Primary's new-found fame as he was moved on to Drumhowan Stud several years ago for a career covering sports horses after his numbers began to dwindle.

There is no bitterness in Doyle's response when he discusses moving Primary on, although he does admit to a modicum of frustration at the realities of standing stallions in an increasingly fickle marketplace.

"When I was growing up and getting into stallions, there was less emphasis put on fashion in National Hunt racing," he says. "Now it's a very commercial business, from breeding and consigning to point-to-pointing. That's great for those getting some money but for smaller operations or those with less fashionable stallions it can really put you into a corner. It's an industry now completely dictated by perception and fashion, rather than results.

"Primary had had a good few years to start with but at the time he was sold he'd had no four-year-old winners, and the jumps industry has almost gone like the Flat now and if you don't have early winners you're soon forgotten about.

"I regret that we didn't put something into the deal we made with the people we sold him to that we could buy him back for what we sold him for!" he adds with a wry laugh. "But that's always the way it goes and more luck to the people with him now, maybe they'll cover a load of thoroughbred mares this year now."

Gordon Doyle jnr: 'I think this game is 90 per cent luck'

Far from cursing his luck that Primary has moved on to pastures new, Doyle is content to reflect on the good fortune that the Knockmullen House stallions have enjoyed down the years.

Neither Pierre nor Primary have ever been able to call upon the support of six-figure books of mares like so many of their contemporaries, but the former has a brace of Cheltenham Festival winners to his name in County Hurdle hero Pedrobob and Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase scorer Ballyalton.

The latter boasts a stud record including First Flow as well as the smart chaser Prime Venture, who was bred at Knockmullen House by Mary Doyle, and the progressive Costalotmore.

"We usually have only one sire at a time but we've been lucky that our stallions have been supported enough to have a chance, even if, commercially speaking, we don't have the numbers of mares coming like the bigger studs," says Gordon Doyle.

"Pierre sired two Cheltenham Festival winners from small crops and Primary probably had an even smaller number of runners, so to get a Grade 1 winner is fantastic.

"For the number of runners he's had, he's got a high percentage of horses rated over 120, so he's done quite well. Kim Bailey actually has another Primary, Shanacoole Prince, who's won. I'd say if I had another 20 or 30 by Primary he's someone who'd buy more of them!"

Kim Bailey: the Gold Cup-winning trainer has been approached about the new Netflix seriesCredit: Edward Whitaker

Those successes could also be seen as a good omen for the stud's current resident, Quest For Peace. The 13-year-old son of Galileo joined Knockmullen House in 2015 after a racing career that saw him defeat Arctic Cosmos in the Cumberland Lodge Stakes and Dandino in the Glorious Stakes, while he also finished runner-up to Al Kazeem in the Jockey Club Stakes.

"Quest For Peace's first crop are five now," says Doyle. "Like Primary, he wouldn't have covered big books, he might have 25 or 30 to run from his first crop, but he seems to be going well and the reports on his progeny are good.

"They're fine big horses and if he could get a touch of luck and get an early winner he'd probably take off a little bit. He just needs to turn that commercial corner."

Among the trainers with a Quest For Peace in their string is Doyle himself, as he also oversees a handful of horses for the track and point-to-points, as well as managing the stud and its broodmare band.

"I think this game is 90 per cent luck," Doyle surmises as he discusses the trials and tribulations of the thoroughbred industry. But having bred, foaled, reared and sold a horse of First Flow's calibre, not to mention having stood the sire, few would chalk Saturday's result down to sheer fluke alone.

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