No sign of Pier House Stud's love affair with Lope De Vega ending

Capla Temptress is the latest Orby yearling sale graduate to have her portrait adorn the driveway into the Goffs complex: victorious in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes at Woodbine this month, the daughter of Lope De Vega was sold by breeders Pier House Stud at last year’s renewal for the bargain price of €26,000.

Brendan and Ger Morrin, the brothers who own Pier House Stud, returned to the Orby Sale on Tuesday with another daughter of the Ballylinch sire and, this time, buyers were forced to go an awful lot higher to secure the half-sister to Elusive Wave. It was agent John McCormack, acting for Japanese interests, who secured the filly for €375,000.

The Lope De Vega half-sister to Elusive Wave sold for €350,000Credit: Peter Mooney

Brendan Morrin was naturally delighted with the result.

“We had a lot of vets and it’s usually a good sign if the horses are hardly ever in their stables for being inspected so much, but we didn’t think she'd sell for that amount,” said the Curragh-based breeder. “She's a homebred filly and the mare is a very good producer; this filly had a lovely temperament and is a great mover. She's a real collector’s item.”

Elusive Wave, from the first crop of Elusive City, was bought by Peter Doyle for just €20,000 at the Goffs Sportman's Sale in 2007 but won the Poules d’Essai des Pouliches for Richard Hannon snr, and was eventually sold to Japan, where she has two Deep Impact foals, one of whom sold for a world-record price for a colt foal of £3.9m at the JRHA sale in July.

“We bought the dam [the Rainbow Quest mare Multicolour Wave] for 11,500gns straight out of training in 2001 and she has been a superstar for us ever since, with her progeny now selling for over €2 million combined," added Morrin.

Multicolour Wave does not have a foal on the ground but she is pregnant to Kodiac.

Mrs Beeton, the dam of Capla Temptress, has a filly foal from the first crop of Rathasker Stud sire Anjaal and is in foal to Epaulette, but she will be booked in for a return to Lope De Vega.

“We've always loved Lope De Vega since he retired to stud - we pinhooked Flaming Spear as well, so he's a sire that has brought us a lot of luck,” added Morrin.

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