'We hope they make an obscene amount of money' - Honeysuckle silks to be auctioned at Punchestown

Six years after Honeysuckle made her first appearance in the Punchestown winner's enclosure, as lot 14 of the Goffs Punchestown Sale, the iconic mare's silks will be sold as the final item of the 2024 edition of the boutique auction to raise funds for the new ChildVision Equine Centre in Drumcondra, Dublin.

The indoor equine therapeutic centre for children with visual impairment is to be named in memory of Jack de Bromhead after a fundraising campaign, initiated by Killeen Glebe's Chris Jones, who has been a longstanding owner in the De Bromhead yard and with the blessing of Jack's parents, Heather and Henry, helped raise the €1,000,000 required to complete the centre.

Honeysuckle's owner Kenny Alexander has offered the silks worn by Rachael Blackmore in each of Honeysuckle's 13 Grade 1 victories, including the 2021 and 2022 Punchestown Champion Hurdles, with the money raised going towards the operating costs of the centre.

Peter Molony, who bought Honeysuckle for €110,000 from Jerry Cosgrave and Mark O'Hare, and is Alexander's bloodstock adviser. explained the provenance of the silks.

He said: "We didn't know these existed until we saw a video of Henry's travelling head girl, Zoe Smalley, telling us all about how she squirrelled them away after Honey won her first Grade 1 and that she'd brought them out only when Honey ran in a Grade 1 – so these are the silks she carried to all her Grade 1 wins. They're really special.

"They're signed by Henry, Kenny and Rachael herself, and are going to be for sale on Thursday evening as the last lot in the ring where we bought Honeysuckle, sold by Nick Nugent, the auctioneer we bought Honeysuckle off.

"It's a wonderful cause and we hope they make an absolutely obscene amount of money."

Jack de Bromhead (second from right): walks the track with his father Henry and family ahead of Honeysuckle's Grade 1 win at Punchestown in April 2022Credit: Patrick McCann

The De Bromhead family said: “The equine centre will be a wonderful legacy for our beloved Jack, a hugely missed son and brother. Horses are a huge part of our lives, and we know the physical experience of riding a horse offers so many potential benefits, especially helping address a host of physical, social and emotional issues. 

"More so, it will be a place of learning and hope, full of laughter and joy, traits that were such a part of Jack, all facilitated by the much-treasured horses and ponies that call the ChildVision stables home. 

"We're looking forward to following the development and construction of the new equine therapeutic centre and being there to cut the ribbon when it's completed. We're forever grateful to those who came on board to support us – we know Jack would be really proud of what this life-changing generosity will enable.”

The initial fundraising impetus came from a visit that Jones, who has owned the likes of Paloma Blue and Ordinary World, trained by De Bromhead, made to the ChildVision campus during the summer of 2023. 

Jones' maroon and white-striped silks are a familiar sight on Irish and British racecourses, while his National Hunt pinhooking operation, Killeen Glebe, whose first consignment at the Goffs Arkle (then Land Rover) Sale of 2019 included last weekend's Bet365 Gold Cup winner Minella Cocooner, has a reputation for producing high-class horses.

“I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit ChildVision last summer and to see first-hand the therapeutic impact equines can have on children with complex needs," said Jones. 

"I knew that Henry and Heather already had a connection to ChildVision, and knowing that many friends and family members wanted to find some way to mark Jack’s love of horses in a tangible way, the Jack de Bromhead Equine Centre concept came to fruition. 

"The response to my call for donations was unbelievably kind and generous. It’s a testament to the high regard the De Bromheads are held in that we're in a position to make the equine centre at ChildVision, in Jack’s name, a reality.”

The Honeysuckle silks are the final lot of the Goffs Punchestown Sale, which takes place after the last race at Punchestown on Thursday. 

At the 2023 sale the record price for a point-to-pointer sold at auction in Ireland was broken, with Mags O'Toole, on behalf of the Acheson family's Robcour, stretching to €500,000 and outbidding Molony for Walter Connors' Qualimita, who had won a four-year-old mares' maiden at Fairyhouse in the run-up to the sale.

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