Joe Foley (3rd from right)
I am very excited to be co-sponsoring the €200,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes, a six-furlong race for two-year-olds by an EBF-registered sire whose median price is no more than €75,000. It will be run at Naas on Monday, August 3rd, which is a bank holiday and is the Racecourse of the Year’s richest race.
We have an early closing date for entries of February 26th, with the entry fee of just €250 designed to keep the costs low, which is a further attraction, particularly I think to syndicates who might club together to get involved in a more affordable horse.
The weight allowance brackets in what will be a maximum field of 24 runners, will see progeny of sires with a median price of €15,000 or less carrying 8st 12lbs. From €30,000 down it’s 9st with further 2lbs increases at €45,000 and €60,000, topping at the €75,000 sires, whose progeny will carry 9st 6lbs. Fillies will receive a 5lbs allowance. A winner of a listed race will receive a 5lbs penalty, while a group winner will carry an extra 7lbs.
I am president and a former chairman of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association and deputy chairman of the Irish EBF and have always looked for ways to improve the lot of the breeder and racing in general.
We started the auction series with EBF a few years ago and Foran Equine came in to co-sponsor it with us. We decided we wanted to expand on that and channel extra money into the median races which are similar to the auction races.
Personally, I always had the idea of having a big jackpot type race in Ireland, something similar to the Magic Millions in Australia but at a lower level. I started exploring the idea in my mind a bit. I thought it would work well in the EBF series. I mentioned it to the EBF team and they were keen on the idea. We finally built the race. EBF came on board then HRI came on board.
I decided I better put my money where my mouth is and sponsor it myself with Ballyhane Stud. So we did and we have a €200,000 race, minimum prize money of €120,000 to the winner. Because it’s a median race everyone has a chance. It’s a very democratic race and to have the likes of British-based trainers like Karl Burke and Kevin O’Ryan coming to the launch and having multiple entries tells you a lot.
I decided to add a sweetener of a €50,000 bonus if the winner is by a Ballyhane sire. We will also give the winning breeder a free nomination to a Ballyhane stallion in 2021.
There are some huge racing operations based in Ireland. There might be a perception out there, or there was, that it is difficult to compete with them in ordinary maidens. That is where the genesis of the idea of the auction maidens came from. That is for cheaper horses. You don’t have to take on the Guineas winners and the Group 1 horses every time you run in a maiden. It lets you run against your peers at a lower level and the median series is something similar.
The EBF sponsor nearly every single maiden in Ireland. I think there is just two missing. But now between the median and auction series there is 50 races where you can run against horses of the same value. You can buy a horse for €20,000 and €30,000, not take on these very posh horses and t win significant prize money.
HRI have reported that since that series started, the number of two-year-olds in training in Ireland has risen significantly, so it is having a positive impact. So that is helping the breeder as well and we will hopefully see the same from the median series.
Tom Mullins is a perfect example of a trainer who has used the auction series well. He started to buy some yearlings and he came up with a few good ones. He won some of the EBF-sponsored auction maidens. Got them sold, bought again.
We soft-launched our series and the Ballyhane race last year before the yearling sales. Anecdotally a bunch of people told us that they bought more yearlings because of what we are doing. Once the races start happening and once the Ballyhane race happens, and someone wins the big money. You would hope it will improve and generate more market. That is where we all make our money.
