Power of the Honey

It is hard to believe the difference a decade has made when it comes to the acceptance of fillies and mares by trainers and bloodstock agents in national hunt racing. Early in 2013, we saw the introduction of the National Hunt Fillies’ Bonus Scheme. The initiative, designed to stimulate interest in fillies at the sales, and encourage more owners to buy and race them, was the brainchild of the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s National Hunt Committee under its chairman William Flood. It saw the owners of qualified fillies and mares receiving a bonus payment for winning selected races. 

Under this scheme, the owners of a qualified filly or mare could earn up to €15,000 extra during their racing career in Ireland. The scheme pays out a bonus of €5,000 to any eligible filly or mare who wins their mares-only maiden bumper, maiden hurdle and beginners’ steeplechase.

Such has been the success of the scheme that from January 1, 2024, winning owners will be rewarded with an additional €2,500, bringing their initial bonus to €7,500. The move adds further support to what is an increasingly strong broodmare band, and benefits the owners and breeders who choose to race their fillies.

When it was launched just over a decade ago, there was a hope expressed that the scheme would continue indefinitely, and it is well on its way to realising that wish. To date, more than €3m has been paid out in bonuses. This is one self-help initiative that has certainly proven popular with breeders, owners and producers of fillies, and generated enormous appeal in fillies at the sales.

Indeed, even a cursory look at the entries for the Goffs Arkle Sale or the Tattersalls Ireland Derby Sale will show that fillies are growing in numbers every year. This is in stark contrast to years ago, when you would have needed to be a half-sister to a major national hunt star to earn a place in these sales. Who would have bet then that a three-year-old filly would sell for €310,000, and top the Derby Sale, as happened when a daughter of Kapgarde headlined the 2022 Derby Sale?

For far too many years, the plight of fillies was largely ignored, with breeders generally wringing their hands in anguish following the birth of a filly foal. Most failed to reach the racecourse and breeders largely traded on the hope that a brother or son would go on and provide a major boost to the pedigree. Few races for mares were on the calendar, and no one seemed to care.

Indeed, such was the state of play that sire owners would advertise a covering fee for their stallions but offer a reduced fee if breeders found themselves with a filly foal on their hands. The argument that purchasing an expensive gelding, who turned out not to be so talented or suffered a career-ending injury, was much more risky and financially imprudent than a well-bred filly, who at least had some residual value, fell constantly on deaf ears.

Many have played a part in changing the picture in the last couple of decades, but no one has done as much as Boardsmill Stud’s William Flood. Here is a man who has seen NH racing and breeding from every conceivable angle, as a stallion master, breeder, sales vendor and buyer, racehorse owner and a racing administrator. He was a driving force behind the move to increase the fillies’ and mares’ allowance, and the architect of the Fillies’ Bonus Scheme.

A real game-changer has been the introduction of a growing programme of black-type races for mares, right up to Grade 1 level. Sceptics and detractors often miss the importance of this. Writing back in 2013 about this new scheme which was being introduced, I opined: “While this has been a subject for discussion for all of my time being involved in the business, never has more been done to give a lift that will help to enhance the appeal of fillies. As a young man, I and many racing fans enjoyed the triumphs of top-class performers such as Glencaraig Lady and Dawn Run, both winners of the coveted Cheltenham Gold Cup. How long will we have to wait to see another mare stride up that hill in glory?

“Now we have a proactive approach being taken on the issue, with a more positive programme of races that will include a Grade 1 race for mares this spring. This will surely be copied and expanded upon, and help fuel further demand for fillies at the store sales. With owner’s championships being keenly fought for, it is surely only a matter of time before fillies are on all shopping lists.

“We must see this as a long-term project, and part of a greater overall programme to accord fillies their true value and worth. Their weight allowance against geldings is another positive move to make them more competitive.

“We have seen many good fillies emerge in recent years and we will, I believe, see even more in the immediate future. Look at the excitement caused by Annie Power, following her demolition of six opponents in a Grade 2 novice hurdle at Naas. She was the only mare in the race, and extended her unbeaten sequence to six.

“It should not need stating, but mares are a superb investment, offering value for money, a rich programme for their sex, a tantalising weight allowance against geldings, and a residual value when their racing days are over. Now tell me why you wouldn’t race a filly?”

That first Grade 1 hurdle race for mares, backed by the Irish Stallion Farms European Breeders’ Fund, was run at Fairyhouse at the end of March 2013. I well recall a great deal of ridicule being vented about the race’s introduction, which attracted ‘only’ six runners. With Annie Power starting at prohibitive odds-on, it was seen as a one-horse race, and it was won in easy fashion by the Susannah Ricci-owned, Willie Mullins-trained, Ruby Walsh-ridden five-year-old. Now, in hindsight, it was a good portent for what the future held for mares’ races. Annie Power went on to win 15 of her 17 starts, and this included beating the best of either sex when she defeated My Tent Or Yours in the 2016 Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. Her only defeats were when runner-up in the three-mile World Hurdle at Prestbury Park, the only time she was tried over the extended distance, and when she failed to complete the course at the same venue when coming a cropper at the last while well clear in the Mares’ Hurdle. What a champion.

Annie Power took a rather unusual route for a NH performer when she retired to the paddocks, afforded an opportunity to be covered by no less a great than Coolmore’s Galileo. Owned by the trio of McManus, Magnier and Ricci, Annie Power’s first-born, Mystical Power, has won both his bumper and hurdle debuts, and could yet be a star.

Runner-up to Annie Power at Fairyhouse was Glen’s Melody, a dual Grade 1 hurdle winner, once thanks to her great rival’s fall at Cheltenham, and she won a dozen of her 21 starts. Third-placed Jennies Jewel was a Royal Ascot winner subsequently, while the rest of the field were Grade 3-winning hurdlers Top Madam and Zuska, and the Galway Hurdle winner and Group 1 Ascot Gold Cup runner-up Missunited.